Alright, well, I've had a cheap violin for a few years now that has mostly sat in my closet. (My parents only allowed me to have two lessons when I first got it because of cost, and I haven't been practicing or trying to teach myself because I've been busy with school and the clarinet.) About a month ago I had some time and decided to take it out. For some reason I didn't have the bridge in, so I had to take care of that first. I went through the whole ritual of loosing all of the strings, placing the bridge, gradually tuning...but for some reason, just as I was almost finished tuning it, the bridge just popped out. I tried this about three more times and had the same thing happen. So back in the closet it went. Today I decided to try it again, and the same thing happened. I'm far from an expert on violins, but I have no idea why this is happening. The strings, bridge, and violin have all remained in tact, but they just won't seem to cooperate! Any ideas?

Is the bridge the right way round? If not it would pop out, alternatively are you sure you're putting it in the right place?

Without seeing it, it's hard to help to be honest - can you take a picture? Or is there a luthier near you that you could take it to?

Allan

tricky: exactly how cheap's the violin?!
Is everything full-size?

I've only had the bridge jump once, in the middle of a piece... went back in easily though...

I'm pretty sure that I was putting it in the right way. Of course, I probably should try it the other way just in case. I did try moving it around each time too, but it still popped out.

The violin was about $150 (sorry, I'm from the US, so I'm not sure what the equivalent would be for you guys). It's full-sized student model, but I'm guessing it's probably made out of a cheaper wood or something to that effect. On the inside it says "iolite" which I'm guessing isn't a very good brand since my mom bought it from a department store catalog.


Oops...I did try it again just now, and the bridge actually cracked a little. Oh well, someday I'll get myself a nice violin and some lessons! I'm still curious as to why it kept doing that...

If it was a cheap student violin the bridge probably wasn't fitted properly in the first instance, and so would tend to rock. And when you tune the strings up you need to do it gradually and keep straightening the bridge, as the string tension tends to pull it over. This is not difficult provided you know what you are doing....if not, best take to a luthier.

At least you have only cracked the bridge, and not the belly.

Might be an idea to take it to the luthier, see whsat sort of price you can get from it... and then try to find that nice violin

Oh gosh, my old violin did that so much. I swapped the strings of my old and new violin yesterday (my old violin had almost brand new dominants and i needed them!) and when i put the old strings on my old violin, the bridge popped out a few times - and just when you think it's all up and nearly finished.

Just always try hold the bridge in place - i know it's hard to tune one handedly but otherwise the bridge'll pop out.
Also, make sure that before you tune it, the bridge is leaning a little towards the tailpiece, as when you tune the violin, the bridge will be pulled forwards towards the fingerboard, and if it's tilted too far fowards then it'll slip under itself.
Good luck

Hi
I had the exact same problem with my old cheapy Skylark. It was fine for ages, then the tailpiece gut snapped, had it fixed, tried to tighten the strings and the bridge flew out. It then did it every single time I tried to play it. I took it to someone and they thought it could be the pegs were too stiff, overtensioning the strings, so we put peg paste on all the pegs. Bridge stayed in for about 10 seconds and then flew off again. I took it to a luthier and he advised the bridge was too high and gave me another bridge. Tried it with the new bridge and it still kept flying out.

It sounds like your violin is doing the exact same thing my Skylark did, I never did find out why but it all stemmed from when the tailpiece gut was replaced. In the end, I was 2 weeks away from my Grade 2 so I had to buy a new violin, and get rid of my rubbish Skylark.

If you do find out what the problem is, please let us know but good luck with sorting it out.