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as most of ya know my sound post had fallen a few weeks ago and i finally got to a luthier to reset it. Now i have moved and so the space is different and it could be that due to a change in the rooms as well as me not playing for a few weeks that my violin sounds different. It sounds a bit more boxy under my ear as if its not quite as open.
Could this mean the sound post needs adjusting? or is it because i'm now not playing at a wide open floor plan, that reverberates differently (stone vs dry wall)?or both?
sorry if this question doesn't make a lot of sense but as i've never played in different areas before or had my sound post changed from when i got it from FS i thought i'd get some opinions.
Lead me, Follow me, or get out of my way!
~General George S. Patton
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You should make your luthier aware of that. Maybe he's done something wrong, or maybe the soundpost moved afterwards... I'd bring it to him again.
Skype: augustoad Email: augustoaguieiras@hotmail.com Phone number/whatsapp: +55 42 9861-4084. I'd be happy to talk anything fiddle-related to anyone! :)
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It could have moved. The humidity or dryness of the air can affect the pressure of the post to either being looser or tighter. The acoustics can be very different in your new home. It's very hard to tell.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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Thank you both for your replies. I waited about a week to make sure the sound was still off. but it seems to have settled. it might have been a change in humidity from the luthier to my room or perhaps just getting used to a new environment but my trusty violin is sounding back to normal.
now that i can play regularly I'll hopefully be putting up some new videos and such soon! Thank you again for your help!
Lead me, Follow me, or get out of my way!
~General George S. Patton
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sorry i haven't been as active lately. training has been a bit hectic. I just wanted to give an update as to the sound "issues" i thought i was having. It just hit me today when i was playing. When i was having the soundpost reset the lady called me and asked if i wanted the bridge lowered as it was higher then what she normally sees. Being relatively new I didn't think much of it, but figured i'd try it out with a lower bridge. If worse came to worse i had a blank sitting around and i could always make it higher again.
After doing some hasty research out of curiosity i have found that lowering the bridge height seems to also lower the "punch" or how to say.....loudness? of the violin sometimes. With me trusty violin, i think it was suddenly not as loud as it had been before and it caught me off guard. I did a sound sample and tested it against some old recordings and the base sound is the same its just not nearly as loud.
I don't think this is a bad thing. I mostly just play for myself and any family who begs me to play so in fact it might actually help out my practicing a bit,not having to have it nearly as muted as i did previously when i know others are sleeping. other then that i haven't noticed a huge change in my playing...maybe a slight bit easier time shifting strings but overall not much.
Does anyone have any insights on bridge height and changes to the sound of the violin?
Lead me, Follow me, or get out of my way!
~General George S. Patton
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Well, I did have a very tall bridge for years until a friend of mine saw it and was shocked how I did manage to play with it that way (especially in the E string). So he modified one he had and gave it to me. I was thrilled with the change. The sound became smoother and the violin more responsive and more confortable to play.
rockinglr33 said
Does anyone have any insights on bridge height and changes to the sound of the violin?
As a matter of fact, I do. 
Three weeks ago, I purchased a new violin from my luthier, "Mark Schwartz Violin's". I loved the sound of it when it was played by another individual in his "lessons studio" in his shop. I didn't buy it from this website I got it direct from Mark.
http://www.young-musicians.com.....artali.htm
He said to me, Ken, I think I've got the sound you're looking for in a violin. He let me take it home for a week (I didn't need a week to decide, 3 days only). I bought it, but I did notice that the fingering was different than with my "Concert Master" because of the difference in string length. The "Concert Master" has a playing length of 326mm and the "Frenzo" has a playing length of 329mm. I also noticed that the bridge was higher on the new one. What do I do ?,,,, I take it back to, Mark and ask him to trim some off the bridge to make it more like the action of the, "Concert Master". Played it for a week, then this past Saturday, I'm right back in his shop wanting him to fit a new bridge, (back to the original height).
The lower bridge did take away some sound power, so I'm having it put back. I'll just have to adapt to the fingering change and string height.
Ken.
Honorary tenured advisor
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@fiddlestix, congratulations on the new fiddle.
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. ~Herm Albright
@Uzi: Thank you, but I did fail to mention that he sold it to me below his cost.
I couldn't pass it up.
Ken. 
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Fiddlestix said
rockinglr33 said
Does anyone have any insights on bridge height and changes to the sound of the violin?
As a matter of fact, I do.
Congrats, that is beautiful. I'd love to hear it, will you be posting a vid?
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@ElisaDalViolin Glad to hear that it helped make it so much easier for you to play. its interesting how the same way change on different violins has such different changes.
@fiddlestix I hear ya. I'm seriously debating on weather or not i want to put it back. I haven't noticed that much of a differecne in playing so i don't think they lowered it a lot. I was so excited about getting my violin back that i failed to ask. lol. Congrats on the new violin as well!
Lead me, Follow me, or get out of my way!
~General George S. Patton
micra said
Fiddlestix said
rockinglr33 said
Does anyone have any insights on bridge height and changes to the sound of the violin?
As a matter of fact, I do.
Congrats, that is beautiful. I'd love to hear it, will you be posting a vid?
I'm not sure if I'll be doing any more video's soon. Since I am now using "Win7" I haven't taken the time to figure out how to use the "WinMovieMaker" program, it's different than on, "WinXP". I've posted several video's (on the forum) using XP and my "FM Concert Master"(it was easy).
