Actually most people don’t ask why are my pegs slipping, they just say my violin is out of tune and won’t hold a note. There is a myriad of reasons and the violin pegs slipping is usually the culprit. To understand why it happens it’s useful to understand how pegs work.
Pegs have a slightly conical taper to them, this neat design allows them to fit more snugly by pushing them in slightly as you tighten the string. Its not perfect , probably need to move to something like guitar tuners, but hey this is a traditional classical instrument so pegs it is!
The pegs them selves are made of a hardwood, usually ebony so they they don’t wear out and go into the peg box which is maple – also a hard wood but slightly softer. So inevitably though use they start to wear a bit. Wood on wood can get a bit sticky or creaky so they are lubricated with peg paste (or peg dope). Peg past is made from some lubricating and some sticky elements, so they can grip and slide appropriately. A mix of fine clay, rosin and perhaps graphite is in this material. The different makers of peg paste have different combinations and I find using the right one for the climate is important. Peg paste is something replaced yearly with an instruments service.
Home/ teacher solutions can involve some crushed rosin or chalk applied to the pegs – yes it works as a quick fix, but you may end up with stuck pegs.
Over time the wearing of the pegbox takes place , and its an out or round wear, because for the string tension in one direction , meaning the peg develops favourite positions to sit in and may slip to these. The remedy here is to ream the peg box hole slightly to return it to round and shave the peg also if appropriate.
Another thing that happens to pegs /peg box as they wear is the peg sits further in the hole. At some point this is limited by the string that is wound around the hole as it hits the opposite side of the peg box, and so push in as you may the peg will never fit tighter in the box and always slip. this is common on a violin thats been played for some time (years), so on secondhand instruments that have been handed down to the 2nd, 3rd, 4th player its an inevitability. The solution is to drill a new hole in the peg for the string to sit more in the middle of the peg box…no hassle!
One note of caution if your violins pegs are slipping, resist the temptation to push it too hard into the peg box to get it tight. The danger here is you crack the peg box and have a very expensive repair – or in the case of a student violin it will be cheaper to replace it.
How does a violin make a sound? How does a violin work? Here are some insights into the physics of a violin for an understanding of how it works. In essence a violin is a series of signal chains that create, transduct and filter the vibrations of the strings as they make their way to the tone woods of the instrument. The creation of the sound is both the mechanical properties of what makes up the violin together with the players input. Having an understanding of how the violin works can be a useful input into component selection of the instrument and of course technique improvement- which takes years and years.
This is an overview of how the entire system is integrated – each one is a topic in its own right and rabbit hole to explore in the future.
The violin tailpiece in an integral part of the mechanical structure of a violin, a convenient place to tune your string or strings but also plays a big role in the sound production of a violin.
While you bow your violin on the other side of the bridge there are also vibrations happening on the strings and tailpiece on the lower half of ypour violin, in a sympathetic way.
Understanding this is a key to getting a little extra sparkle out of your instrument. I have seen many a fine instrument miss out on a little extra boost to its sound through poor tail piece setup, choice or a sole focus on aesthetic. All of these are easily rectified and can improve the sound and convenience of your instrument.
Choices in timber or modern materials, sound adjusters and the geometry of setup can all make a difference. So here is 10mins of your life you won’t get back to find out more
It’s common to have people contact me with a broken violin neck, on closer inspection its not always broken though. The neck joint with the violin body is probably the weakest link in the violin in terms of stress and strain. In essence its a combination of woodworking joints including a thin dovetail joint, butt joint and rabbet joint all in one held together with hide glue. If the joints weren’t well made to start with its a bit weaker again. When an instrument experiences shock, through misadventure or where the violin is in a humid climate like here in Australia the joint is prone to come apart.
The first sign of a slipped violin neck (not a broken violin neck though)
A neck break is where the timber itself breaks along the grain line (see Cello Repairs Brisbane for how a broken neck is repaired) for some detail on that as its very common on cellos and the same technique aplies to violins. Also at the peg box cracks can appear as this is a source of preasure from the pegs (and perhaps poorly fitted pegs that are pushed in to hard ) , I’ll write about this in due course.
