A VERY basic question about: Correct bridge setup

[ViolinStrangler]

First, I'm sorry for such a basic question.

I am a total newbie to the violin (well, I now have almost a couple months of practicing). The problem is that looking at pictures of violins in Internet I just realized now that maybe my violin's bridge is not set up properly.

I bought my violin, a Yamaha AV5-SC, brand new from an on-line retailer. I love this violin. Although a (relative) cheap violin, a few hundreds dollars, even I can tell this violin will be above my skill level for a long while.

To the point, the violin came all set up, with its bridge in place. Obviously, the violin wasn't in tune. But save tuning, even Yamaha's official documentation which came with the violin says: the instrument is ready to play (paraphrasing). Now, the flat face of the bridge is facing the finger board , for what I'm seeing in pictures the flat face should be facing the tail piece and the sloped-in face is the one facing the finger board. Now, I could chalk it up to someone messing it up in Yamaha and fix it but...    by the bridge heights the bridge is indeed correctly positioned. In other words, as it is now, the height for the E string groove is lower than the G string groove. If I try to fix the bridge face orientation (flat face to the tail piece) I will be screwing the heights in top rounded edge (E string will be higher than G string)

So, it is like the bridge has contradictory specs (!?)

I have no basis to doubt mishandling in the violin by the retailer, it seemed to be packaged straight up from factory. And I certainly trust Yamaha knows what it is doing. In conclusion, I don't have a clue.

If someone can shed some light, I will certainly appreciate it.

Thanks.

[Nick Allen]

It sounds like the bridge may have been cut at the wrong angle. Is the tailpiece facing side actually curved in a convex manner? 

[David Beard]

Tuning is mostly done by tightening the strings.  This tends to pull the top of the bridge toward the fingerboard.   The top of the bridge just needs to be pulled back a bit until the back face of the bridge is standing upright.   If the feet of the bridge don't fit best in the corrected position, then the bridge was badly fitted.  But that probably isn't what you're seeing.

Put the violin in you lap with the scroll pointing away from you.   Grasp the top of the bridge at the edges with the thumb and forefingers of each hand. Rest your pinky and third fingers on the edges of the fiddle.  Do not press down on the top plate!   Gently pull the top of the bridge back to position.  You can loosen the strings for this, but it isn't strictly necessary if the bridge is only little off as you  describe.

If this seems like an uncomfortable proposition, then get a repair person, or teacher, or experienced player to do this for you.  Eventually, a violinist needs to learn how to keep the bridge in a good upright position, as normal tuning will recreate this problem fairly frequently.  

[ctanzio]

Make sure the feet are sitting flush on the top. As David mentioned, tuning sometimes pulls the top of the bridge towards the fingerboard, If this it the case your situation, then adjusting the bridge so that the feet are flush to the top again will fix the visual slant of the bridge.

If the feet are flush with the top then don't worry about it. There is a technical argument that can be but forth for making bridges with the side facing the tailpiece perpendicular to the top and the other side somewhat slanted, but unless the face slant or lean of the bridge are extreme, it will have no effect on tone or stability. If a line drawn from the center of the feet to the center of the bridge top is basically perpendicular to the top, you are good to go.

 

[luthier]

You should also check the string grooves in the top of the bridge, to make sure they are lubricated with graphite, pencil lead. That goes a long way preventing the strings pulling the bridge top toward the scroll.

[Nick Allen]

When I first started playing, I often let this happen, where the bridge simply pulls forward during tuning. It's easy to pull it back into correct position and angle. 

But, when doing this, I like to lift the string slightly off of the bridge after cranking the bridge back. I think that it equalizes the tension on the string and the afterlength, and lets any tension go that the bridge may be experiencing, thus minimizing warp.