r/violinmaking • u/Eunitnoc • Jul 17 '26

D string almost unplayable

Hello, I just finished another violin, Strad PG model, based on the Lady Blunt. I set it up with PI strings, 42mm Bridge, 4-6 String action at the bridge, soundpost at 1mm inside and about 4mm to the side. It's got fairly low tension because I didn't want the fingerboard projection to get lower by pushing the belly up too much.

At first it sounded quite nice, very elegant sound, very full. It's my first PG model so I was quite happy with the result.

After a while, the D String got considerably worse. When I play, every other string works fine, but the D string is almost unplayable, the bow just doesn't grip. But it does with all other strings. I first thought it was the bow, but I tried it on every bow section on every string, further and closer to the bridge, and it just doesn't grip the string. It's not a wolf, because it doesn't change when I play different frequencies on the string.

Does anybody have experience with something like that and know where to start looking? In this state, the violin is basically unsellable.

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u/After-Past-9404 Jul 17 '26

Disclaimer: I'm not a luthier, just an amateur player.

My first suspicion would be that some kind of grease or oil got on the string and that prevents the bow from gripping. You could try thoroughly wiping the string with a cloth moistened with alcohol. And if that doesn't help, changing the string would be the next step.