General Question

Strauss's avatar

Can someone help me set up a new cello and violin?

Asked by Strauss (23812points) December 6th, 2010

While I’m no musical novice, I’ve never set up a new cello or violin, and both have arrived at the house as a holiday surprise for my 10-year-old. I know there are some excellent on-line resources. I would feel better getting tips from someone who has first-hand experience.

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5 Answers

loser's avatar

They should be ready to go. There are strings on them, right?

Winters's avatar

if you need it to get tuned, find a local music store to get them tuned.

Also don’t forget to apply some resin to the bows, otherwise you aren’t going to get the necessary friction needed for playing.

Aesthetic_Mess's avatar

The strings are already on right? And the bridge? Don’t take off the bridge from beneath the strings. It may look like something that just came with it as packaging, but it’s crucial to the instrument. Since it’s a student violin I assume, there will probably be fine tuners on the tailpiece. Use those to tune the instrument, instead of the pegs, because if you use the pegs to tune it first, the strings may break.
To tune the violin, you can use this site.
To get a note to be higher, turn the pegs to the right, and lower, to the left. Be careful not to tune it too tight, or the strings could break. If you never done it before, you should take it to a music store and let them tune it for the first time.
Make sure there is rosin on the bow before you tune it. You may want to scratch the rosin with a key to create dust on it if it’s new. Then rub the bow on the rosin.
Hope this helped!

kariered's avatar

I hope the instruments will sound decent once they are set up. Not to be rude, but most instruments you buy online are not good quality. In fact, they are harder to play. Trust me, I’ve been playing violin for over 20 years and I teach orchestra. I have never seen a violin bought online that I would let anyone play. No offense…

Winters's avatar

@kariered actually online was how I got my hands on a lovely sounding 150 year old cello for a mere $200. Then my mom broke it.

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