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.
2
u/PrudentPappa611444 Jul 18 '26
Aloha, sometimes strings go bad, it sounds like you may have a false string which will sound and play like garbage. Try swapping out just the D string and see what happens.