dpappas

Now that is probably the biggest improvement on tone for sure! When I stopped making guitar amps and just practiced, my guitar tone got much better!

I agree with Davide that they are not the prettiest pegs out there. Since the gears are in the end housing (instead of the shaft, like PegHeds), I guess there is only so much that can be done about the look. I will say that while well-fitted pegs are great, the precision and stability is the appeal of the geared pegs. I use both Wittner and friction and I really prefer the Wittners. So far I can't tell a difference in tone, but I was curious if anyone else had heard a sound difference. Now I need to make 6g weights to attach to the pegs to try Davide's experiment for myself.

Davide, thank you for recounting your experiment. I’ve thought about replicating something similar out of curiosity. Interestingly this violin suffers from a lack of bass (for a violin). The E and A our powerful, and the G is a little thin so to speak. I’ve tamed it a bit by moving the tailpiece north to about 52-52.5 mm (still settling), but I wonder if the Wittners are affecting the tone. I have another violin on trial and while it has more bass, it’s weak in the treble. I can’t have both it seems with the instrument near me.

I love the Wittners as well, I haven't had to tune my main violin in two weeks (plus no fine tuner on the E throws people off all the time). I haven't noticed a tone or weight difference, although my instrument is very light so the added Wittner weight doesn't affect my playing.

I am curious from the Luthier's who have installed Wittner Pegs. They are heavier (40 g for a fitted set, vs 14g for the "boxwood" ones that came with my instrument). I am curious if anyone has noticed a tonal difference adding the weight from those pegs or Peghed/Perfection pegs. I'm not interested in a debate about whether or not they are good, I'm just curious if anyone has noticed a tonal change. Thanks!

Joe, Thank you! I suspected much of the work happened before the final layers were applied.

I play both. Guitar is much easier, and can be self taught as already state. Violin really needs a teacher. The three key factors are ergonomics, intonation, and tone production. Guitars are more ergonomic/natural to play. Violins do not have frets, so intonation is unforgiving. Tone production in the violin is in the bow arm, and is such a vital part of the overall sound and projection. Learn both, stick with the one you like best, or play both for the rest of your days. You can't go wrong.

I like the look of instruments with a dark spruce grain. I know this is a staining thing, and I suspect happens before the varnish is finalized. Or is it an antiquing thing? If it's the latter, how does one go about creating the effect?

My son uses the string set David recommends (spirocores on the lower 2) and it is indeed an intense sound up close, which is a good thing if projection is the goal.

David, he moved the existing post. Thank you!

Thank you all, it’s humbling to have so many professionals give advice. I actually have a longer ebony tailpiece to try but since I’m happy with the post placement I’ll keep that and the thicker bridge on the back burner.

Davide, I don't have access to my lab (the University is still closed...) so I can't comment on the magnet mass but they are 3x3 mm rare-earth cube magnets, pretty powerful but small. I used two on top and two on the other side (so 3x3x6 mm). Putting them on the plate, right next to the bass foot of the bridge, say 3-4 mm from the bass bar, increased the bass. I moved them all around, seeing where the extra mass changed the tone, it was similar to blue tack experiments others have tried. In the end, I took it in to my luthier this morning. He moved the sound post to a position he liked. I didn't tell him my complaint, I just asked him to adjust the post to his liking. What came back was better than what I would have gotten had I prompted him. The violin is back in working order. It's powerful, but balanced now. I can play a whisper pianissimo or a full fortissimo just by technique, which is what i want, but the shrill is gone. Oddly enough, the post is in the standard "sweet spot", more or less, but just slightly toward the bass bar (maybe 1 mm in from the "standard" starting point of mirroring the bass bar location, in the E-W axis. N-S it's about 2.5 mm from the bridge foot. Not where I would have expected it to be, but I'm happy with the sound. I guess I was grossly misaligned before. Thank you all for the replies. I might try obligatos if I feel I want it a little darker, but I am a happy man today. It's always good to let someone else work on your instrument, if they have the ears for it.

My Current instrument is powerful, strident, bright...and almost painful to play. I love this fiddle quite a bit but I’m taking it in tomorrow for my luthier’s opinion and also to try out some other violins. The G is edgy and the E is ear splitting and powerful. I know a powerful violin is a good thing so I’ve also been thinking about some reversible things one can do to mellow out or darken an Instrument for the time being. Here are my instruments’s current “specs” strad model, castel boxwood tailpiece and Guarneri chin rest. Wittner finetune pegs. After length 54.5 mm, 108 mm tail piece (so about 5 mm tail gut length), nylon Sacconi type tailgut. Vision solo strings (not the Ti ones), a relative thin bridge (not abnormal, but not thick). String length is 328 mm and the sound post is 2-3mm behind bridge and matches bass bar with respect to bridge foot. I put a magnet pair on the bass side of the plate right by the bridge and it seemed to “boost” the low end as a test. any suggestions? Does Kevlar cut some of the high end?

Thank you for posting this. Yes, a good violin sounds good, and a good violinist sounds good. I think a good instrument can inspire someone to sound better, but this really underscores that great skill is the bigger piece of the pie chart for me.

I find Don's comments interesting, in that wood and arching sort of set the floor and ceiling of an instrument. I have a cheap instrument (100 bucks) that I was thinking of opening an regraduating just for the educational experience. Sounds like it's better to leave it alone and learn something different.