V.com weekend vote: Have you witnessed a violin 'open up' from being played?
This thread is inspired by a healthy debate on the Violinist.com discussion board about a New violin ‘opening up’.
I'm talking about the phenomenon, real or imagined, whereby a violin or other stringed instrument gets to sounding "better" when it is played more.
I'll put my cards on the table: I feel that this is true, under some specific circumstances. A violin that begins with a decent sound can be improved if a person plays that violin frequently, and in a way that makes the instrument resonate, i.e. - with good intonation.
I'm not the only one who subscribes to this - owners of very fine instruments (Stradivaris, del Gesùs) seek to have the instrument played, so that it retains its sound. For example, the fine instruments held at the U.S. Library of Congress are intentionally played on a regular basis - it's like walking a dog, you know you must do this for their health.
An instrument that has been in storage will undergo a "waking up" period.
And I've shared stories about student violins, which I see every week. I can really hear the difference in the instrument - when I tune it or play it - when the student has been practicing and playing in tune. It's a "happy violin."
A related thought: it is not uncommon to talk about the player "shaping the sound" of the instrument. Yo-Yo Ma, who plays the Stradivari cello previously played by the great Jacqueline du Pré, has said that whenever he plays the instrument "I feel the privilege of being tangibly and tactilely connected to her, to her cello sound, and to her soul."
What are your thoughts about this phenomenon? Have you witnessed a violin or other stringed instrument "opening up" after being played more frequently? Have you witnessed one "shutting down" from disuse? Have you ever felt like you were "shaping the sound" of an instrument? Please participate in the vote, and then tell us your thoughts in the comments!
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Replies
I genuinely don't understand how anyone could possibly be sure that it's the playing-in that's the factor when they notice some difference. If the changes introduced by playing are enough to perceptibly change the sound, aren't there a hundred other things as well?
There are indeed a hundred (well, a dozen) other factors to take into consideration so nothing can ever be proven, but I go with those who believe that a new instrument requires a "playing in" period to give of its best. I recently acquired a viola dated 1989 that for some reason had never previously been played (it wasn't even quite finished). Over a period of months I think its sound has become more focused in a way that I haven't noticed when I put a new set of similar strings on a regularly-played instrument.
Urban, the answer is that people who have regularly witnessed the ‘playing-in’ of new instruments (dealers, for example) observe the same changes across many instruments over a relatively short period of time, sometimes even hours.
I have had the experience and I am still owning the instrument I had it with.
We have two hypotheses to explain the phenomenon. 1. The instrument changes, "opens up" (strange terminology BTW). 2. The player adapts his technique to the instrument.
It goes without saying that players can learn and humans in general can adapt to lots of things. How exactly a violin would go about the process of "opening up" (something only a luthier is supposed to do) escapes any explanation.
The choice is between a highly plausible hypothesis and the belief in a miracle.
Albrecht - I don't believe in miracles but surely we're all aware of the inability of science to explain a wide range of psychophysical phenomena. Vision seems superficially relatively straightforward but we're nowhere near accounting for the other senses in all their interspecies variations. I can't see any reason to reject the notion that an experienced player can perceive subtle physical changes in the sound of an instrument that aren't evident in a spectrograph.
I'll cite another example. Many people (probably all of us on this site) can identify the sound of a particular instrument, say an oboe, in the recording of an orchestral tutti. Look at the spectrograph and tell me how it's done!
I'm wondering why the change is always for the better. Also just remember that the majority can be wrong.
No doubt whatsoever that an instrument 'opens up'. When we string up new instruments (Cellos especially) we give them 72 hours vibrating on a 'Tonerite ,' and the difference is sometimes (not always) remarkable. Often the slight 'Nasal' sound of a new Cello disappears completely. On violins when customers bring them back for the first free service, the difference is always remarked on - as above, for better or worse, which we can then correct!
Did not happen with my violin, but happened spectacularly with my viola, it was almost new and improved a lot with playing....
I suspect that an instrument could get worse;-by playing wrong, out of tune, poor bow control, using a heavy practice mute too much, too much tension from heavy gauge strings. After a few centuries of playing can a fine instrument suffer from material fatigue?
I feel unqualified to discuss this… nevertheless
Couldn’t the violins that “open up” just be more difficult to play and so everyone needs a while to get used to them. If someone is playing a violin well and you take it from them and play it yourself, couldn’t the fact that you have their playing in your ear account for the fact that you find it easier to play? As opposed to the other person having played it in
Yes. I’ve noticed this with my instruments, especially my main fiddle, which I’ve had since halfway through the degree program. When I first got it, it hadn’t been played for a long time.
On the subject of “shaping the sound” of an instrument: Two other factors - consistent tuning (A=440 in my case) and string choices - also made a positive difference. I don’t recall which make and model of strings were on the instrument when I first got it; but after some comparison tryouts, I found a few combos that brought out, in this fiddle, the dark viola-esque tone I sought in the contralto range and still gave a bright sheen in the high tones.
FWIW: These combos were Pirastro Eudoxa A-D-G + Gold Label E; Thomastik Infeld Red A-D-G + Lenzner/Optima Goldbrokat E; Warchal Amber E-A-D-G. The regular Eudoxa D-G couldn’t take my intense bow pressure, but I fixed this by using the stiff D-G instead. Currently, the Ambers are the winners.
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May 25, 2025 at 10:47 PM · I think it is the violinist who opens-up to the violin - coming to know and understand the strengths & weaknesses of the instrument.
We have all heard a great violinist pick-up a student's instrument and make it sound great. Sure, some instruments are better than others - small differences in the dimensions can match or conflict with the player's physiognomy. The instrument does not change, but the player does. A well-developed ear leads one to get their tone out of the instrument.