I purchased a good student model violin for my son, and got him into lessons once a week.

Last week's lesson my son dropped his bow and it broke. This ended up with me spending time driving two hours round trip to the music store to buy a new bow, and a transparent tape with markings for fingerings to put on the neck of the violin.

in my attempt to install the tape I had to loosen the strings of the violin which caused the bridge to fall off (who knew it wasn't attached), and a string came off.

Well I ended up in total with two strings off, and in the attempt to re-install them I ended up with his D-string breaking. Probably had bent it the opposite way it was bent on initial installation.

So I have a new set of strings coming to the house (less expensive to buy a full set than to be a single string), and I get to try my luck at installing.

I asked at my son's first lesson if I should buy an extra set of strings and was told he would probably never need them...

Lol! Be ready for a lot of screeching for a while.

My son started in 1st grade and we suffered a bit. But he ended up a music major on violin at college. Presently he works in a very high end violin shop for a master builder. I recall him having E string problems once in a while but never breaking any of the wound strings.

His Christmas list always included new strings of ever increasing cost. Then he started experimenting with different bows. Violin is an expensive hobby.

There are some nice carbon fiber bows at ok prices. Vastly better than the beginner plastic or wood bows. The tips don't break off when the kids bounce the bow on their foot. When your son is ready for an upgrade, look at the carbon fiber. Used is fine and may save $.

The bridges on mandolins, archtop guitars, and banjos aren't fixed in place, either, if that ever comes up. Do get the bridge back in the same place. The feet are sanded to fit the top, and intonation will be all wrong, otherwise.

The non-wound strings would be easier to break.

quote:

Originally posted by lizardman_u:
I asked at my son's first lesson if I should buy an extra set of strings and was told he would probably never need them...

They likely did not expect that you'd detach strings and try to restring it

When restringing, back when I was playing, I always did one string at a time rather than take 'em all off, put 'em back on. I thought everybody did it this way. Removing all the strings would materially change the tension on the neck and top of the instrument, and seems logically something to be avoided. Of course there were no acoustic tuners back then, and gettign the tension near right ASAP was useful too. Thoughts?

quote:

Originally posted by architect:
When restringing, back when I was playing, I always did one string at a time rather than take 'em all off, put 'em back on. I thought everybody did it this way. Removing all the strings would materially change the tension on the neck and top of the instrument, and seems logically something to be avoided. Of course there were no acoustic tuners back then, and gettign the tension near right ASAP was useful too. Thoughts?

That is the way I do it.

quote:

Originally posted by architect:
When restringing, back when I was playing, I always did one string at a time rather than take 'em all off, put 'em back on. I thought everybody did it this way. Removing all the strings would materially change the tension on the neck and top of the instrument, and seems logically something to be avoided. Of course there were no acoustic tuners back then, and gettign the tension near right ASAP was useful too. Thoughts?

I doubt there is any problem at all taking all the strings off in terms of stresses on the neck or body. Keeping the bridge in place is a good reason to only change one string at a time.

I loosened all the strings so I could put a fingering chart on the neck, or rather to accommodate my gorilla fingers.

In doing so the bridge fell off. I got it back close to where it was based on the bend in the strings where they crossed the bridge.

Yes, there will be some screeching, but he had some violin in grade school through the school music program so it isn't too bad.

That said I know his violin teacher can get everything ship shape if I can't

I have an in-tune piano, and an ear (I can hear the discord when things are slightly out of tune) so we should be able to get the violin back in tune.

Years from now this will make for a GREAT family, laughing out loud so hard your sides hurt, story told at holiday gatherings.

Hey, remember when dad broke my violin...

According to my son, there is no worry of structural damage by removing all the strings. However, as you discovered, the bridge will need to be replaced in the correct location. Rarely but still possible is the sound post inside the body can fall loose. While not harmful, it takes a special tool to put it back in place, and the location has a big impact on tone.