Is a soundpost adjustment needed after switching strings?

[Anson]

I’m currently on a quest of searching for a perfect set of strings for my violin. A particular issue comes to mind, because each set of strings comes with different string tensions, if I switch to a different set of strings, would the post no longer be in the optimal position, and an adjustment is needed? Or is the optimal position of of soundpost independent of the string tension on top?

[GeorgeH]

I have never heard of anybody recommending changing the soundpost position after changing strings. If the set-up is already correct, then it is best to test one variable at a time. 

When you change strings, change them one at a time so the bridge does not move, but also be careful not to allow the bridge to bend too much as you tighten the strings. Keep straightening it as you tighten the strings. Some people recommend using a pencil to add a bit of graphite lubricant in the bridge string notches to help the strings slip better.

Then give your new strings a few days to break-in. (Some break-in faster.) Your violin might not sound as pleasing as it will after the new strings break-in. Also, don't try to rush the break-in by tuning the strings sharp. Just tune them to pitch as they go flat during the break-in period. Once they are broken-in, they will hold their pitch. 

 

[Brad Dorsey]

4 minutes ago, GeorgeH said:

...don't try to rush the break-in by tuning the strings sharp...

Assuming they're not tuned sharp enough to break them, what's wrong with that?

[Rothwein]

It's not so much a problem with the strings per se, as that if you tune sharp, you will tend to play flat.

[The Violin Beautiful]

Adjusting the soundpost after a string change is always something to consider. While post position falls within some basic parameters when it’s first set, small adjustments are in order to find the best tonal result. As string brands or models are made of different materials and come at different tensions, their response to the bow will be different. After changing strings I always check the soundpost, even if it’s the same set of strings. Adjustment is something that is done regularly, so the position of the post is not set in stone and was never intended as such. Despite the machinations of some DIY luthiers, the post is not nailed or glued into position so that it can be adjusted.

String comparisons are often conducted poorly because soundpost adjustment is not taken into consideration. This is why players will sometimes describe string sets in terms that don’t make a lot of sense—the setup is such that it skews perceptions. 
 

You might compare it to bow rehairing. Bows have a certain character determined by their materials and construction, just as violins, and the choice of hair, like the choice of strings, has an impact on the tone. However, also like strings, the way that hair is put in has an equal or sometimes greater impact. If the hair is put in badly it’ll prevent the bow from working as it should. If the soundpost is out of position for a string set, you lose all the advantages the set has to offer. 

[GeorgeH]

1 hour ago, Brad Dorsey said:

Assuming they're not tuned sharp enough to break them, what's wrong with that?

Synthetic strings are made with many strands of thin polymer fibers in each string. One reason that strings wear out is that these fibers become over-stretched and fatigued over time. Tuning the strings sharp while the strings are breaking-in over-stretches the fibers from start and will reduce the longevity of the string.

[GeorgeH]

37 minutes ago, The Violin Beautiful said:

String comparisons are often conducted poorly because soundpost adjustment is not taken into consideration.

If the soundpost and the set-up are correct for one set of strings, then one can compare other strings directly using that set-up. If one starts messing with the soundpost after a string change, then they are no longer comparing one set of strings with another set; they are comparing set-ups. Furthermore, the tone of a new set of strings cannot be judged until they are broken-in so it is negligent to do a tone adjustment on a fresh set of strings before they are broken-in and pitch stable. 

There are also other parameters that one can adjust very very slightly, such as bridge position, that can profoundly affect the tone. These should be considered first before a soundpost adjustment because constant re-adjustment of the soundpost can lead to interior damage of the top, as I am sure you have seen examples of.

 

[FiddleDoug]

I have seen instruments where too many soundpost adjustments have left a crater on the inside of the front plate. I believe that Joseph Curtin has put a layer of Maple veneer on the inside, post area, of some of his instruments to prevent this. Too much tinkering by inexperienced people is never a good thing.

