{"id":508,"date":"2023-02-16T18:30:38","date_gmt":"2023-02-16T18:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/david.bookstaber.com\/?p=508"},"modified":"2023-02-21T20:22:22","modified_gmt":"2023-02-21T20:22:22","slug":"violin-fitting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/david.bookstaber.com\/?p=508","title":{"rendered":"Violin fitting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Some classical violinists can play without a shoulder rest or even a chin rest. I was trained to grip the violin between my chin and neck firmly enough to hold it in a proper position without any support from my left hand. Given my long neck this was impossible to do without a shoulder rest, and even with a standard shoulder rest it was always a struggle. So when I resumed violin a few years ago<\/a> I bought the Bonmusica shoulder rest, shown in the photos below, which was a great improvement. However, even with that adjusted to its maximum height I was contorting my neck uncomfortably to hold the violin in the proper position. Further research led me to an adjustable center-mounted chin rest by Wittner Augsburg. Installing that at its maximum height finally let me hold the violin with my chin in a relatively neutral position. Here are photos before and after that chin rest upgrade:<\/p>\n\n\n\n