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Thread: frets for violin question

  1. #1

    Default frets for violin question

    I am wondering any violin player out there trying this "add on" violin frets ?

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/THE-FIDDLE-F...item2a3ac4145d

    If it works well (after careful intonation adjustment), mandolin players would have no trouble to learn play fiddle / violin with this.

  2. #2
    Gibson F5L Gibson A5L
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    Default Re: frets for violin question

    A bow is not a pick ..... nope ... not at all ....
    I love hanging out with mandolin nerds . . . . . Thanks peeps ...

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    Registered User Mandobart's Avatar
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    Default Re: frets for violin question

    You can't get decent vibrato with frets.

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    poor excuse for anything Charlieshafer's Avatar
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    Default Re: frets for violin question

    Beyond all that, the tuning will be off, both between strings and in intonation up the string. If you truly tune a violin to fifths, then check it with a tuner, the tuner will say that the strings progressively go off tune, but they're not in relation to when the violin is fingered. Frets represent an intonation compromise, not an answer. Most all the techniques available to violin (or viola, cello, and bass players) will be nullified with frets. That's just so wrong in every way possible.

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    coprolite mandroid's Avatar
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    Default Re: frets for violin question

    my friendly neighborhood repair guy did one, a slow week in the winter..

    But on a more practical note.. Somewhere I saw a sticker to put on the fingerboard with lines on it .

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    Registered User CWRoyds's Avatar
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    Default Re: frets for violin question

    I bought one of those stick on fretboards just fun to try on a violin I have. It is completely useless. Maybe it would help a six year old learn to play without sounding brain-hurtingly bad, but it does not produce a good tone. Plus one of the coolest things about violin is the ability to slide and do nice vibrato. Don't bother with this thing.

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    Default Re: frets for violin question

    The left hand isn't the difficult part of playing the fiddle. If you're used to mandolin and have a reasonable ear, you can get used to the lack of frets and slight change in scale length very quickly (at least for playing in first position). Good bowing technique takes years to learn.

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    Luthier&Pickup maker ret. Soundfarmer Pete's Avatar
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    Default Re: frets for violin question

    All the above comments about tone, vibrato etc. are true enough....but the ancestor of the violin was fretted and viols were popular for a while.....

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    Luthier&Pickup maker ret. Soundfarmer Pete's Avatar
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    Default Re: frets for violin question

    ....But the "fiddle fretter" doesn`t give a scale length and just as mandos vary, so do 4/4 violins....and since there`s no nut or zero fret, things could turn out very odd indeed

  11. #10
    fishing with my mando darrylicshon's Avatar
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    Default Re: frets for violin question

    Mark Wood has been making fretted violins for years
    http://markwoodmusic.com/woodviolins/
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  12. #11

    Default Re: frets for violin question

    Thanks for all the inputs. And yes, I saw that fretted violins have been made available. But I also agree that the left hand fingering to get good intonation (in tune) is not the difficult part playing the violin, it's the bowing part.
    Thanks for the answer
    I bought one of those stick on fretboards just fun to try on a violin I have. It is completely useless.

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    Registered User Petrus's Avatar
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    Default Re: frets for violin question

    Nice fretted 6-string viola da gamba at eBay. (One of the more expensive ones; there seems to be quite a variety of Chinese-made ones on eBay ranging from $400 up, finished and unfinished, fretted and unfretted, 5-6-7 strings. I've got a few on my watch list. Not this one.)

    Pardessus Viola da Gamba, Viol, 6-string, 2007 copy of Bertrand (Paris, 1714)

    Click image for larger version. 

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    http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pardessus-Vi...-/200860504621

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    poor excuse for anything Charlieshafer's Avatar
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    Default Re: frets for violin question

    Historians should note that while there were "frets" on viola da gambas and other antique instruments, there were actually tied on and adjustable. The concept of equal temperament did not exist, and in fact, there were many different tunings with many different intervals of cents between each note. Standardization did not exist, so those "frets" you refer to are not frets in the modern sense. Applying pre-baroque and baroque thought to modern instruments is always a mistake. So no, in the modern sense, they're not frets at all.

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    Registered User Petrus's Avatar
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    Default Re: frets for violin question

    That's a good point! They did have adjustable frets, like some modern Middle Eastern instruments.

    But to the original point (fiddle learning for mando'ists) maybe a fair alternative would be position markers or flat frets, as used on some fretless basses. It would help with maintaining position while not impeding slides (portamento.) This is actually something I've given some thought to, as I'm a less-than-competent violinist at this point. (Yes I know they make those little colored stick-on strips for students, but I'm thinking of something slightly more dignified!)

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    Default Re: frets for violin question

    Nothing , even remotely dignified , goes on when you first pick one up and begin to learn to fiddle .... that is with the possible exception of all the aurally sensitive creatures nearby exiting the premises. LOL... R/
    I love hanging out with mandolin nerds . . . . . Thanks peeps ...

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  19. #16
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    Default Re: frets for violin question

    Frets would be cheating! Okay, in all seriousness I think they would be more of a hindrance than a help. If you think about how you hold a violin, it would be sort of difficult to see them all. Gam as are played upright, cello fashion, so seeing the frets would be much easier. It would also impede shifting smoothly and noiselessly, as well. When I learned to play a million years ago we used little star stickers or those little hole protectors. You could feel them a bit, but did not intrude on your string. They do make much more sophisticated aids now for new learners. Sometimes I long for them when I am way up high in 8th, but my pride would never allow it!

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  21. #17
    Registered User Elliot Luber's Avatar
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    Default Re: frets for violin question

    Big nope on that one.

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    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: frets for violin question

    Quote Originally Posted by kkmm View Post
    I am wondering any violin player out there trying this "add on" violin frets ?
    If you are a violin player, I doubt you need it at all. Maybe a tuba player would need those frets to play a violin.

    Hey try them if you like. Just $28 to try... Certainly not for me, tho.
    Jim

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