So regluing the neck joint is called a neck reset rather than a broken neck repair. In the best of worlds the surfaces are cleaned and reglued. Often however additional repair might need to be made to the neck block and some times the top plate of the violin if there has been tear out/ splitting of the timbers. Oft times a timber wedge needs to be carved and inserted into the neck block.
So a neck reset and glue up in theory is quick and simple, however care must be taken that the angle of the fingerboard is going to be striaght down the instrument and the neck projection (height above the body is correct) . Sometimes the bridge must also be adjusted afterwards to get everything perfect.
In many cases the fingerboard also needs to be removed and reattached, reasonably straightforward…its just time.
You might think student instruments this is easier…however sometimes its not so, student instruments are often not put together with hide glue (or worse someone has attempted repair with hardware store glue) and so dissembly can be a bit tricky leading to some visible evidence of a repair.
Above is an example of a poorly fitted student violin neck, where glue has been used as a filler, resulting in a neck slip over time (this must be cleaned out and a wedge inserted)
My violin journey away from reading the “black spots” began early, with my first folk band at the tender age of 13, where were the Chris Haig violin books when I needed them? I loved the roaring pace of the Irish jigs and their Australian decendant tunes and tearing through the notes. I always had a wistful sigh though, for the guitar and drummer though who found a wonderful freedom behind the melody, to drive various rhythms, chordal progressions and dynamics to bring a nuanced depth to the music. Dial forward through numerous classical groups/performances, membership of many orchestras and a few theatre groups. It’s been quite the journey. Picking up again later in life I was determined to go Beyond Classical Violin and with a determination to free myself from the notes one of my most treasured resources along the way have been the Exploring/Discovering Violin book series by genre chameleon Chris Haigh ( http://www.fiddlingaround.co.uk ). Some other resources I have found useful I have listed here (classical, online classes etc..)
And so it was with great delight that I ordered his new Exploring Country and Bluegrass Violin book. Now to be clear I’m not a country music devotee, but there are lots of the elements of this music in music I do play and would like to learn in a pedagogical manner. These include rhythmic bowing, drone/double stops, fills, improvising/ harmonising and how to work with with singers in contemporary and worship music settings.
Previously I have enjoyed a lot out of his Discovering Rock Violin music book. An introduction to chording, pentatonics and his magic harmony trick all have had great utility. The Fiddle Handbook (I think its out of print but found one secondhand)was great tour deforce on no classical styles. His jazz book, Exploring Jazz Violin was great, well the first 3/4 anyway… after that my brain got a bit full!. I suspect this is largely because the genre doesn’t much grab me (though Gypsy looks fun), but the techniques and theory I learn’t in the book were quite helpful.
As a look back across the books there is a fair bit of overlap and I reckon thats more than OK, everything needs to be put into its proper context and coming at music from different angles really helps with clarity…eventually.
I like the progressive nature of the books and indeed the country one. Chris neither drops you in the deep end, nor belabours the simple stuff. It’s truely a progression using loosely the historical development of country music and the different genre influences along the way as a vehicle. So for me it hit my Goldilocks violin sweet spot, not too hard, not too easy.
There are plenty of worked examples and Chris works hard to provide accompanying audio tracks to play along with, and backing tracks as well. These are not done as an after thought but well integrated and really support the learning pedagogy.
Having said all of that, like his previous books you won’t be able to get through the book in just a few practice sessions and readings. I found I needed to dip in an out of it…as well as have a playing space (my jam group and other groups) to explore the ideas. It takes time to take head knowledge and get it to the autonomic nervous system to make music. At least now i know what I don’t know, know how to get it …and occasionally glimpse getting it!
Book sample courtesy : www.stretta-music.com
One of the serendipitous treats in Chris’ books, and this is no exception, is the the time he takes to fill in the spaces between the musical examples. There is background, history and lots of little nuggets along the way as well. Sometimes these little nuggets are enough to make the penny drop on something I’ve been struggling with. My perennial favourite is using scales not necessarily in the key of the song..I’m still chewing that one over..but at least for now i can say to my classical brain “its OK big fella just move on worry about it later” and then one pops out in a song …from my fingers no less!
Chris’ books come in around the cost of a single violin lesson, that is even if you could find a violin teacher that could teach you this stuff. And inside are hour upon hour of lessons you can do, annotate, go back and repeat. Just like any teacher you can hear Chris demonstrate the playing of the exercises. Also if you track him down on facebook he might even answer a question or two as well.
