What size violin does my child need?

Violins run from 1/16 up to full size, and it is arm length that decides, never a chart of ages and heights. Children come in every shape, and the final call on size belongs to your child’s teacher. The quick check: in playing position, your child’s fingers should curl over the end of the scroll with a slight bend in the elbow. When in doubt go smaller, and better yet, have a teacher or a shop of working musicians size them in person. It takes two minutes.

In full, the check teachers use: hold the violin in playing position, chin on the chinrest, and reach the left arm under and around the scroll. Fingers curling comfortably over the end of the scroll, with a slight bend in the elbow, means it fits.

But here is what the charts don’t tell you: sizing is a judgment call, and different teachers make it differently. Some size a child precisely for today. Our founder, a string teacher himself, sizes a touch roomy, because children grow every day and nobody wants to swap instruments every month. Both are defensible. What is not defensible is guessing from an age chart, because a violin that is too large makes good technique nearly impossible, and the student concludes they are the problem.

So have a person do it: your child’s teacher, or a shop where the people sizing your child actually play. Everyone who works here is a musician. We hire that way on purpose. Sizing takes us a couple of minutes, costs nothing, and our string renters swap up at no charge as they grow.