Violin/Fiddle: Bridge Setting up a Violin Bridge

Date: Wed, 29 Dec 2004 16:12:53 EST
Subject: bridge

I am VERY much a beginner on the fiddle. As a matter of fact I never even held one till a few days ago. I am having trouble placing my bridge. It has no notches on the top of it so I'm not sure where my strings should go. I wrote the person it was purchased from and they said bridges do not have notches on the top. Could you help me? I am REALLY confused!!!

Thanks A Lot,
Lori

Greetings Lori,

The bridge, on a violin, has very small notches for the strings to reside in...otherwise, the strings will slide around...this is very easy to do if you had another bridge to match it up to. However, it's still recommended that you take it to your local music store to have your bridge fitted, notches cut and overall set-up of your violin. This should only cost around 25-35 dollars. All violins, fresh from the factory, need some set-up work...so don't fret about that...

We set up all of our violins before they ship...for most go to beginners that aren't aware of the set-up process. There are many steps involved with setting up a new violin...and fitting the bridge is only one...another critical one you should consider is making sure peg drops are applied to the pegs to prevent any slippage during tuning...your local violin store should have a standard set-up procedure...

Hope this helps, Mickey

Subject: violin bridges

Mickey,

Greetings Elizabeth,

I'm glad to assist:

I was reading an answer to a question about setting violin bridges on your web site. When you say tilting forward, do you mean towards the bottom of the violin and backward meaning toward the scroll?

When setting up a violin bridge, for the first time, it's recommended that you have a qualified technician show you the process. It's somewhat difficult to explain how to do this by e-mail...I'll give you a few pointers:

1. Have the strings slightly taut so that the bridge will be held up and will remain stationary when placed on the top.

2. Make sure that the lower part of the bridge is positioned on the treble side of the strings; the higher part should be towards the bass side of the strings...the G string should be located on the high point of the bridge.

3. Place the bridge directly between the two notches of the f soundholes.

4. Makes sure that each string is in their respective slots of the bridge. If your bridge doesn't have slots pre-cut for each string, you will have to take it in for proper fitting.

5. Make sure that the bridge is properly aligned. The G and E strings need to be centered on the fingerboard. One shouldn't be closer to the edge than another.

6. Now once the bridge is properly aligned between the two notches of the f soundholes, and the strings appear to be centered, and all strings are in their respective slots on the bridge, you can now view the bridge from the side. You'll want to tilt the bridge very slightly towards the tailpiece.

7. Once the bridge is properly tilted, ever so slightly, and everything else is aligned as described above, you're now ready to tighten your violin strings. In tightening your violin strings, you'll want to be extra careful in making sure that they're tightened in a balanced manner.
a. First make sure that your wooden pegs have some kind of anti-slippage substance on them...this can be the biggest cause of frustration when first attempting to tune as a beginner. There are a few compounds and techniques to ensure that your violin pegs remain stationary. For instance, there's a tool called "Peg Drops" which seems to work very well in ensuring that once the pegs are tightened they remain without slipping. Remember, the more taut the string, the more tension on the wooden peg. Hence, when tuning all the way up to pitch, it becomes critical to push in the peg slightly as turning for a tighter, more stable, tuning process.
b. Now, when first tightening up each string, be careful to approach this in a balanced way. Do not just tune one string all the way up to pitch while all the other strings go untouched. You'll want to tune up each string in slight increments moving from the G to E to D to A...slowly move each string up to pitch by alternating from one string to another. Once all strings are close to concert pitch, then you can focus on fine tuning one string at a time. If you do not approach your tuning in this manner, you'll end up with the bridge becoming ajar from too much tension pulled on one side...another problem is that as you tune up the other stings, the first one tuned up to pitch will go out of tune slightly due to the released tension on the neck.

I just put bridges back on two violins and they are both leaning toward the scroll. I keep loosening the strings and readjusting them and then tightening the strings.

Yes, the problem lies in the angle of the bridge as pivoted from the top. If the angle of the bridge is slightly tilted back, the pressure on the bridge is more evenly distributed which ensures a more stable bridge. Once the angle is corrected, you will not encounter the problem of the bridge tilting or moving as strings are brought up to proper pitch.

Is it hard to learn to reset the post? I know a special tool is involved. I have someone help me do this, but I would like to learn how.

Yes, there's more to this than meets the eye. You'll want to be extra careful in making sure that the placement of the soundpost is proper for your particular violin. Every violin has its own proper positioning of the soundpost. Additionally, the soundpost needs to be angled correctly and needs to be placed so that it doesn't easily fall down. This really should only be performed by a violin repair technician.

Here's some great info on the soundpost:
http://www.jaybuckey.com/the_soundpost.htm

Hope something here helps, Mickey

Thank you,
Elizabeth Walsh