Exploring Country & Bluegrass Violin is part bed time reading, but most of it needs to be right in front of the music stand with my fiddle and computer with an mp3 player. Seeing isn’t believing, hearing is closer to believing and then the doing and the feeling is the real stuff! I’ve found to get the most out of the book I need to slow down the audio samples (by about 25%) so I can hear and play along with the nuances. Lots of computer audio players can do this built in. Learning something new is a cognitive process for me, so slower is better.
Book sample courtesy : www.stretta-music.com
Probably the stand out examples of Chris’ pedagogy in Exploring Country and Bluegrass Violin is the Bluegrass “Roll in my Sweet Baby’s Arms”, (and later the Banks of the Ohio) a simple tune which is given 7 pages of treatment, 8 audio samples where Chris introduces the various possible fiddle elements that could be added together progressively (and a reboot later in the book). Most important he shares his rationale and thinking behind it! If I had a wish for anything in the Chris Haig violin books it would be to do this more often. Yes it belabours the point and might be repetitive, but working through various tunes and keys it would turn his Exploring series into accompanying “workbooks” you could put on the practice stand and work through it.
PS I’m still wrestling about wether I want minor or major pentatonics in my head when I play …at least now I know they are the same thing …thanks to the circle of 5ths
Thanks Chris for your contribution to music! I might try one of your online courses one day too!
A common maxim you hear at violin shops is that violins bow should cost around 1/3 of the price of the violin. What madness is this? you reckon…its just a stick, all of the real workmanship is in the violin which is were the sound is made. This was certainly my view for a long time. That is until I made the step up from a student bow to a better student bow. Then as I was heading out to other music genres I started looking into carbon fibre bows…they have real advantages when you are cranking out the tunes…especially on electric violins…and also stand up to a lot more punishment both on string and on the stage (the orchestra is a pretty organised place ….rock bands less so).
But it wasn’t until I met my current bow, a serendipitous addition to a line up of various Coda Bows I was trying out, that all was really revealed about the violin bow costs. The bow every so subtly disappeared from my hand, as it became more of a part of me and less something I was holding. Yes this is a bit of “Harry Potters Wand“, but the translation to playing soulful pieces was immediate – it was one less thing to get in the way of expression.
Aside from the stiffness a more expensive pernambuco bow brings , which allows better transmission (and sensitivity) of power from the hand to the string there is much more going on Digging deeper into the science of the bow, you discover it does actually make half the sound through the grip-slip-grip of the bowhair and rosin…. through to the sympathetic vibrations down the stick itself. In a good bow you see all of the higher order tonal characteristics in a violins sound…in a less expensive bow you tend to see lower stiffness and less of these vibrations making them that much harder to produce on the violin.
A softer bow is great for beginners, its more forgiving of the nuances of technique so don’t worry about a more expensive bow till you feel you need something more from it.
Anyway your mileage may vary. if you in the market for a more serious bow, be prepared to take your time , a couple of notes won’t let you discover whats right for you. A part of a favourite song and a selection of bows to work through worked for me.
FWIW I stock mostly student bows ($50-75), picked from among a range of suppliers for the best price /sound trade off though, together with a few better quality (often European) fully mounted bows up to $250. I also keep a small stock of carbon fibre bows in the $150 range, that offer an increase in performance – but without the price tag you see on a lot of carbon fibre bows.
A lot of noise is made about “has your violin been setup” and setup correctly? Why? because its really important! Most factory violins arrive at a music store not ready to play and thus need to be setup. Higher quality instruments the maker will usually setup though.
Setup refers to making sure the violin is ready to play, of which the most important characteristics are the string height above the fingerboard, via the bridge is at the right height and fitted correctly to the body of the instrument and also at the nut. . Checking the pegs fit and can move freely with a dab of peg paste is next. Next is that the finger board has the correct scoop and that inside the violin the sound post is properly fitted and located and the tailpiece is the right length. Its a specialist thing and string stores all have people trained that can do it…but a generic music shop may not…and an internet violin…well you won’t know till it turns up! For a secondhand instrument these might need to be revisited
Violins are unique each and every one, however for sound production and easy of playing they are incredibly standardised. If strings are too high above the fingerboard that can’t be pressed down easily and will frustrate a player and their tone production.