[The Violin Beautiful]

2 hours ago, GeorgeH said:

If the soundpost and the set-up are correct for one set of strings, then one can compare other strings directly using that set-up. If one starts messing with the soundpost after a string change, then they are no longer comparing one set of strings with another set; they are comparing set-ups. Furthermore, the tone of a new set of strings cannot be judged until they are broken-in so it is negligent to do a tone adjustment on a fresh set of strings before they are broken-in and pitch stable. 

There are also other parameters that one can adjust very very slightly, such as bridge position, that can profoundly affect the tone. These should be considered first before a soundpost adjustment because constant re-adjustment of the soundpost can lead to interior damage of the top, as I am sure you have seen examples of.

 

To suggest that there is one spot and one spot alone for the soundpost, and that it should be set in that magical position and never moved is ridiculous. It’s the responsibility of the luthier to be able to differentiate between the sound of freshly installed strings and that of the instrument and the overall effect of the strings. Adjustment appointments do not have the luxury of lasting days while people wait for strings to break in. When a customer walks out the door, the setup has to be good enough to be satisfying already, regardless of the freshness of the strings. If you tell customers “I put the soundpost in the RIGHT spot and your violin just sounds terrible because the strings are new, but I promise that if you hand me money and leave quickly, the violin will become amazing in a few days,” you’ll develop a bad reputation.

Concerns for the health of the top are not an issue when the adjustments are only in the realm of fractions of millimeters and done by competent adjusters. If the post is so tight that it’s going to do damage to move it, that’s a separate matter, and I wouldn’t be willing to adjust a post that was so tight. If the post is off by enough in its position, moving it will likely distort the fit, so a new post is in order. But assuming that the post is in a decent position to start and fits properly, the increments of adjustment will be small enough that it will do no harm. Violin strings don’t sound good by themselves; they only sound their best when they’re installed on a violin that’s adjusted for them.

Even with the same strings, the violin will experience changes with weather or if it’s taken out to different environments, so periodic adjustments are necessary. Good players often stop in for adjustments before a performance to make sure a violin is at its best. Collectors can afford to leave violins unadjusted because they don’t need them to sound great (until they want to sell to players), but players rely on adjustment for their everyday work. 

[GeorgeH]

20 minutes ago, The Violin Beautiful said:

To suggest that there is one spot and one spot alone for the soundpost, and that it should be set in that magical position and never moved is ridiculous.

Nobody suggested that.

22 minutes ago, The Violin Beautiful said:

“I put the soundpost in the RIGHT spot and your violin just sounds terrible because the strings are new, but I promise that if you hand me money and leave quickly, the violin will become amazing in a few days,” you’ll develop a bad reputation.

Nobody said that, either.

23 minutes ago, The Violin Beautiful said:

Violin strings don’t sound good by themselves; they only sound their best when they’re installed on a violin that’s adjusted for them.

Never heard anybody before say that violins should be adjusted based on the strings used. But it does sound like a nice racket to tell somebody they should pay to have their set-up checked because they changed their strings. If a fiddle sounds good with one string brand but not another, there is no point in adjusting the soundpost try to get the different strings to sound good. If the fiddle sounds good and everything is where it should be, then just leave it alone and go back to the original strings.

I love Evah Pirazzi strings and I use them on many of my violins. I also know that they are going to sound bad for about 2 days after I install them and then sound great for 6 months or so and then slowly die. I don't need to rush to my luthier to check the set-up because the strings sound bad.

The fact is that changing the set-up of a violin is no guarantee that it is going to make it sound better regardless of the strings. 

36 minutes ago, The Violin Beautiful said:

Good players often stop in for adjustments before a performance to make sure a violin is at its best.

So they don't trust their own ears to know if their violin is at its best? 

I do know that there are some players who are neurotic about getting their soundposts "adjusted" regularly regardless. This is not good for their violins but it suits their psychology. 

[baroquecello]

While it is debatable what the definition of "needed" is, it is not a strange idea to do that at all, when you change string brands or gauge, to try fiddling with the sound post a bit. It does make a difference and the optimal position may be somewhere else with different strings.

