Replacing Violin Strings Is Easy

It is very important not to remove the violin strings on your instrument all at the same time. This will cause drastic changes in the tension and pressure on the violin and this can cause the sound post to fall.

Remove and replace the violin strings one at a time. After removing the old violin string, you will want to lubricate the groove where the string passes over the bridge by rubbing a soft pencil in the groove. This decreases friction and helps prevent bridge movement. You will also want to rub the pencil through the slot in the nut. It also allows the string to slide more easily, making tuning easier and helps stop buzzing.

Place the violin string onto the instrument’s tailpiece and into the peg and wind it in a manner that the string is neatly distributed on the peg. If you have tailpiece adjusters fitted, it is important to be careful how you fit the string through the adjuster as it can easily damage the string. A violin string that is not wound neatly will make the instrument much harder to tune and remain in tune. There is also less tension placed on a properly wound string so that there is less chance of friction damaging the string in the peg box itself and causing it to break.

Make sure that when you have finished replacing each violin string that its fine tuner (if it has one) is not too tight and not too loose. You need to be able to adjust the fine tuner.

Only when the new violin string is in place should you start working on removing the next string.

Always check to make sure that the bridge is remaining in the upright position as you go through the process of changing each string. You need to ensure that not only are the bridge’s feet are in the proper position between the f-holes and that the bridge itself is properly perpendicular to the instrument. The bridge is considered the most important fitting on the outside of a violin. The position of the bridge is crucial to the sound of your violin. It is only held in place by the tension of the violin strings passing over the top edge of the bridge. The bridge acts to transmit the vibration energy from the violin strings to the sound post and to the body of the violin. The body of the violin acts as an amplifier in the sense that it increases the sound of the volume of the violin strings’ vibrations.

Once you have the strings replaced, you can then move on to tuning your violin.