![mm string chart actual size mm string chart actual size](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/79/06/0d/79060d00c09be6cef999c678ee69117d.jpg)
If you do purchase, make sure you can trade the instrument in when the child grows into the next size. After a year or so of renting, a good shop should give you some sort of credit toward purchase. Then, purchasing the fractional instrument starts to make sense. After a year or two, you can usually tell if a child will stick with it. That way, if the child loses interest, the instrument can be returned with only minimal investment. While there are tonal compromises one must accept, you can find a good, playable small instrument.įor the beginning student, I recommend a good rental from a shop that specializes in stringed instruments, rather than a purchase. Yet, a well-made and adjusted 3/4- or even 1/2-size violin can sound almost as good as a full-size, but the smaller ones never will. She still remembers how awful the sound was, especially on the lower strings. Lauren Elledge, a colleague, started playing the viola when she was eight on a 1/4 violin strung with viola strings. The smaller the size, the weaker the sound, all other things being equal. Because of their reduced size, these smaller instruments have a weaker, somewhat one-dimensional sound that lacks the fullness and depth of the standard-size instruments. The trick to searching for a small stringed instrument is finding one with the best possible sound. This will go a long way toward helping your budding young Joshua Bell or Hilary Hahn. If you want your young student to enjoy learning to play his or her stringed instrument, get the best one possible within your budget, preferably from a violin specialist. If you use a string intended for a larger-size instrument, the strings will probably break more easily. They are usually a bit thicker, increasing the tension and improving the sound. Fractional-size strings aren’t just shorter versions of the corresponding full size. The string size should match the instrument. Always use strings appropriate to the instrument. There are similar variations in the 1/4-size violins as well. There is a “Suzuki size” that is smaller than the &ldquot German size” and can vary by as much as a half inch in body length. Most 3/4 violins are similar in size, with a body length of about 13 inches 1/2-size instruments have a wider range.
![mm string chart actual size mm string chart actual size](https://linghunt.com/101Spearfishing/101MachThreads/CHART%20METRIC.jpg)
There is a bit of confusion about some of the actual sizes. When you change instrument size, you may need to change the bow size as well, unless the student’s arms are unusually long or short. Normally you should trust the teacher to let you know what the appropriate size should be. On the average, a child will stay in a given fractional size for about two years. A standard full-size viola is 16 inches, and anything under 15 inches is considered below standard size. With violas, size is expressed in actual body length. This is true of violins, cellos, and basses. A 7/8-size violin is about a half inch smaller than a 4/4. There is roughly a one-inch difference in size between each of the quarter sizes. These so-called fractions are simply a convenient system that has been developed to indicate the different sizes. In reality, a 3/4 size violin has a body length one inch shorter than a full-size. If it did, a 3/4 violin would be four inches shorter. However, that doesn’t mean that a 3/4 size is three-quarters the size of a full-size (4/4) violin. These sizes are always expressed in fractions, hence the term “fractional sizes” when talking about these small stringed instruments. Stringed instruments have always been made in a variety of sizes, from the standard full-size (referred to as 4/4) down to violins as small as 1/32, which might be used by a two- or three-year-old child. These parents realize that violin-family instruments are not the easiest to learn, and the disadvantage of a poorly made instrument is a real handicap. It also seems that parents are starting their children on music lessons at a younger age and often want them to benefit from the advantage of a good-quality instrument.
![mm string chart actual size mm string chart actual size](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/84/ee/66/84ee66808e34d672bdd323a96115491a.jpg)
In spite of chronic loss of funding for our schools and subsequent elimination of music programs, it seems as if more young children than ever are playing stringed instruments.