The bridge fell off my child’s violin. What do I do?

Loosen the strings slightly, lay the instrument in its case, and bring it in. Don’t stand the bridge back up yourself, and don’t let anyone else improvise it: resetting is quick, routine work at our counter, and a fallen bridge almost never means anything is broken.

The bridge is not glued. It is held upright purely by string tension, which surprises everyone the first time. It has to stand in exactly the right spot, at the right angle, with both feet in full contact with the top. Put back wrong, it can damage the top or knock over the soundpost inside (the small dowel the bridge’s vibrations travel through), and that turns a five-minute reset into a genuine repair.

When you bring it in, we will reset the bridge while you wait, provided nothing else has moved, and check that the soundpost inside is standing where it should.

One reassurance: a fallen bridge, by itself, almost never means anything is broken. It usually means the strings went slack, often from winter dryness making the pegs slip, and the bridge simply lost the tension that was holding it up. Handled promptly and correctly, it is one of the most routine things we see.