How to Adjust the Fingerboard of a Violin

Video Transcript

"Hi! I’m David Kaynor for expertvillage.com. There are a number of different considerations in adjusting a fingerboard. The angle of the fingerboard relative to the top of the instrument is an important measurement and has a really significant affect on volume and tone. So the technician’s expected to not only shape the fingerboard for ideal playing and for the clearest intonation, but also create the correct angle of the fingerboard relative to the instrument so that the best possible bridge height can be used and the best possible balance between down pressure on the top and freedom of the top to vibrate can be maintained. And I can quickly give a picture of that as the string presses down on the bridge that pressure is transmitted via the bridge to the top a really tall bridge with a really sharp string angle going over it will cause more down pressure, which in theory could be seen as more of the vibration energy of the string being transmitted to the top. On the other hand the higher down pressure can actually cause the top to be inhibited… simply just held down so tightly that it’s not able to vibrate as freely in response to the strings vibrations. So there’s a lot of trial and error in this. I think violin technicians have some initial standard measurements that they try to achieve in setting the angle of the fingerboard in the height of the bridge and the angle of the strings over the bridge. And then they have to try to individualize those specifications to the violin itself, to the individual violin; and it’s arguable that every violin has its own ideal specifications, its own ideal angled the strings over the bridge, its own ideal amount of down pressure between string tension, the bridge and the top and that becomes a matter of trial and error."