Yes, I still find vibrato formidable, challenging and overwhelming - even though there are step-by-step instructions to follow. 😔 

It doesn't help that I can't get my first finger joints to flex and my almost non-existent shoulder rest means a lot of extra weight in my hand.  I have found more freedom for my fingers, by wrenching my elbow further under my violin and with a precarious thumb position under the neck, but I'm still trying to make this all comfortable.

So, I went poking around. 

Granted, please keep in mind, some of these right hand positions/techniques in these videos predate the wide, full vibrato that is in high demand today.  Being self-taught, these videos have helped me see what I've been doing and maybe will help me deal with my situation... we'll see. 

Violin Vibrato: How to do it Without a Shoulder Rest! - Andrew Hatfield 

How to do Vibrato on the Violin Without a Shoulder Rest (or with one!) - Murphy Music Academy

The High Thumb Position: Learning Old School Violin Technique - Murphy Music Academy

And just for fun... so, your vibrato doesn't sound good?  🤔... blame it on your instrument's poor response? 

The Psychoacoustic Secret of Vibrato - Martin Schleske

The musician cannot do anything: In the strictest sense, he or she produces only a frequency modulation of the note (see above). In terms of the sound, the effectiveness of this frequency modulation is dependent on the resonance properties of the instrument, as described above.
A change in the shape of the excitation pattern causes significantly larger neuronal excitation differences in the brain’s hearing process than a plain periodic frequency shift of a largely homogeneous excitation pattern.
What does this mean in terms of the acoustic properties of the violin’s resonance profile? The greater the resonance density of the instrument (number of resonances per frequency band) and the lower the resonance damping, the greater the extent to which even tiny variations by the player (such as vibrato and bowing changes) will produce a change in the neuronal excitation and thus an increase in the perceptibility of the note. 

The “fiery tone” that likely results from this phenomenon is an essential characteristic of good violins. What we are dealing with here is a phenomenon which I like to call “perceptibility through quality” (or “projection through quality”) in contrast to plain “perceptibility through intensity”. It is this quality that allows the sound of a fantastic violin to project effortlessly all the way to the back row of a hall even when played pianissimo. The secret of “projection” is clearly related to the “vibrato sensitivity” of good instruments described here. 

...I'm pickin' up good vibrations...

- Emily