The main problem with this outdated design is:

1) The pitch changed by twisting the string axis is very wide, making it difficult for beginners to easily adjust to the ideal pitch.

2) Due to relying solely on friction, it is very easy to loosen, and even the thermal expansion and contraction caused by temperature are enough to render this friction ineffective.

Regarding problem 1, with the help of a fine tuner, it has actually become much easier, but for large-scale tuning, it is still inevitable to move the chord axis. However, fine-tuning also has its own issues, which we will discuss in the next article.

And question 2 is the main topic we are discussing today.

At the beginning of the introduction of the violin (16xx), the strings used were sheep gut strings, which had much lighter tension than the commonly used steel or nylon strings in modern times, not to mention the difference between Baroque tuning (415Hz) and modern tuning (440Hz) (which means they became tighter and higher pitched). The tension that the strings bear in modern times is basically more than 30 kilograms, which may have already exceeded the limit that they could withstand at the time of design. So they have really worked hard!

Do you have modern mechanical stringers? Yes, it has been around for over ten years, but why hasn't it been popularized even after ten years? In this regard, everyone can think about it. When I was introduced to this new product, I was initially very interested, but after spending more time together, I found that there were still many shortcomings.

Firstly, the most important but also the most useless information: do not buy cheap mass-produced guitars and do not blindly pursue old guitars.

The installation process of the string shaft is actually very similar to sharpening a pencil, using a pair of matching tools, one for sharpening the string shaft and the other for drilling a hole in the head that perfectly fits the string shaft.

The steel used in this set of tools has already directly limited the quality of the finished product, and then it depends on how much effort and time the luthier/repairman spends to slowly turn every piece of wood on the string shaft smoothly.

Can it be imagined that with cheap mass-produced pianos, tools made of poor steel, and high-speed assembly line operations, it is really possible to cut and drill a pair of perfect circles? If you are unlucky and hold a very uneven string shaft, no matter how many small steps I say later, they will be useless.

Secondly, choose high-quality wooden chord shafts.

Common violin accessory woods include jujube wood, ebony, rosewood, boxwood, etc., while snake wood is not a popular choice.

Ultimately, jujube wood is a cheap substitute for boxwood and can definitely be used, but experience has taught me that it often produces fuzz when shaved, making it difficult to achieve perfect smoothness. The hardness of jujube wood is relatively soft, and batches with poor quality may occasionally experience string breakage during use.

Ebony is a very hard wood, and accessories made of high-quality ebony can be very high-end. But be careful of unscrupulous merchants who use dyeing methods to confuse fish with pearls. What I'm talking about is not the trick of dyeing white waste wood black, which anyone can see through, but the means of dyeing secondary ebony even darker to impersonate top-level ebony. The ebony trunk, in fact, only has a pure black center, which is the top and hardest, while the outer circumference is made of white softer wood. The most awkward part is the border between black and white,