Most “correct” string spacing for bridge?

[Nick Lewis]

I have a few templates for marking strings spacing at the bridge, including from Strobel, the Triton, and the Juzek marking tool. They’re all a little different. There’s a difference between the overall “linear” spacing between E and G that you would get with dividers vs the spacing when following the curve of the bridge (which is why I don’t love the divider method).

My main concern is with the Juzek tool. Set to the 4/4 violin mark, the spacing is overall more than the two templates, and the spacing isn’t even between all of the strings (12.5, 12, 12.5, with overall spacing between E and G usually ending up about 35-35.5). Has anyone who uses the Juzek marker noticed issues? What’s the most “correct” or standardized way to get the bridge string spacing?

[Mark Norfleet]

It gets more complicated…

I’ve never used any of those templates and have always used the divider method, except when there are more than 4 strings, then I set the strings so that the distance between them is equal.  Some use that method always.

[Jerry Lynn]

When I started I was shown to use the marking tool.  A few years later, a more enlightened coworker showed me how to use dividers.  After that, the Juzek marking tool became a paper weight.  A pretty crappy one at that, doesn't have enough mass to do the job properly.

[Jeffrey Holmes]

Dividers here as well.

[Barry J. Griffiths]

Divide and conquer.

[Don Noon]

Dividers for the initial groove placement, then I have a tool with 2 notches in it at the proper spacing to use when the strings are on, to fine-tune things.  It's easier and more precise than trying to use dividers at that point.  Groove spacing can drift around a bit after using the dividers to get started.

[The Violin Beautiful]

I’ve never used the Juzek tool. I think I inherited one from my grandfather that I never saw him use and I just kept it in a box. I learned to use dividers and have done it that way ever since.

Discrepancies are to be expected comparing measurements along different curved lines. Bridge curve templates are fairly similar, but even slight differences will impact measurements.  For that reason it makes a lot of sense to begin with the spacing for the outer strings and then subdivide using dividers and the existing bridge curve so that the finished spacing is both within the target width and evenly spaced. You can adjust if your goal is to equalize space between string edges, but if you’re measuring string centers, this way is the most accurate. Sure, a slip of the file can throw things off, but that’s a problem in execution, not measurement, and scoring the line for the groove with a knife helps keep the file from wandering. 

[Nick Lewis]

Thanks! With dividers (or any method), is the goal to have the strings evenly spaced on center, or the space between strings even? 
 

I’m carving a bridge right now, I’ll try out the divider method and see how I like it. 

[David Burgess]

1 hour ago, Nick Lewis said:

Thanks! With dividers (or any method), is the goal to have the strings evenly spaced on center, or the space between strings even? 

That will depend on which shop employs you, and which musician you are trying to please.

[Ganymede Piggot]

3 hours ago, Nick Lewis said:

 is the goal to have the strings evenly spaced on center, or the space between strings even? 
 

Here's how we do it in New York.  Remember, this sheet does NOT leave the building.

 

[Evan Smith]

8 minutes ago, Ganymede Piggot said:

Here's how we do it in New York.  Remember, this sheet does NOT leave the building.

 

I thought everyone was slipped a copy of "eyes only"

Hasn't it been translated into over 600 languages?

[Evan Smith]

I use dividers for the outside strings, then set the two middle and slide them around til I have even spacing, usually ends at 11.51. Just in time for lunch.

[Marty Kasprzyk]

Do violin player's finger tips also have a standardized size?

[MikeC]

1 hour ago, Ganymede Piggot said:

Here's how we do it in New York.  Remember, this sheet does NOT leave the building.

 

Is the rest of it available?  

[Ganymede Piggot]

The rest of the notebook?  It's mostly just phone numbers of all the stars.  I probably shouldn't post it but I will anyway. 

[Nick Lewis]

Thanks everyone, really helpful. Dividers worked great, I just did the spacing on center.  

I wonder about spacing so the gap between strings is equidistant rather than spacing on center…aren’t all strings slightly different? Different gauges, materials, brands, etc. It seems a bridge should long outlive several sets of strings. I guess if someone knows the strings they like and never change that won’t be an issue, but others might experiment with brands and gauges, then the bridge spacing is a little off.

Maybe that’s splitting hairs too much, but if someone is concerned about on center vs between the strings, would switching out strings to a new type throw that off enough to matter?