That said, in many instruments, the optimal position varies from day to day due to weather influences. It is debatable wether sound post position changes are needed to accommodate for that. If you are making a solo recording then likely yes. If you've got a couple of weeks of only practising ahead of you, and the weather is constantly changing, probably not. But hey, whatever floats your boat.

[nathan slobodkin]

6 hours ago, GeorgeH said:

Synthetic strings are made with many strands of thin polymer fibers in each string. One reason that strings wear out is that these fibers become over-stretched and fatigued over time. Tuning the strings sharp while the strings are breaking-in over-stretches the fibers from start and will reduce the longevity of the string.

Yup.

[nathan slobodkin]

7 hours ago, GeorgeH said:

I have never heard of anybody recommending changing the soundpost position after changing strings. If the set-up is already correct, then it is best to test one variable at a time. 

 

 

Agreed. 

[David Burgess]

2 hours ago, GeorgeH said:

Never heard anybody before say that violins should be adjusted based on the strings used. But it does sound like a nice racket to tell somebody they should pay to have their set-up checked because they changed their strings. If a fiddle sounds good with one string brand but not another, there is no point in adjusting the soundpost try to get the different strings to sound good.

To optimize a different set of strings, a slight soundpost position change may be required.
While soundpost adjustment may be a racket for some, I've got way too much business already (as do most of the better adjusters I know) to have any interest in recommending changes which will not produce obviously positive outcomes.

[Chamberlain]

16 hours ago, Anson said:

I’m currently on a quest of searching for a perfect set of strings for my violin. A particular issue comes to mind, because each set of strings comes with different string tensions, if I switch to a different set of strings, would the post no longer be in the optimal position, and an adjustment is needed? Or is the optimal position of of soundpost independent of the string tension on top?

You have some good advice here already.
Your post implies the soundpost is in an optimal position now, so I’m assuming it has been setup, adjusted or at least checked recently.

Just wondering if knowing a few more details might help? Like what initially led you to the quest for the perfect set of strings?  Is there something you want to change about the sound your violin currently has? Is there something that bothers you about the way it plays? When was the last time it was setup or adjusted? Is it a new or old violin and bow? What quality/style are they? What music and venue style are you playing in? 

Some of the answers to these might lead to simple low hanging fruit adjustments and answers that might be helpful in solving the bigger picture of whatever originally led you to your perfect string quest.  
Or maybe it isn’t any of these and it’s simply a grass is greener or a discovery scenario. In that case enjoy the quest! 

[Foldejal]

4 hours ago, The Violin Beautiful said:

To suggest that there is one spot and one spot alone for the soundpost, and that it should be set in that magical position and never moved is ridiculous. It’s the responsibility of the luthier to be able to differentiate between the sound of freshly installed strings and that of the instrument and the overall effect of the strings. Adjustment appointments do not have the luxury of lasting days while people wait for strings to break in. When a customer walks out the door, the setup has to be good enough to be satisfying already, regardless of the freshness of the strings. If you tell customers “I put the soundpost in the RIGHT spot and your violin just sounds terrible because the strings are new, but I promise that if you hand me money and leave quickly, the violin will become amazing in a few days,” you’ll develop a bad reputation.

Concerns for the health of the top are not an issue when the adjustments are only in the realm of fractions of millimeters and done by competent adjusters. If the post is so tight that it’s going to do damage to move it, that’s a separate matter, and I wouldn’t be willing to adjust a post that was so tight. If the post is off by enough in its position, moving it will likely distort the fit, so a new post is in order. But assuming that the post is in a decent position to start and fits properly, the increments of adjustment will be small enough that it will do no harm. Violin strings don’t sound good by themselves; they only sound their best when they’re installed on a violin that’s adjusted for them.

