Violin rentals, sized and set up for your student.
School-year rental
Short-term available
Free size swaps as they grow
Every violin we rent is set up on our bench in Norwalk before it goes out: the bridge fitted to that instrument, the sound post placed, the string height adjusted. Your student gets a violin that plays properly from the first day.
Our violins are built or chosen to a standard we set, then set up by our own luthiers.
Our White Label violins we buy, from a small group of workshops we’ve worked with for twenty years. Our Black Label violins we have custom built to Kenneth Kuo’s specifications. Our Euro Label violins we collect from European workshops. Teachers and directors have approved all three, and students and professionals have played them in concerts, competitions and recordings. Every one is set up here in Norwalk before it goes out.
Educator-approved · Set up in-house before every rental · Free adjustments for as long as you rent
Our three violin labels
All three are spruce, maple and ebony. What changes is the grade of wood the maker starts with, what he does with the extra days on the bench, and how much tone the finished violin gives back. Most shops rent you one student violin. We’d rather you picked. Every one is set up in-house before it goes out, and the photographs show a representative instrument from each label. More about our string instruments and labels.
White Label
We buy these from a small group of workshops we’ve worked with for twenty years, and nothing goes into the fleet unless it clears the standard we set: it has to sound like a violin, play like a violin, look like a violin, and be safe and easy under a child’s hand. Most families renting for the first year or two choose this one. It comes with four adjustable fine tuners, a real horsehair bow, a case, rosin and a name tag.
DELUXE
Black Label
We have these custom built for us. Kenneth Kuo specifies the wood, how thin it’s carved, the varnish and the finish, and checks each instrument against what he asked for before it joins the fleet. They’re made from the same materials all fine violins are made from: a spruce top, flamed maple back, ribs and scroll, and a solid ebony fingerboard. Building one takes considerably longer than a stock violin, and what you’re paying for is the maker. Someone who has been building for decades takes the plates thinner in the places that open up the sound, and gives the fitting and the oil varnish the time they need. You get more tone to work with, which a student starts to hear once they’re practicing regularly.
PREMIUM
Euro Label
We collect these. Most rental companies don’t carry European instruments at all. We have access to a supply of violins built in Europe between the 1970s and the 1990s, by makers like Hofner and Pfretzschner, in workshops from Germany to Romania, and kept in storage ever since. Because the wood, lacquer and varnish were applied decades ago, these have aged naturally rather than being finished to look old. Genuinely aged violins in this condition are rare. Limited availability.
Not sure which to choose?
Choose White Label if you’re watching the budget, or if your student is still learning to handle an instrument carefully. The first year or two is when violins get knocked about, and this is the one you’d rather that happened to.
Choose Black Label if your student is a few years in and practicing seriously, or if you’d rather pay a little more for an instrument that gives more back.
Choose Euro Label if your student is auditioning or competing and wants the best we rent for the school year.
Whichever you pick, you can move up mid year without a penalty, and nothing is charged until we call to confirm.
Renting can count toward owning.
If you decide to buy a violin from us, up to 24 months of what you’ve already paid in rental fees can be applied to the purchase price, excluding tax and insurance. So the years spent renting while your child grows aren’t money spent instead of buying. They count toward it. And if they move on to something else, you simply return the instrument.
Up to 24 months creditable · Free size swaps as they grow · Ask us when you’re ready
What size violin does my child need?
Violin size is set by arm length, not age, and a half-size violin isn’t half the size of a full one. Here’s a general guide, but the scroll test on the right is the one that actually settles it.
A note on sizing: we never size by age or height, because children come in every shape. The measurement that matters is arm length: from the side of the neck to the middle of the palm, arm fully extended, palm up. This chart assists when a teacher is not available, and your teacher always makes the final call.
| Violin size | Arm length |
|---|---|
| 1/16 | 14” to 15⅜” |
| 1/10 | 15⅜” to 16⅞” |
| 1/8 | 16⅞” to 17⅝” |
| 1/4 | 17⅝” to 20” |
| 1/2 | 20” to 22” |
| 3/4 | 22” to 23⅛” |
| 4/4 (full) | 23⅛” and up |
A full-size violin body measures 14 inches, not counting the neck. We stock every fractional size down to 1/16, so even a three- or four-year-old starting Suzuki can be fitted properly.