[Violadamore]

On 6/4/2025 at 11:19 AM, Nick Lewis said:

My main concern is with the Juzek tool..............

Aren't those specifically designed for speed in doing multiple identical set-ups as for a rental pool, rather than for accuracy in individual set-ups?  

[Mark Norfleet]

14 hours ago, Marty Kasprzyk said:

Do violin player's finger tips also have a standardized size?

That’s one of the criteria I use to screen potential clients.

[The Violin Beautiful]

The argument about spacing comes down to whether you want the centers of the strings equidistant or whether you want the same amount of space between the string edges, which might appear more symmetrical to the eye. 
 

I go by string center because the fingers  are placed over the center of the string in playing, not between the strings. Especially thick or thin strings can make the string spacing appear more cramped or uneven, but in cases like that you have to make some kind of sacrifice to make things workable. You can simply increase the 1-4 spacing, but that’s not ideal, especially if the nut is normal size or smaller. You can maintain the 1-4 spacing and distribute the discrepancy among the other strings to balance it all visually, but then you’re contracting the space between all the strings, not just two or three; that’s likely to cause playability issues. Otherwise you have to switch to a thinner gauge string or just accept that a thicker string will take up more space and adjust to playing with it. At the bridge end (which I know was the original subject) it’s a similar situation, except you can substitute finger placement for bow placement and string crossing. Just as players are sensitive to bridge curvature, they are sensitive to string spacing at the bridge. I’ve seen a lot of players complain about difficulty in playing and string crossing, only to find that their strings were poorly spaced (usually too widely).

 If you use string center as your method,  you don’t have to recut the bridge and nut grooves if you switch strings—the center is still the center. 
 

To be fair, though, this difference is not great enough to be a problem for many players. Many highly respected shops go by spacing between strings. Whichever method one chooses, accuracy and tool skills will make the biggest difference.

[Don Noon]

For picking nits about spacing and finger feel, I would think that the nut is far more important, as it is the dominant factor in the lower positions where string spacing is more cramped.  

For the bridge, I don't think that spacing is quite so critical... but the combined effect of spacing and string height will determine the bow angle difference between strings, which seems to me like it would matter more to the player than the spacing between strings in the upper positions.

I never use the upper half of the fingerboard, so perhaps those players that do can comment from their experience.  Do players use the G and D strings much in the high positions anyway?

[Ganymede Piggot]

1 hour ago, Don Noon said:

Do players use the G and D strings much in the high positions

The G string a lot more than the D, since it's a pretty frequently called for effect.  If the G is too low up there it feels and sounds weak.

[Dr. Mark]

2 hours ago, Don Noon said:

Do players use the G and D strings much in the high positions anyway?

The 'gypsy' music I used to play way back when always sounded and felt best to me when phrased to use the upper registers of the lower strings, possibly because as an amateur I hadn't learned how to maintain tonal continuity.  I never noticed string spacing differences when playing but that may be a matter of the level of the player, and in one violin I was using the D-A spacing at the nut was visibly wider.  If a string is low or high however it's very noticeable in my experience - low as per Mr. Piggot, high mostly just uncomfortable.

[Niko Luthieria]

im not a luthier just a learner, ive tried to put in the center of the holes. 

[Marty Kasprzyk]

6 hours ago, Don Noon said:

>

I never use the upper half of the fingerboard, so perhaps those players that do can comment from their experience.  Do players use the G and D strings much in the high positions anyway?

The attached video is an example of a player using the high positions in all of the strings.

 

[The Violin Beautiful]

17 hours ago, Don Noon said:

I never use the upper half of the fingerboard, so perhaps those players that do can comment from their experience.  Do players use the G and D strings much in the high positions anyway?

I just worked on a customer’s violin a couple days ago because he was having trouble in the upper positions, particularly on the G and E. He is preparing for a performance of a work that requires a lot of playing right at the bridge end of the fingerboard at the beginning, and if the strings don’t speak, the player is horribly exposed.

I had cut a bridge for him a year or two ago, but a little while ago, during a seasonal change, he took the violin to another shop because we couldn’t align schedules right before a different performance. The other shop cut a new bridge for it. Since then the player had been experiencing the playing issues in the upper registers, so he asked me to put my old bridge back on and adjust the soundpost. Doing so eliminated the issues immediately.