How to String a Violin

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Christian. We're here at the very location of Summerhays Music Center in Utah, and today we're going to talk about stringing a violin which is an important thing because we need the strings on the violin in order to be able to make sound. So, I will show you how to take a string and to fix it in the correct way on top of the instrument. First of all, we going to obtain the string, and most strings are being kind of enrolled in an envelope so we take the string out. In this case I'm going to start with the G string for our violin. This specific E string has a yellow silking. That is a way to recognize it as a G string. We're going to open the string up. Now, string has two ends. There is one ball end on one side which is the end to go into the tailpiece, and the other one is the end where a hard silking is visible. So, this silking is important to be able to fix the string in the peg later on. So, the ball end in the string is there because it helps the string to stay in place and to be in a fixed position. So, I put it through this hole. I go in, I just hook it in, and basically that's it. It stays there. I want to make sure the G string goes through the notch on the bridge where it has to go. I extend the string. I go through the upper notch or you can also say the slot of the knot of the violin. I fix the violin here in front of me because then I'm able to see what I'm doing. I take the end with the silking and I start to go in the peg. Put it in the peg, and then I start just rolling the string on top of the peg, and winding and winding, and keep winding one next to the other. So, now I'm going to put the peg in the real position and I'm going to do this from the inside. So, we going to approach to the hole. Let a little bit of the string tail end look out. Start on the right side with the first winding; then I'm going to cross over to the left side, and I just keep winding all my way through on the peg until I approach to the wooden wall here on the left side; having a nice angle. And we keep winding until the string is approaching the wooden left wall of the peg box. Gonna' make sure the string is right here in that notch where it has to be, and very gently start tensing the string very gently, and make sure the string is overall in the correct position. That means it's fixed here; it is in the slot, and it is very well centered on top of the fingerboard, and it is okay. And this is the moment where we actually could start step by step tensing the string and going up. For now, we can leave it here because we still have to string D string which is number three string. I have here a D string available, and in this case here D string, just to be able to distinguish, comes in a green silking. Meanwhile, G has a yellow silking, but this can vary from string producer to string producer. Everybody has different colors. Once again, I fix the instrument before me because I want to see what I am doing. No use having the instrument on a table cause' I need exactly to fix the string and get it through the hole of the peg. I start winding, winding my way all through the left side. Now, placing one winding next to the other, being very gentle, approaching the notch, dropping the string, and it seems all they are all the strings are fine now and the others are also. We want to have this small plastic protector here in the correct position on E string which helps or prevents the string from biting its way down through the wood so this is kind of a protecting attitude. We want to make sure the bridge is well centered and in the correct position, strings are wonderful, the action looks good. We are headed slightly backwards, which is very important so there is no danger that the bridge might fall over, so it's leaning backwards. And this is the moment where the actual tuning of the instrument can start because all the strings are in place now."