[ogohiap]

No, playing out of tune or even doubting one’s tuning in a session really is no fun.

It’s a matter I wish more people took seriously. And I’ve noticed that, rightly or wrongly, many people assume that fiddle players should be deferred to in matters of tuning, especially if they seem like violinists fiddlers.

Thistle, I am glad the tuning fork trick helped. It’s certainly a very simple reliable technology. The trick of touching the fork to the bridge (or belly) and then pressing one’s ear to some part of the soundbox was once commonplace, and back in the day some mandolin players even seemed to seriously think that the purely decorative body scroll on an F-style mandolin was designed for that purpose.

Thanks for the tip on that tuner, Diane. One thing I would add for anyone else reading this is that the ‘D’Addario Micro Headstock Tuner’ does not seem to be the same item as you are talking about, which the D’Addario website calls a ‘Micro Violin Tuner (PW-CT-14)’. It’s very possible that some of the advertising might call it by the wrong name, so anyone who wants to buy one should look at the pictures and product description carefully.

By the way, I notice that two very reputable US dealers I have done a lot of business with over the years (International Violin in Maryland and Elderly Instruments in Michigan) both carry this item, and I am sure the staff at either one understand what they are selling and can answer questions.

I’ve just ordered one from a shop in Japan (nearer to my home in Taiwan), but I do have a question maybe Diane or someone else out there can answer regarding temperament: does this tuner dictate equal tempered fifths, or is it possible to set it for pure perfect fifths or some sort of meantone temperament? A few electronic tuners do (or once did) have this feature. I rather suspect the answer is no, since it looks like just a regular guitar tuner with a different clamping mechanism, but any tips from anyone out there would be appreciated. (By the way, the website info does show that the A is adjustable, not just 440hz, which may be useful in Irish sessions since not all free-reed instruments are tuned A440).

I also greatly agree that a Wittner or similar tailpiece is a good idea. I made my living in the fiddle business (sorry, “violin profession”) for many years in a previous life (repair, restoration and a little building) and installed many such tuners and, like Diane, I myself could never hear any difference, although I could sometimes hear a difference after adding a full set of fine tuners to a wooden tailpiece.

Which brings me to a last question. You see, I never had any classical training and don’t use a shoulder rest or a “proper” left hand position, so I cannot just hold the fiddle up with my chin while bowing and adjusting the fine tuners on the tailpiece, which really would be helpful in getting the exact right fifths I prefer (not exactly equal tempered). So I have been thinking about installing a set of the modern geared pegs in place of the standard wooden pegs so I could get rid of the normal fine tuners and do all my fine tuning at the pegbox end. I know there are several types of these geared tuners on the market. Anyone out there have any experience, thoughts, or suggestions?

[ogohiap]

First, are you sure you were the one going out of tune?

On a warm day, especially if people had just brought stringed instruments from air-conditioned cars or houses, they might have been going sharp.

Electronic tuners have lot of advantages–especially in string-only sessions like you describe, where at least in theory everyone can independently tune to A440– but all too many players meticulously use electronic tuners for each individual string at the beginning of a session and then assume they are in tune all night.

In the hurly-burly and who-shot-John of a real session, a phone app will not be very usable. Clip-on tuners are made for guitars because “everyone” plays guitar. Hopefully you have a bricks-and-mortar music store nearby. If you check out a few tuners in person and try to clip them to your instrument, you will find some hold on to a fiddle better than others.

I find the best place to clip one is on the scroll, wherever is the flattest part (about nine or ten o’clock). You might not be able to just leave it there like a guitar player can, but you can put it on for a quick check. Also, it may not be possible to see the display while holding the fiddle in playing position, so if you are used to tuning at the pegs with the left hand while bowing with the right, that may be more difficult.

If you cannot get a clip-on vibration tuner that works well, just laying such a tuner on the belly of the instrument near the upper left bout works well enough to get a quick reference A. But I never played classical and I use a full set of fine tuners so I don’t have to hold the instrument in playing position to tune. I find that just plucking a note while holding the instrument in my lap is usually enough to quickly check if I am really out of tune (usually I find it’s not my problem anyway, or at least not my fault).

Keep in mind all this is about just getting a reference A–it sounds like you know how to tune from there.

I learned my session playing some years before these electronic tuner things came along, and in those days most serious players just carried a A440 tuning fork. You can still get those, and they are cheap and need no batteries and no shade in which to read some dim display. Whack it on something like a knee, touch it to your bridge, and you can get a true A that largely matches the timbre of your instrument. If need be, press your ear to an upper bout of the fiddle to hear above the din. That should work a lot better than begging guitar players for notes.

Again, all this is assuming that the other players are actually on A440 (in other types of sessions, such as with free reeds instruments, this may be an even more dangerous assumption). If they are not, the best thing is to try to get in tune with the leaders of the session or with the average of the selection of A440s on offer. Often the best way to get that elusive average note is to walk quite some distance away, or to a nearby room, and try to tune to what you hear while the session is up and chugging along at a tune everyone seems to know.

[ogohiap]

Greetings from Taiwan. There is a small but very dedicated happy few Taiwanese playing Irish music here.

Greetings also to Belfast, Maine. Ever run into the six million dollar man, Steve Austin?

[ogohiap]

Just one precaution: so-called “sponges ” are made of all kinds of petroleum produces nowadays, and some of these can react in all kinds of funny ways with some of the varnishes on some instruments–“funny” meaning ugly and damaging.

Unless you plan to do some snorkeling and get real natural sponges on your way to the airport, probably best not to leave “sponges” in direct contact with your instrument for longer than needed to get you and yours safely there and back again.

