Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Restringing Violin
This article will give you, the parent of a beginner violin student, some
knowledge about violin strings. You really don't need to know a lot about
this, but it always helps to have some knowledge regarding your childs
violin.
It seems that we have gone through every string problem there could be. Here's a story about one of them. The first time our daughter moved up to the next size, we joyfully skipped to the rental store fully anticipating the incredibly rich sound the large violin would produce. Of course, our daughter was too shy to really give the violin a good workout at the shop, but no problem, let's buzz home and see how this baby sounds!! Hmmmmm, seems it needs tuning. O.K., not a problem, we know how to do that. Tune, play for 2 minutes. Hmmmmm, seems it's flat again. What's going on here
Well, the shop was kind enough to think of restringing this particular rental violin before renting it out again. (That does not always happen). New strings, we learned, have to spend about one week stretching and going flat before they settle down
The violin teachers I know discourage parents from restringing their children violins. Honestly, I wouldn't even attempt it. We take the violin back to the rental shop for restringing.
So to recap
1. Restringing a violin will require one week for the strings to stop going flat constantly
2. Become aware of when to change strings on a violin
3. Decent strings affect the tone of the instrument.
knowledge about violin strings. You really don't need to know a lot about
this, but it always helps to have some knowledge regarding your childs
violin.
It seems that we have gone through every string problem there could be. Here's a story about one of them. The first time our daughter moved up to the next size, we joyfully skipped to the rental store fully anticipating the incredibly rich sound the large violin would produce. Of course, our daughter was too shy to really give the violin a good workout at the shop, but no problem, let's buzz home and see how this baby sounds!! Hmmmmm, seems it needs tuning. O.K., not a problem, we know how to do that. Tune, play for 2 minutes. Hmmmmm, seems it's flat again. What's going on here
Well, the shop was kind enough to think of restringing this particular rental violin before renting it out again. (That does not always happen). New strings, we learned, have to spend about one week stretching and going flat before they settle down
The violin teachers I know discourage parents from restringing their children violins. Honestly, I wouldn't even attempt it. We take the violin back to the rental shop for restringing.
So to recap
1. Restringing a violin will require one week for the strings to stop going flat constantly
2. Become aware of when to change strings on a violin
3. Decent strings affect the tone of the instrument.