Actually, I'm being encouraged by another FM member to do a "St.J" show, which I'm thinking seriously about doing, I don't need "Movie Maker" for that.
Ken.
Well...... the, "Frenzo Bartali" is in for a new bridge. Mark didn't get to start on it until after 5:00 pm today. He said "and I suppose you want it tomorrow, then I better do it now because if i'm as busy tomorrow (Saturday) like I was today then you won't get it back tomorrow".
He had several customer's while I was there, plus he had to give a lesson to a student on double bass. Mark is a classical double bass player.... since 13 years old.
I'll get the original sound / resonance back that swayed me to buy this violin.
Ken.
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Well I decided not to start another thread as my new info defiantly falls within this category....Soooo, I went to my local violin shop more from a little boredom and curiosity, to try out some wooden bows. The store is a great store and let me play for several hours (of course the one I fell in love with was way outside my budget!! hahaha) But they didn't seem heart broken in the least that I haven't found one to take home....but while I was there I decided to ask their opinion on strings.
At that moment in time I had a set of Zyex on my violin. I previously had pro arte and upgraded to zyex after reading the great reviews on here. Now my violin sounded great. It has never sounded bad, but I had a chance to talk with three lovely gentleman and a luthier who were having fun watching me blunder through fingerings while trying out the bows. I said I didn't really notice a huge difference between pro arte and Zyex and if they had any suggestions on a type of string to try. They said Dominant. Now I have read and read some more on peoples varying viewpoints on Dominant strings and the differences between them and the newer strings, but curiosity killed the cat. *sigh* I'll try them.
They were $60 so it wasn't really that much more then the zyex so why not! and since I'm at it I'll try the nice Andrea Solo rosin to....oh and that nice chinrest with more of a ledge to grip too!
The Luthier was kind enough to restring my violin as well as put on my new chin rest while i rosined up my FM CF bow. Here goes nothing!!!
I began a decent rendition of Ashokan farewell and WOW!!! Between the stability of the new chinrest, the new rosin and ( I think with the most influence) the new strings my Violin sang like he (yes a he) hasn't sounded before! The g was deep and robust, the E bright but not overbearingly so and the D and A complimented the whole set beautifully! and this was 5 minuets after stringing them!
I must say that the set up really reinvigorated me to practice and play and just have fun! its amazing what such a tiny change in sound can do to the enjoyment of the ear! The sound has been wonderful after a few days to settle, so for now Dominant is my go to string and Andrea Solo is my go to Rosin!!
Lead me, Follow me, or get out of my way!
~General George S. Patton
Honorary tenured advisor
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@RockingLR33, you can't go wrong with that combo. The Dominants are going to be a bit brighter than the Zyex, which may not be a bad thing, depending on whether your fiddle naturally tends toward the dark side -- as they would say in Star Wars. The Andrea rosin, also my favorite, while being a bit pricier than most, will last for ages. It's always exciting to make a change for the better. When we think the fiddle sounds better, we play better and more often.
I have Dominants on my GCV soloist, although I have a set of Larsen strings waiting in the wings.
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. ~Herm Albright
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@Uzi I've been debating trying the Larsen strings for a while. When you do put them on you should demo them!
My violin (GCV bourree) is on the dark side per my request and those dominants bring out all the right tones in all the right places! well worth the money, and I agree with the Rosin. For something that lasts as long as it does the price is pretty awesome! $30 some odd dollars and it'll literally last for years! if only my gas tank was the same way!!
Lead me, Follow me, or get out of my way!
~General George S. Patton
rockinglr33 said
Does anyone have any insights on bridge height and changes to the sound of the violin?
Sorry for replying to this thread this late, but I just wanted to share my experience about this
There are two incidents about bridge height that I know of -and both of them lead to the same direction.
1st. About a year ago, I decided to mess up again with one of my first violins, a cheap student one, but with a good response, trying to get a more decent view of the violin mechanics and sound engineering. I tried to experiment with fittings, sound posts ( @Fiddlerman 's video on cutting a new one was of great help 
) , ,reshaping the fingerboard (it's something you cannot avoid when referring to a cheap instrument with a painted fingerboard), and bridges. It is not a violin that I usually play on any more, it was all just experiments
When I trimmed the bridge, the sound power reduced dramatically. It also started to sound fuzzy. With a little search online, I now tend to believe that it could be all about the relationship between tension and projection. A higher bridge definitely means sharper angles between both the vibrating part of the string and the after length with the bridge itself, leading to the top receiving more pressure by the whole system
Of course there should be limits to how much you should raise your bridge. Besides playability (which reduces as bridge height increases, we should consider that it's not that great for the top plate to receive that much pressure)
2nd. When I got my recent main violin from my luthier (a guy trained in Mirecourt, France) , another fellow was there, receiving an instrument of his that was in the shop for a little touch and refitting. I recall that he was a little inconvenient about the new action that he got (before the refitting he had put a diy lowered bridge). Then my luthier replied that he encourages all of us to play "with the highest action we can handle" of course within the expected limits and urged the guy to keep the bridge at least for some weeks.
I know assume that most gains in playability due to action, lead to losses in sound. However it's all a game of finding a balance between all these stuff.
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