The scroll test
Have your child hold the violin in playing position with their chin on the chinrest, then reach their left arm under and around the scroll. If they can curl their fingers around the end of the scroll with a slight bend at the elbow, the size fits. If their fingers can’t reach, go one size smaller.
Don’t want to guess? Bring your child to the Norwalk shop and we’ll size them for free in a couple of minutes. New York families: your child’s teacher can size them in class, or we’re glad to help by phone.
Students grow, so when it’s time for the next size up, string renters swap to the larger violin free of charge.
Everything your student needs to start.
Every violin rental arrives ready to play, no extra shopping trip required.
- The violin, set up in-house
- Bow with real horsehair
- Case
- Rosin
- Four adjustable fine tuners
- Name tag
The common violin mishaps, and how to avoid them.
Violins are tougher than they look, but a few things trip up new families. None of these are disasters, and normal wear is expected.
Most common issues
- The bridge leans or falls. It’s held up by string tension, not glue. Check that it stays straight and centered between the f-holes. A crooked bridge hurts the tone.
- Pegs slip in dry weather. Wood shrinks in winter heating. Use the fine tuners for small corrections and let us reset the pegs.
- Cracks from dryness. Keep the violin away from radiators and out of hot cars; a room humidifier in winter helps.
- Bow warping. Leaving the hair tight bends the stick over time, so always loosen it after playing.
Easy habits that prevent them
- Tighten before, loosen after. Turn the screw below the frog to tighten the bow before playing, and always loosen it before it goes back in the case.
- Rosin the bow. Rub the rosin slowly back and forth along the hair before playing so it grips the strings.
- Wipe the strings. A soft cloth after practice keeps rosin from building up and dulling the tone.
- When in doubt, bring it in. Small problems are quick fixes; ignored ones get expensive. Tuning and minor adjustments are free.
Violin rental questions
Answered by the luthiers and technicians who repair these every day. Browse all violin questions.
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.
How do I tune my child’s violin without wrecking it?
Use the fine tuners, the small screws at the tailpiece. They move the pitch a little at a time and are very hard to overdo. The strings are G, D, A, E from lowest to highest, and a clip-on tuner or a phone app tells you where you are. (The app our own staff reach for is ClearTune, but any decent tuner works.)
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.
What is a luthier, and why does it matter for a rental?
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 technician or a clarinet repair tech a luthier. It comes from the lute, one of the oldest instruments in the family, and the trade has been passed down since the instruments themselves evolved from it into the violin, viola, cello, and bass.
Does winter really damage instruments?
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 March, distance from radiators and parked cars, and an early visit if a seam opens. Winter is our busiest repair season, and most of what comes in was preventable.
Questions every rental family asks
Should we rent or buy our child’s first instrument?
Rent, in almost every case: beginners can't yet handle an instrument safely, children outgrow sizes and switch instruments, and renting turns those surprises into a phone call instead of a buying mistake. And we would say that even if we didn't rent instruments.
What happens if my child quits after a few months?
Then you return the instrument. That is the whole point of renting instead of buying, it happens in every school year, and nobody here will make it awkward.
Will I be charged for normal wear and tear?
No, not for normal wear: strings wearing out, rosin used up, bow hair breaking strand by strand, a case zipper giving out. That is expected, and it is never charged to you. Damage is different: dents, cracks from drops, a broken bow, carved initials. We always tell you which side of the line we think something sits on before any chargeable work happens, and the insurance exists for the genuine accidents and the gray areas.
Ready to rent a violin?
Start your school-year rental online, or request a short-term quote for a performance. One of our staff members will confirm the size with you before anything is charged.