Viola questions, answered by our string team. Violas are measured in inches rather than fractions, which confuses nearly everyone the first time — there’s no standard “full size,” so a 15″ and a 16″ are both adult instruments that simply sound different. We also field a lot of questions from families whose violinist has been asked to switch, usually because the school orchestra is short of violists. The good news is that most of what they know transfers.
Yes. Dry winter heat shrinks the wood, which means slipping pegs, constant tuning drift, open seams, and in the worst cases a cracked top. The fix is cheap: a humidifier in the room where your child practices from December through…
A lot of people just call us the violin doctor, and that is exactly what a luthier is: someone trained to build, repair, and care for string instruments. The word is reserved for strings. You would not call a piano…
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…