My Teacher Suggested...
Did your teacher suggest bringing your instrument to me for "adjustment"? Or perhaps new strings? Or perhaps there are other issues with sound and playability?
Adjustment usually means optimizing the position of the sound post. To do this the post must be fitted perfectly, and all other set-up parameters need to be optimal as well.
Your instrument might have set-up problems. Instruments are often sold with sub-standard set-up work. The industry is highly problematic that way.
Set-up includes a hand-fitted bridge, soundpost, nut, pegs, properly dressed fingerboard, well functioning tailpiece with tuners built in, and decent strings. This amounts to $500 to $1,000 worth of work and parts, depending on the instrument (violin, viola, or cello.)
An instrument that is properly built is worth setting up correctly. Conversely, if the basic box is not good, then it is a waste of money.
Sometimes I am the one having to give the bad news that the instrument is either not worth putting money into, or what it will actually cost to do so. Please understand that if the news is bad, I am doing my best to tell you honestly what is needed. Sometimes it is actually to cut your losses.
It is in the details and the fine adjustments that an instrument can go from barely adequate to excellent, and that requires time and most importantly, the caring skills of an expert.
What makes a bowed instrument work well cannot easily be compared by the inexperienced person. They all look alike to some extent, and you can’t compare features, brands, or models like you do with other purchases, such as computer, car, stereo, etc.
In the end it comes down to trusting the shop that you work with, and unfortunately there are a lot of unscrupulous people selling instruments who are taking advantage of people, and these include many of the music stores where set-up is hardly addressed, most of the mail order companies where the low cost provider gets the business, and definitely ebay where everything sold gets commoditized. Violins are not commodity items, and when they are sold that way, the low cost providers can only provide you with junk.
If you are bringing me a mail order instrument that does not work, and you have read this, then you already have an idea what I will say. My first suggestion will always be to send it back for a refund or a correction (this same advice holds true for instruments newly purchased from other violin shops as well.) Sometimes I can do the minimal adjusting that people are asking for (usually the request is for bridge adjustments), and sometimes I just can’t because the instrument or fitting is so bad that any work on it at all risks creating other problems!
I am not an instrument snob! I have great compassion for people who are wanting to give their children, or themselves the experience of playing a bowed instrument. If you are coming to me I will do the best that I can to give the player the best that they can appreciate, while still respecting your budget.
Adjustment usually means optimizing the position of the sound post. To do this the post must be fitted perfectly, and all other set-up parameters need to be optimal as well.
Your instrument might have set-up problems. Instruments are often sold with sub-standard set-up work. The industry is highly problematic that way.
Set-up includes a hand-fitted bridge, soundpost, nut, pegs, properly dressed fingerboard, well functioning tailpiece with tuners built in, and decent strings. This amounts to $500 to $1,000 worth of work and parts, depending on the instrument (violin, viola, or cello.)
An instrument that is properly built is worth setting up correctly. Conversely, if the basic box is not good, then it is a waste of money.
Sometimes I am the one having to give the bad news that the instrument is either not worth putting money into, or what it will actually cost to do so. Please understand that if the news is bad, I am doing my best to tell you honestly what is needed. Sometimes it is actually to cut your losses.
It is in the details and the fine adjustments that an instrument can go from barely adequate to excellent, and that requires time and most importantly, the caring skills of an expert.
What makes a bowed instrument work well cannot easily be compared by the inexperienced person. They all look alike to some extent, and you can’t compare features, brands, or models like you do with other purchases, such as computer, car, stereo, etc.
In the end it comes down to trusting the shop that you work with, and unfortunately there are a lot of unscrupulous people selling instruments who are taking advantage of people, and these include many of the music stores where set-up is hardly addressed, most of the mail order companies where the low cost provider gets the business, and definitely ebay where everything sold gets commoditized. Violins are not commodity items, and when they are sold that way, the low cost providers can only provide you with junk.
If you are bringing me a mail order instrument that does not work, and you have read this, then you already have an idea what I will say. My first suggestion will always be to send it back for a refund or a correction (this same advice holds true for instruments newly purchased from other violin shops as well.) Sometimes I can do the minimal adjusting that people are asking for (usually the request is for bridge adjustments), and sometimes I just can’t because the instrument or fitting is so bad that any work on it at all risks creating other problems!
I am not an instrument snob! I have great compassion for people who are wanting to give their children, or themselves the experience of playing a bowed instrument. If you are coming to me I will do the best that I can to give the player the best that they can appreciate, while still respecting your budget.