Day Four - A Day of Research

Unfortunately, today did not present me with the opportunity to make noise from my instrument. I thought it wise to do some reading online before potentially destroying that which I had just purchased. I found out today many important facts.

The Parts of the Fiddle / Violin: The Scroll, Pegbox, Neck, Fingerboard, Upper Bout, Waist, Bridge, F-Holes, Lower Bout, Fine Tuners, Tailpiece and Chinrest. Fantastic, I can now sound like a pro when talking about my violin, not that this is going to aid my quest greatly, but it's always useful.

The Rosin and the Bow: Puts lots of Rosin on. If you put too much on, it will sound bad and scratchy. If you don't put enough on, it'll not really sound at all. Early conclusion - put stacks on until it starts making sound, then I'll just have to re-apply a tiny bit every time I use it. Oh, and I'll need to scratch the top of the rosin block with a knife or sandpaper before I start.

The Notes of the Open Strings: Not touching the strings and playing them generates the following notes from thick to thin. GDAE. Not easy to remember, until the wonderful memory aid hit me... G'DAy MatE. Or just GDAY(E). Cool, that's actually going to stick. I'll worry about the other notes later.

Joining Symphony Orchestra: Is going to require some practice so I can make a realistic sound from my instrument. Proposed plan is to have a couple of days messing, a couple of days practise and join not this week, but the week afterwards.

In short, I'm definitely happy with the research. Note to self: keep up the good work.

Day Three - The Violin Arrives & the bridge is set.

Lo and behold, Parcelforce did not let me down with their speedy delivery policy. By the time I had returned from campus this morning my Violin had already been delivered and signed for. Without further ago, I eagerly tore open the packaging to spy my beautiful instrument inside!

I spent the evening slightly bewildered. This was the first time that I had ever seen a violin up-close - infact, it was probably the first time that I'd ever touched a stringed instrument other than the odd guitar. Even so, I set about trying to figure out this rather strange piece of wood, which I believe they call... The Bridge.


After reassuring myself that this wasn't part of a ship from Star Trek, I set about putting it into place. Following a bit of logic, and a tiny bit of help from some data at Wikipedia, I matched the bridge up quite nicely; the lower part of the bridge by the tiny string (and the higher part by the fat string), as well as making it stand perpendicular to the body, in line with the little notches that cut up the inside of the "f" holes in the body.

Fantastic - that's definitely enough for today. Tomorrow, I endeavour to figure out these strings, get them in tune, and try to figure out just what I'm supposed to do with the block of resin type material (cunningly called... rosin).