Solutions to a not so optimal fingerboard projection

August 26, 2014 at 06:30 PM · A web-link would be useful ....

Modern violins typically have FB to bridge projection set somewhere between 25.5 and 27.5 mm.

Fiddlers and some jazz / bluegrass players prefer lower projection, but in classical music this projection is toward the higher end.

Changing this projection by the method of neck-reset will have impact on sound due to re-distribution of vertical and horizontal tensions.

If you are happy with the sound and find the string clearance comfortable in all positions, I would say leave it as is.

August 26, 2014 at 08:25 PM · Rocky, you didn't bother to check the reference.

Their "one ruler method" is not true projection. It is what everybody else calls fingerboard height or something close. They also say that 19 to 22 mm is the normal range. "Normal" for a given fiddle depends on top arch height, among other things, so, as Rocky said, if it works well don't worry about it.

By the way, it is totally normal for the string clearance to increase as you go to higher positions. The only way it wouldn't is if you had an amazingly high nut. But check the string clearance at the end of the fingerboard. The e should be about 2.5 to 4 mm, depending upon preferences, and the g around 5 mm. Some people have more rigid standards than I do. If the clearances are much more than these it can certainly make fingering uncomfortable unless you learn to adjust for it.

August 27, 2014 at 02:19 AM · Measured the projection with the two ruler method and it makes the problem seem a lot worse, 24.5mm. I don't play bluegrass and jazz, so I'm not sure what or how they prefer low projecting fingerboards.

I was hoping to avoid having the neck reset since a friend of mine recently had his fingerboard replaced to lower the projection and the action up until the high positions is still very comfortable. I still have to justify that fear with a quote. The string clearances on my violin are both on the high end, 4 on the E and 5 on the G. The difficulties presented by the fairly low projection are workable at this state, but I'm worried that it may get worse and complicate difficult passages in the higher positions eventually.

Since I live in the tropics, I have to ask, how and how much can weather or humidity affect fingerboard projection?

August 27, 2014 at 04:41 AM · String height is independent of projection and can be lowered in 5 minutes.

Will it sound different with a neck reset?

My experience with one violin was that it sounded exactly the same.

August 27, 2014 at 10:17 AM · "Since I live in the tropics, I have to ask, how and how much can weather or humidity affect fingerboard projection?"

High humidity will affect it two ways. Within several days, the strings will be higher over the fingerboard. This will mostly reverse when the violin is brought back into a lower humidity environment.

Over longer time periods, wood with high moisture content will deform, dropping the neck permanently.

August 27, 2014 at 12:14 PM · Thank you Mr. Burgess, but how long an exposure to different circumstances of humidity must the wood have in order to change? The weather here has been crazy for the past few months, with several typhoons coming and going, not to mention the usual hot days.

I'm also wondering, since I've been playing a little more on the higher positions, can playing up higher worsen the effects of any humidity change?

Hi Mr. Cole, I was thinking that instead of lowering the bridge height, the fingerboard would be raised to lessen string clearance. A fingerboard that in this state is not too optimal, so maybe fixing that would hopefully avoid the negative impact of a lower bridge. This violin definitely needs a trip to the luthier, since the current bridge needs replacement. I was hoping to have the strings more evenly clear from the fingerboard, but the bridge seems to be on the low side already, and that's how I ended up discovering this situation.