Even with the same strings, the violin will experience changes with weather or if it’s taken out to different environments, so periodic adjustments are necessary. Good players often stop in for adjustments before a performance to make sure a violin is at its best. Collectors can afford to leave violins unadjusted because they don’t need them to sound great (until they want to sell to players), but players rely on adjustment for their everyday work. 

As a professional player, I can tell that for my everyday work I rely mainly on my playing skills, and it includes ability to play not-so-good adjusted violin, if necessary. I feel that moving the soundpost with new set of strings makes the violin adjustment less reliable for some time, so I never thought about it, and I don't know anybody doing so, including really top violin players. There is nothing wrong with searching the "right" sound, the best setup, the best strings etc. (I'm interested too), but the reality I can see around me is The better player=the more focused on the playing and less focused on hardware problems.

[David Burgess]

12 minutes ago, Foldejal said:

As a professional player, I can tell that for my everyday work I rely mainly on my playing skills, and it includes ability to play not-so-good adjusted violin, if neccesary.

I think that ability is a huge asset.

14 minutes ago, Foldejal said:

I feel that moving the soundpost with new set of strings makes the violin adjustment less reliable for some time, so I never thought about it and I don't know anybody doing so, including really top violin players.

Any change can make an instrument less "reliable" in the short term.
Whether or not you know it, some top players  have their instruments adjusted quite regularly, some rather obsessively.

[Anson]

2 hours ago, Chamberlain said:

You have some good advice here already.
Your post implies the soundpost is in an optimal position now, so I’m assuming it has been setup, adjusted or at least checked recently.

Just wondering if knowing a few more details might help? Like what initially led you to the quest for the perfect set of strings?  Is there something you want to change about the sound your violin currently has? Is there something that bothers you about the way it plays? When was the last time it was setup or adjusted? Is it a new or old violin and bow? What quality/style are they? What music and venue style are you playing in? 

Some of the answers to these might lead to simple low hanging fruit adjustments and answers that might be helpful in solving the bigger picture of whatever originally led you to your perfect string quest.  
Or maybe it isn’t any of these and it’s simply a grass is greener or a discovery scenario. In that case enjoy the quest! 

You are spot on with your assumption. I started exploring strings, as I hadn’t been too happy with my violin. And recently I had my violin readjusted with a new sound post. Really happy with it, it’s the best my violin has ever sounded. The problem is the violin was being adjusted with a set of strings that I was trying out that I didn’t particularly like. So that’s where the question was coming from. My default set has always been dominants, so I want to use it with the new set up, but they are a bit lower tension than dynamos, the set I was trying out. 

Edited April 4 by Anson

[Randall The Restorer]

4 hours ago, Foldejal said:

 As a professional player, I can tell that for my everyday work I rely mainly on my playing skills, and it includes ability to play not-so-good adjusted violin, if necessary.

That ability can prevent others from borrowing or stealing the deliberately maladjusted (slightly) tool of one's trade.

The same principle applies to other endeavours like driving a car or truck, flying an airplane, sailing a sailboat, cutting hair, cutting wood, etc., etc. However, at quitting time one is more tired and sore than when the tools are tweaked just-right.

 

[The Violin Beautiful]

There’s no “racket” in making adjustments here. I don’t even charge for it if I’m doing other work on a violin. And after all, the point is to get the violin sounding its best. If a customer were unhappy with an adjustment, I’d revert to the original position and not change anything.

All kinds of players, from school students to the highest level professionals, visit luthiers for adjustments before performances. Kreisler was a famous example. I’ve done countless adjustments for players who noticed that their violins were out of sorts the day of a concert and asked for a last minute adjustment. I’ve had customers stop by in between shows on the same day.

I’ve experienced the issue myself. A few days before I was scheduled to play a concerto with my college orchestra my Freshman year, my violin suddenly underwent a tonal change. It wasn’t sounding right in the hall or in my room, so I contacted the luthier in town and visited his shop. In just a few seconds and one or two tiny taps of the post, the violin was back to life. I hadn’t changed strings, the violin had just undergone a change due to the weather.