A poorly fitted (and located) bridge will not allow the string to vibrate correctly, nor transmit its vibrations to the body correctly.
Some quick rules of thumb if you are checking out a violin, up near the nut you should only just be able to fit a business card between the strings and fingerboard. Any higher and fingers can’t press the strings down properly, any lower and the string will buzz.
Down at the other end of the fingerboard. The player should be able to fit the tip of their pinky just under the G string, and the gap under the E string is nearly half that. A smaller hand is probably on a smaller instrument where the heights are smaller. Also I didn’t give away the “trade secret” measurements of 5.5mm under the GString on a full size violin…oops
Looking at the bridge the feet should line up with the inside notches of the f holes and if you can see daylight between the feet and body it hasn’t been fitted. Inside there is some stuff with the sound post…a whole topic in itself.
So if your Ok on the fingerboard and the bridge probably the rest is ok..if its not …go to another store.. like Fiddler Dan 😉
Side note on beginner instruments I tend to leave the finger board nut heights a shade higher, as they are fitted with steel strings that tend to wear down a nut over time – as there aren’y too many 7 years old playing Paganini’s Caprices on them they are still quite playable. I also leave the bridges a bit chunkier, it takes out the shrill squeaky tone (admittedly at the expense of some finer aspects of tone production) and the bridge is less likely to warp if left unadjusted for a longer period of time so less likely to need a repair.
In a series of sound clips, heres an experiment in repairing a cracked violin eventually replacing a relief carved bass bar with a seperate fitted one.
To start with this was a student 3/4 violin (see inside it here ) that was sat on, the top cracked open quite badly – from the fingerboard through to the bottom in two places, also splitting the bass bar underneath and the back plate separated as well. This is right in the middle of where the violin develops much of its timber and tone on the spruce top tone-woods. After repair, cleating etc.. I put it back together…it sounded surprisingly good…dare I say better. This might be because I touched up a few other areas on the inside as as well…and that the repair to the bass bar stiffened it slightly. Have a listen as I compare it to an identical model violin…not bad hey?
Next up I replaced the bass bar with a fitted one, as the original bass bar was a relief carved one. Relief carved bass bars are a faster way to manufacture a violin as you simply leave the timber behind when making the violin, rtaher than having to fitt a seperate piece – which takes time. It tends to be done on cheaper violins..but you also see it on some old European factory/farmhouse violins as well.
The bass bar sits under the bridge of the violin on the lower strings and carries the vibrations to the top plate (lower notes need bigger vibrations a the wavelength is longer) as well as strengthening the violin.
A relief carved bass bar is made from the same timber as the top plate so the grains aren’t optimally aligned – neither can the bass bar go slightly cross grain. Whereas a fitted bar bar can travel slightly cross grain, has the grain lines in a different direction and when mounted adds a slight tension to the top plate – all of these factors allow it to improve the sound.
Here are the various sound files so you can see…err… hear for yourself the difference in sound between it as it undergoes the various transformations when compared to an unaltered violin of the same make.
I think it sounds better, though maybe after all the repairs doesn’t look quite as pretty
Of course this is a cheapish student violin so repairing a crack commercially costs more than the violin is worth…but its good to know that the sound quality hasn’t diminished from repair..what do you think?
Last week I had a visitor to my workshop, a friend from childhood actually. Back in the last century (thats sounds old doesn’t it) we shared the front desk of Pat Mallon’s Mt. Gravatt Area String Orchestra together. After school I went on to pursue a career in Physics (and other things) and Timo went to the Conservatorium of Music to study Violin.
We kinda lost touch….until one day at my sons first violin concert they were playing Wallaby Hop by Timo Jarvela. Now I don’t know too many Jarvela’s and in due course discovered it was the same person, now a prominent area violin teacher on Brisbane’s Northside and composer too and got in contact.
Timo started his musical journey in Mansfield, in his early days having to cycle from Mansfield Primary to another school for his violin lessons, and was one of half a dozen or so violin students at Mansfield State High School, which now has 5 string orchestral groups, and something like 800 people across the entire instrumental music programme.
