Can someone direct me to a web site than can show me how to set up my newly aquired fiddle . . be nice to see some pictures as well.
Tried looking myself but no luck up to now.
I expect lots of people are going to say take it to an expert . . but I’d like to have a go myself cos I’m on a tight budget, and I was born in Yorkshire ! !
It is possible to set fiddles up yourself…be very carefull though!
What exactly are you intending to do?
I needs tuning pegs /bridge /tailpeice / new endpin and strings fitted . . I’m hoping the soundpost is in the right place
I’m a complete beginner on the fiddle although I’ve played mandolin a few years . . I know its not easy to DIY but I’d like to have a bash.
The pegs could be a pain, but the rest is fairly straightforward, I’ll see if I can find a setup page for you.
Thanks Fred ! Is it possible to get hold of or borrow a reamer for the pegs from anywhere ?
I always like to have a go at doing things myself, but I know that you need a peg shaper and a peghole reamer to fit new pegs and they don’t come cheap (so I would give that job to someone with the right tools). Tailpiece and strings are easier, but you have to get the proportions right (the length of string from bridge to tailpiece should be one sixth of the length from nut to bridge). When you fit a new tailpiece sure as hell your soundpost will fall over. I managed to measure and fit a new soundpost but it took hours and stretched my patience and endurance to breaking point!
When I needed a new soundpost in my old fiddle, we used a soundpost setter made from an old bra wire!!! Sometimes you can make a tool that will do the job….
There doesn’t seem to be anything with a step by step photo how to section, but then I’m not surprised, after all, peoples livelyhoods are involved, and they don’t want every Tom Dick or Harry doing their own set ups do they?
Thanks for trying fred . . their could be something out there if I keep looking . .
look for individual pages such as how to carve a bridge, and how to measure the afterlength , etc
If you get your hands on a reamer, be very careful with it. It’s better to take material off the pegs than off the fiddle!
There’s a tool for shaping the peg blanks - looks kinda like a big pencil sharpener. Use that more than you use the reamer.
Here’s some useful pages I had bookmarked:
http://www.abcviolins.com/setup.html
http://www.centrum.is/hansi/maintenance/
This one is good on soundposts:
http://www.westcountryviolins.com/web_pages/violin.htm
Actually fiddle repairers love people who do their own set-ups. They make much more money from putting the damage right than doing the job in the first place.
Well I’m lucky, I have a friend in the states who’s a luthier, and my uncle has made some fiddles, so there’s plenty of good advice if I need it…..
Reading this thread sends a shiver down my spine!
If it’s a half-decent fiddle, take it to someone who knows their stuff.
If not, it’s going to sound plop anyway, so what the heck, have some fun! (But if it’s a poor body and it needs all the parts you mention, you’ll end up paying more than it would be for a complete new outfit of similar quality)
Some nice pictures here - vso = violin shaped object
http://hmi.homewood.net/vso/
Chris
I would not recommend anyone doing their own setup, unless you got some training somewhere, and even then…but some people can’t be convinced otherwise, so go at it.
“Actually fiddle repairers love people who do their own set-ups. They make much more money from putting the damage right than doing the job in the first place.”
how true
Happy reaming
Anyone who has played a musical instrument for a long time will have done some maintenance themselves. Some people will tackle more, some less - there’s no law against it. You just have to know your own limitations. I would now feel confident fitting another soundpost or bridge but I wouldn’t mess around with a peg box, refit or shoot a fingerboard, reglue seams etc. You always get replies on this topic saying never ever encroach upon the territory of the expert, but every expert had to start somewhere.
If someone seriously wanted to do substantial DIY work on a fiddle I’d recommend the following courses of action:
1. Unless you already have good carpentry skills, go to carpentry classes to learn how to use tools and materials, and to get a feel for wood. If nothing else, you’ll have useful skills for life.
2. Read up on the instrument-making skills required, and the history and construction and construction of fiddles as much as you can, and talk to people with the skills.
3. Don’t be afraid to make your own tools - that’s what Stradivari and others of his time did.
4. Get hold of a couple of really cheap beat-up instruments from a second-hand shop to experiment on before you let yourself loose on an even half-decent instrument. By “experiment” I mean taking an instrument to pieces to see how it is constructed, and then reassembling it to a playable condition.