It seems like much more of an imposition on players to tell them to put strings on to hopefully solve issues days later. When that fails, they are stuck with instruments that still aren’t working and they’ve wasted money on strings that they can’t return. “It doesn’t sound good now but I promise it will later” is a con that people use to try to get customers out the door quickly before they realize that they’ve wasted money. The people who tell me stories like this generally end their stories by stating that they have no intention of ever returning to such places. 

Being able to play on a poorly adjusted violin shows adaptability and takes skill. However, that is no argument for leaving violins poorly adjusted. 

[Foldejal]

I wrote about ability to play not-so-good adjusted violin, if necessary. It really wasn't meant as I play poorly adjusted violins, or as an argument for leaving the poor violins poorly adjusted 

[nathan slobodkin]

14 hours ago, David Burgess said:

To optimize a different set of strings, a slight soundpost position change may be required.
While soundpost adjustment may be a racket for some, I've got way too much business already (as do most of the better adjusters I know) to have any interest in recommending changes which will not produce obviously positive outcomes.

David,

Would you do the adjustment at the same time you install the strings or have the client play on the strings until they get used to the sound and then adjust the instrument to sound it's best with those strings?

[GeorgeH]

9 hours ago, The Violin Beautiful said:

It seems like much more of an imposition on players to tell them to put strings on to hopefully solve issues days later. When that fails, they are stuck with instruments that still aren’t working and they’ve wasted money on strings that they can’t return. “It doesn’t sound good now but I promise it will later” is a con that people use to try to get customers out the door quickly before they realize that they’ve wasted money. The people who tell me stories like this generally end their stories by stating that they have no intention of ever returning to such places. 

Nobody is encouraging anybody to do this, but the fact is that good synthetic strings do have a break-in period and do not hold their pitch or sound very good during that period. Telling a customer that fact with instructions on how to properly break-in the strings is an honest thing to do. Encouraging them to wait until the strings are broken in to do any adjustments would be the best practice because maybe what they are hearing is because of the new strings and ultimately no adjustment will be needed.

Making major adjustments to violins like moving the soundpost right after new strings like Evah Pirazzi are installed but not broken-in is not a good practice, in my opinion, because the before-and-after difference in tone and response can be dramatic. Similarly, adjusting a violin with old dead strings installed is not a good practice either. 

A person who is constantly moving their soundpost to try to get a better sound either has OCD or should get a different violin. 

 

 

[Jeffrey Holmes]

14 hours ago, David Burgess said:

To optimize a different set of strings, a slight soundpost position change may be required.
While soundpost adjustment may be a racket for some, I've got way too much business already (as do most of the better adjusters I know) to have any interest in recommending changes which will not produce obviously positive outcomes.

I agree... Also, I do encourage players to break in new sets of stings (new brand, or just new strings of the same brand) a few days to a week before visiting if they feel an adjustment is required. Often it's not.

The point is, while I don't believe that needing an adjustment when changing string brands is a standard requirement. I think "never say never" applies to this issue.

I'm sure it's possible that some shops may use an adjustment as a "do you want fries with that" thing, but most good luthiers I know have many other things they would rather spend their time on.

[Victor Roman]

On 4/3/2025 at 7:46 AM, Anson said:

I’m currently on a quest of searching for a perfect set of strings for my violin. A particular issue comes to mind, because each set of strings comes with different string tensions, if I switch to a different set of strings, would the post no longer be in the optimal position, and an adjustment is needed? Or is the optimal position of of soundpost independent of the string tension on top?

This is a very good question ! If the new strings are very different from the old ones and IF your violin was "optimized" for the old ones then you  will need some sound post adjustment in order to recover some familiar feeling. Myself am not a believer in the "perfect set of strings" or "optimal adjustment" but rather think that good enough is good enough. There is a lot of exaggerating around.... My violin I used on it perlon strings with a steel A and never happened that somebody picked up the "mismatch" by the tone. That tells a lot. My suggestion is to get a good and solid adjustment so that the instrument does not fight you and take it from there.