[ogohiap]

Hi Tndel

I’ve flown a lot in the last thirty years, invariably with a fiddle or similar instrument (mandolin, tenor banjo), and have also made my living for many years repairing and restoring fiddles (mostly violins). So I’ll try to combine those perspectives.

Loosening strings is good advice on a guitar, especially steel-string. Guitar strings put a lot of tension on easily breakable parts and joints like the peg-head, neck, and bridge/belly joint. Much less so with violin: It’s not unusual to see violins on which the fingerboard has come almost completely unglued from the neck and yet the neck has remained straight for unknown periods of time under tension (less likely to be so lucky on a cello).

The danger to a ready-to-play fiddle is the bridge and sound post. A good knock to a cheap case in the area of the bridge is likely to concentrate force on the belly just a few millimeters from the sound post. Might just break the bridge, and making a new bridge is not cheap, but if the belly cracks where the sound post contacts, you are looking at one of the more difficult of repairs, and a repair that often fails—not worth even attempting with a student instrument. The danger of a sound post crack is all the greater if the sound post is sloppily fitted, as is often the case, especially on student instruments.

For real protection, the better approach would be to loosen the strings completely, stick a rag under the tailpiece to protect the belly varnish, take down the bridge and put it in a safe place. However, doing this makes for a very good chance that the sound post will then fall down and then you definitely will need to find a competent technician to reinstall it. And probably not too many people reading this even fancy the idea of putting their own bridge back up and re-tuning to standard.

Scared yet?

Actually, in all my many flights with instruments, no one has ever tried to take instrument from me (CAVEAT: almost none of my flying is on American domestic flights, which I hear are becoming increasingly nasty and brutish). Because of the length of the bow, any standard violin case will far exceed the normal 22”/56cm maximum dimension for carry-on. But they will fit into any empty overhead bin on any (jet) plane I have ever flown on, and most airlines websites show policies that allow “small” musical instruments (certainly up to the size of a violin) as cabin baggage. In case anyone argues, I usually find and print out the page that says they are allowed. But my flight attendant friends all tell me that what the flight attendants (hereinafter “they”) say goes: when push comes to shove, they have full authority to allow or refuse anything. Also be aware that there is closet space which the crew can use at their discretion, so if they offer to “put it in a closet for you” let them. The worst thing that can probably happen is they will insist on “gate checking” the instrument, which is not always the same thing as putting it in with regular check baggage: at least in SOME instances, it will be hand carried and then hand delivered back to you at the gate when you arrive.

Here, then, in hypothetical chronological order, is what I do—or “would-do-if”—when traveling. Of course, a lot depends on the value of the instrument, your risk tolerance, how important it is to arrive ready to leap straight onto the tarmac and start fiddling, and whether your idea of “damage” is a string knocked out of tune or something more fatal.

1) Get a decent case. You say you have a “normal” case, but I don’t know what that means. If you mean a cardboard case, I wouldn’t call that safe for anything except keeping dust off it. Too flimsy a case would not be safe even in the overhead luggage bin if, for example, your seat mate arrives just after you with his prized blacksmith’s anvil.

Fairly strong cases are not that expensive, although you will pay a lot to get anything that’s called a “flight case” (way beyond my needs anyway). I’ll go out on a limb here and say that with a decent case, most instruments at least up to viola size would be in no real danger of anything worse than being knocked out of tune with ordinary airline baggage handling. In many years in the business (not just as a luthier) I have never seen a fiddle come into the shop in a decent case and heard an airline horror story. Remember that a strong case might not have good padding, and you might need to add some. Plain old sponges work fine, just don’t let it rattle around inside and if possible keep it out of direct contact with the shell of the case itself (this is the principle behind what is sometimes called a “suspension” or “flotation” case”). Also, this is just a hunch, but I think when they see a case that looks like it might hold something that’s not so cheap, they are not as eager to risk any blame if something happens to it.

2) Don’t carry a lot of other cabin baggage. You want to be able to sing “Oh, it’s just my poor little ol’fiddle and me.”

3) Don’t get a seat at the very front or back row of any section of the airplane. These seats sometimes have half-size overhead bins that simply will not fit a violin. In the middle of a section is safest.

4) Get to the airport early. When you check in, don’t try to hide the fiddle but don’t ask questions about carrying it on.

5) Get in the boarding line as early as you can so you can be one of the first people in your “zone” to board. This gives you a much better chance of there being overhead bin space near you. It’s usually only once that space is taken up that they start making people gate-check bags. There is no Law of the Bins except you can’t take out what someone else already put in. If the bin above your seat is full, stick your violin in the nearest one. Close the bin as soon as you see it full.

If they were to tell me there is no room, I’d try to reason but not argue. I’d talk about how careful I was, even checking the website which said small instruments are OK… I’d talk about my concerns, not my rights and certainly not do anything confrontative. I’d talk about how old and delicate it is, how many years we have been together, how worried I would be… and be really thankful if they could just find a closet or someplace in the cabin.

If all else failed, I might explain I need to take down the bridge and proceed to do so slowly and carefully (this delay might itself make them reconsider). In fact, I’d go ahead and knock down the sound post too, knowing I can set it up again in the hotel (I would usually carry those few basic tools in my checked bags—they would not get past security as cabin baggage). But for most people, that would mean a trip to a fiddle shop later on. Might depend a lot on whether you are on the outward flight or the return flight, and whether you have a good relation with a violin shop near home. But again: these are questions I have never had to face. No one has ever challenged my simply carrying a small instrument on, but maybe I am lucky. I am certainly careful about checking in early, carrying little else, and boarding early.

Hope this helps.

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