5. Use the right materials - especially the glues and varnishes. No messing around with the usual quite inappropriate DIY adhesives and coatings here! My guitar teacher (a luthier) many years ago regularly told me about customers who would bring in a broken Spanish guitar that had been “mended” with DIY wood adhesive or, worse still, with an epoxy resin. Reasonably remunerative, apparently, but he would much rather have spent his time repairing genuine damage that hadn’t been messed around with, or making instruments.
How come you have a completely unstrung fiddle ? If it is in that state because it was crap, then everything you do will be a further waste of time and money.
I would take it to a fiddle-repairer and ask if it’s worth doing ANYTHING to it before you even acquire any of the bits; you may have a turkey that shouldn’t be resurrected.
If it is worth doing, and you have no experience in this work, then pretty soon it WON’T be worth doing. This is what experts are for, and the amount you pay them over what you might think is a fair price for the job, is for their hard-won experience.
The value of a good fiddle continues to rise; the value of a f*u*c*k*e*d fiddle remains nil.
PS I saved a fiddle from a charity shop a while ago - It’s not that I play one, I couldn’t bear to see the plonker in the shop put his hands all over the bow hair, bugger-up the bridge, etc.
Don’t know what I’ll do with it yet; a friend is willing back to me her second fiddle that I found for her to take to sessions 30+ years ago - maybe I should try to learn it after all this time….only will have three in the house when this has all happened
But definitely get yours set up properly, there might be someone at your sessions who can handle this, but don’t go into a job like this without experience or a guiding hand…..
The fiddle Iv’e gots worth just a few pounds I reckon,its an old Maidstone, and so if I make a balls of the setting up it dossn’t matter.
Its just for a few weeks to practice on . . if I decide its an instrument i could probably get the hang of, well then I’ll get a better one . .
Justintime, just a tip here, if that fiddle of yours is actually just a fancy piece of firewood, you’ll have a hard time knowing whether you’re going to like playing it or not because it’s going to sound excruciating no matter what you do and you’ll have an altogether unpleasant experience.
Go to a shop, rent a decent fiddle for a month or two, and then decide. Even in Yorkshire I’m sure there are shops that won’t charge very much for a short-term rental.
And if you do find a fiddle to rent, spring for a lesson as well. It’ll be worth every cent (pound?)
Although I mostly build concertinas, I have a webpage that describes fiddle set ups……particularly for some of the less romantic violins that are circling the drain here and there.
http://hmi.homewood.net/vso
Bob
Here is something else on topic, a little presentation on installing new pegs.
I put this up in January 2000 BC (before concertinas)
http://hmi.homewood.net/pegjob
Bob
nicely done there bt
I love the “vso” part…how true that can be…
Are you sure an old Maidstone is worth ‘just a few pounds’. Or is your idea of ‘just a few pounds’ rather more than mine?!
If it’s in good enough condition to be playable, maybe it should be valued before anything is done. You probably can’t do too much damage with the bridge, soundpost and tailpiece but you could make the pegbox unusable if you ream out too much.
And if it really is only worth ten or fifteen quid, then it’s firewood. Or a wall-hanging. Or sell it to a flower arranger.
If it’s worth playing, it’s worth getting professionally set-up (and a lot of the cost of a set-up is the cost of the materials, which you will have to pay anyway). Experienced players can do running repairs and maintenance, but they know what a fiddle is supposed to sound and feel like. They also know when to leave things to an expert.
A beginner needs all the help he or she can get from an instrument - if you are fighting an unplayable instrument you will never know whether you would have been any good ot not!
bt what a fantastic web site you have come up with!
I really haven’t got the craftsman like skills or the patience I’m afraid to to do most of the work shown on your site, but I’ll have a go at some of the things shown.
As to the value of the fiddle cg well a mate of mine bought if off a car boot sale for £10, and so thats what I paid for it !
Everybodys probably right its a load of sh**te, but who knows after its set up . . its worth risking a little money on it.
Somebody said to hire a good fiddle which is a good idea . . I’ll ring a local music shop up today.
Thanks everbody . .
Perhaps it’s time to say, good luck with playing the fiddle!