Dan (L) and Timo (R), an early performance. Image P. Mallon
Timo shared a little of his journey to composing, which started with writing for his own students, requests from other teachers..before he bit the bullet and started publishing with his wife through Laker Music! I quite like his compositions and my kids have enjoyed playing them.
Timo gave me some insights into the process. Its a heady mix of the uniqueness of the Australian music instruction in schools, and finding the right mix with a limited et of notes and rhythms for each level of progression as students develop. I also quite like his approach in “Tricky Fingers”, it develops a students abilities progressively. It achieves this by starting with just the left hand , building ability through reading, fingering and muscular development through left hand pizzicato, then introducing the bow and the fingers down on strings .
The skill acquisition scientist in me thinks this is great, Also it comes with backing tracks online so you can (with the teachers guide) be largely self taught. Checkout out Timo’s compositions here We also had a good chat about violin brands that come and go, some of the secrecy around luthierin, high street shops, and helping parents support their children without breaking the bank.
Love your work Timo…. I look forward to our next catchup
One of the silver linings from COVID is it can bring people together. Here is a wonderful blog from Lara, just on the other side of the Pacific. Her inspirational prose caught my eye on facebook and she was kind enough to followup with her story …thankyou Lara you’re a treasure.
You can’t fix people, But you can fix violins, And the people can play the violins And that can fix them! So… SAME THING!
Lara J. 2021
Love of my Life
by Lara J
I’m a late bloomer, or just plain late, I’m not sure which. There have been a few great loves in my life, but the best ones seemed to be reserved for me to enjoy after I could make a passel of youthful mistakes and bad decisions, trial runs at things that seemed like good decisions at the time, and other sundry follies of youth. Better late than never, they say, and maybe I was supposed to mature enough to truly appreciate the gifts that were coming my way.
The biggest love of my life is my daughter, who didn’t come into my life until my 30’s. The second is my wonderful partner Mark, who I met at 50! The third great love of my life is violins. I have to use the plural form of the word, because I can’t imagine just having one violin. I didn’t know this happy addiction was approaching me. It sneaked up from behind on me, to be honest. I didn’t get bitten by the violin bug until my mid 50’s, and it’s hard to believe it’s only been a year plus a couple of months since that happened.
It was smack in the middle of 2020, which needs no explanation, as a year to remember. In a moment of desperation to get my mind off of politics and the pandemic, I scrolled through YouTube and happened upon the videos of Ask Olaf the Violin Maker. I watched one, and was intrigued. I watched another, and was entranced. I watched another, and another, and another, until I had binge watched them all. Suddenly I wanted to fix violins. I wanted to play violins. I had to have a violin. I would like to blame (and thank) Olaf, but I think it might have been in the back of my mind for a long time, and just needed the right catalyst. I still blame him, and thank him.
Since then I have bought or been given well over a dozen violins in various states of disrepair, and learned how to repair them. I taught myself by watching as many different luthier-made videos as I could find on YouTube, reading articles on the internet, scrolling through the violin forums, and just doing it. I prayed a lot when working on my first violin. I was so nervous, I was shaking. It ended up being a success, and that hooked me. I wouldn’t say it’s easy, and I definitely learned where the phrase “fiddle with it” came from, because it seemed I could keep tweaking things forever on each violin I worked on. Good sound was the most important thing to me, but I am also a visual artist, so it had to look nice.
Like Oprah with her cars, I found so much happiness with violins I wanted others to have them. You get a violin! You get a violin! You too! I parted with the ones I could part with, giving some to family members, some to a school, and one to an animal shelter auction. I haven’t sold any yet, but I may. I still have more violins than I probably should. They each have a different voice, and I love them all like they are my children. If I don’t play one of them in a reasonable amount of time, I miss it, and feel that joy of reaching for it again when I do.
I know I’m still a beginner. I’m a hobbyist, not a luthier. I still have a lot to learn about violin repair. I’m practicing my playing every day, too, and improving constantly, but I’m no Hilary Hahn. I’m aiming for it, though! But the point is that I love it tremendously, and I get so much joy out of it, that I thank God every day I get to wake up and play.
My facebook friends know what has happened to me. They tag me in violin videos and photos. I love them for it. One of my friends recently tagged me in a photo of beautiful old violins that needed repair, and I commented how I wanted to fix them! Then I told him it made me think of an advertisement for a violin shop. It would go like this:
