By Greg Cahill

Fine tuners are ubiquitous in the string globe. Some players swear past them, others find that these little devices, known for convenience, are more problem than they're worth. Certainly, for novice string players, fine tuners—their presence and their absence—generate a lot of questions.

Why do some instruments have ane fine tuner, or two, while others have tuners on all four strings? What's the advantage or disadvantage of using four? Are built-in tuners better than the ones that stick out? Will they hurt my instrument? Why does information technology seem like skillful violinists use only ane? Aren't fine tuners just "training wheels" for beginners who aren't adept enough to use pegs? To help clear up the confusion, hither are five things yous should know almost fine tuners.

1. The utilise of fine tuners has more to do with the textile of the strings than the power of the musician. These footling devices were unnecessary until the advent of steel E strings, start introduced in 1919 by Thomastik-Infeld. For the first few hundred years, all strings for violin-family instruments were made of gut, commencement plain and then wrapped with metal. Call back of the ii materials: gut is quite stretchy while steel is non. Yous only have to stretch a steel string a small distance to modify the pitch, while a gut string must exist turned much farther to modify pitch to the aforementioned caste. Pegs work fine for stretchy gut strings, but it'south almost impossible to move a steel Eastward string a small-scale enough distance using a peg, and then fine tuners were a welcome solution, and for many they remain an essential aid on the Eastward cord.

Equally more than steel strings came to market and were widely adopted, more fine tuners appeared on tailpieces. Synthetic strings, which first appeared in the 1970s, are stretchier than steel and tune easily with pegs (provided the pegs are working properly), then instruments with synthetic strings often sport just one fine tuner for the East cord. On the other hand, for years, steel violin strings were associated with shrill sound and cheap student instruments, which may exist office of the source of the "existent violinists don't employ fine tuners" mentality. Also, tuning with pegs is a skill that violinists are expected to master, and then it'south a sign that a less experienced player has reached a certain level.

2. Fine tuners tin be added to any tailpiece, but tailpieces with built-in tuners are increasingly popular. One disadvantage of added tuners is that they shorten the "later-length," the length of string betwixt the bridge and tailpiece. When the string length and the after-length are in the right proportion to each other, the musical instrument sounds improve. Congenital-in tuners preserve this proportion.

Additional fine tuners also add weight—as much as 100 grams to a cello tailpiece, says instrument dealer Laurinel Owen—which can dampen the audio. All-in-one tailpieces are much lighter than a tailpiece with four added tuners.

There is one advantage of private tuners: Teachers oftentimes prefer them because if i breaks, it's easy and inexpensive to just supercede the tuner, which is a real reward with a full classroom or studio of young students. The drawbacks are relatively minor.

3. Whether built-in or added on, fine tuners are a frequent source of buzzes. While fine tuners are generally safety, anyone who'due south seen a lot of instruments has probably noticed some with harm underneath the tailpiece. To alleviate the problem, make certain no screws are loose. Most fine tuners have a lever that hangs underneath the tailpiece. The spiral that you turn on top controls the lever, which moves the string. When the screw is all the way in, this lever tin be close to the soft spruce summit of your instrument, especially if the lever is long or your instrument has a high arch. If you lot have this kind of tuner, endeavour to brand a habit of not turning the screw until it "bottoms out" and recall to look underneath the tailpiece occasionally to bank check for damage.

Other fine tuners use a mechanism that instead slides the post to which the string is fastened, forward and back. Then if you're worried about hitting the top of the instrument, you may consider having this type of tuner installed.

4. Taking your instrument on the road? When you ship or travel with your instrument, put some padding under the tailpiece and fine tuners to protect the top in example the span falls.

5. Whether or not you employ fine tuners, practise not forget to pay attention to the intendance of your violin'due south pegs. Dalton Potter, founder of the Potter Violin Co., has the following advice: After carefully removing a string (remove only one string at a fourth dimension, then as not to cause the span to fall), slide the peg out of the pegbox and concord it up to the light. As you rotate the peg you should be able to run across two shiny bands that wrap all the mode around the peg without interruption—this where the pegs rub against the pegbox. Continuous contact in this area is a must for the pegs to concur their tuning. These bands are where you use peg compound. Now, push the peg dorsum into the peghole firmly and turn it back and forth quickly, pull it out and agree it gently confronting your upper lip. Information technology should feel warm on both of the shiny bands. This ways it fits well and y'all can proceed to use peg compound and reinstall the string. If whatever of these standards are not met, yous should visit your local store and have them adjust or supplant your pegs using professional person tools and standards.

Pro tip: Consider switching from friction pegs to geared pegs, like those manufactured by Planetary Perfection and Wittner. Only these hi-tech pegs should simply exist installed past a trained luthier.

How to Tune a Violin

Here are a few tips from gettuned.com: When tuning a stringed instrument, always tune from below the annotation, up. This prevents string breakages and systematizes the process of tuning, so you eventually go familiar with the sound of a perfect, in-melody string. Employ the fine tuners when possible. When a fine tuner has been wound right downwards to the finish of the screw, loosen the fine tuner all the mode to the end of the screw before carefully tightening the tuning peg. This manner, you prevent the string from being over-tightened.

When tuning your violin, play the note continuously with your bow and mind advisedly to the string equally it tightens towards the desired pitch. Call up, yous may need to stop to melody halfway through a do, specially if you are using new strings, as they tend to stretch and may demand tightening from the peg multiple times per practise session for the outset few days.

Pro tip: Melody the A cord first, followed by the D, G, and so the E string (you can utilise everything from a pitch pipe to a tuning fork to a smart phone app like Articulate Tune). When you lot get-go to become more familiar with the audio of the notes of the different strings, try tuning the strings against each other—this is known as relative tuning.

Erin Shrader contributed to this article.

The complete edition of theCare & Repair of Violin or Viola series from Strings mag gives you a library of video and written didactics that will provide you with extensive knowledge that will help yous understand your musical instrument and, in plough, be a more than informed owner and user of stringed instruments and bows.