Andrew Hooker Violins

Setting Up Instruments

The "setting up" of an instrument means getting it ready to play. Any fool can put strings on a violin or a cello, and many fools do, and claim that the thing is ready to play. But of course there's much more to it than that. A properly set-up stringed instrument will have the neck angle correct, with the fingerboard planed and the strings neither too close nor too distant from it, and a bridge of the correct profile, thickness and height exactly fitted to the curvature of the table. The soundpost inside will be of the proper dimensions, with its top and bottom angled to match the arching, and it will be in the correct place. The tailpiece will be of a suitable weight, positioned correctly and with an appropriate choice of strings. To this should be added the sorting out of anything that rattles - internal linings that may have become unglued, or a tiny gap that may have opened between the table and the ribs. Naturally there is a specialised jargon for this sort of thing - the fingerboard is shot; the strings have elevations etc.

It is a strange fact that almost every violin dealer considers that their particular gift is in the setting-up of instruments. This includes those who are quite without the proper training. "My speciality" they say, "is in making instruments sound better". Normally these people cannot resist moving the soundpost, and, brandishing a curiously-shaped tool they set to work, very often changing the sound enough for an intimidated player to believe that there has been an actual improvement . . . until they get home, that is. Sometimes lasting damage is done.

Soundpost setters: dangerous in the wrong hands

Setting up is best left to a professional luthier. You wouldn't trust a doctor without any training (or at least you shouldn't) or an airline pilot or any other specialist. And yet the world is full of people "with a gift" for setting up, and equally full of people who believe them.

About the market in violins, violas and cellos

How to try a stringed instrument

An instrument buyer's guide - more about trying instruments

Who made the instrument? About labels and attributions

Repairs and damage - what to look out for

About setting up instruments soundposts, strings &c.

About new instruments