I know this topic comes up a lot but i'm having such problems with my shoulder rest at the moment.
Aaaages ago i bought this horrible nasty cheap shoulder rest that obviously was SO uncomfortable, my teacher then told me to get a kun super rest which i did and compared to the first one that seemed much more comfortable.
But now i'm having lots of problems x_x it's SO uncomfortable and i can't hold my violin properly - and i have to adjust and move around my violin every few bars whilst playing a piece. It just feels really awquard, unnatural and uncomfortable. I've tried adjusting it in so many ways and so did my teacher but nothing worked.

Weird thing is, my teacher's rest is practically the same as mine but hers seems soo comfortable, i played her violin the other day and it (the rest) felt much more shaped and comfortable.

Anyway i was wondering if there's any you could recommend
I'm really small and really bony especially around my shoulders But i have a long neck so i do need a shoulder rest - i've tried playing without but i have to raise my shoulder loads. I think i need a rest that's more fitted and stuff :S The one i have also tilts the right side of my violin to quite an angle down towards my body =/
Is it just me? Or the rest?

Is there any chance i could go to a shop and ask to try a few to see which is comfortable? Or is that just asking too much

I think this looks comfy http://www.machonerest.com/

I think the maple one is around £50 (but there's a new model (Mach one M07) coming out in plastic which is listed in the Strad magazine at $24. I'd really like to try one but there doesn't seem to be a UK supplier yet.

I use a Kun Voce carbon fibre one because it's the only one I find comfortable and I tried a lot!

Oh I've just found the Mach one.. but this plastic one is not as curved as the maple one so this is not the new model http://www.thestringzone.co.uk/cart.php?ta...category_id=180

Thanks i'll take a look now

Does anyone know if there's any difference in shape in the kun super and the kun collapsible? Is the only difference that the collapsible one is... collapsible? Because my teacher has the kun collapsible and i have the kun super, and her's seemed soo comfortable


I think it may be just the picture making it look less curved as according to the mach one website there's only one plastic and one maple version.
I've looked at tons of shoulder rests now and that's the only one that looks curved enough. I may try that one Thanks for that

Have you tried adjusting the height of the legs? This can make an enormous difference. If your teacher has a Kun and you find hers comfortable then you may not have realised she has adjusted the legs on hers to a different length; I don't think there's any difference between the two Kuns.

I bought a Kun collapsible recently for my daughter. We went into our local music shop with her violin and asked to try out every single rest they had which was about 8, I think. She rejected some very quickly and narrowed it down to 3, then spent the rest of the time trying out those properly, adjusting the height of the legs and the actual position of the rest to get them as comfortable as possible.

We were probably in there for half an hour and stopped because we had exhausted the patience of my daughter, rather than that of the people in the shop. They were perfectly happy (and let us have a little room so we could do it in private - not sure my daughter would have been so keen to do it in the middle of the shop).

Incidentally, I recently lent the rest to a friend who was strugglng with her own. She tried it out of a couple of hours, and then rushed off the (same) shop to buy her own.

Very much a personal choice though, so I'd definitely recommend trying out as many models as you can.

Wolf are sometimes useful in such situations - you can mould the rest to fit your body and the legs can be site quite high.

On the other hand, rather than a shoulder rest, have you thought about getting a higher chin-rest fitted to fill in the space between your shoulder and neck? Many experts think that this is a better approach as the violin is lower so your bowing will be more natural (you won't have to raise your right arm as you will have to with a high shoulder rest).

Try out loads of combinations of shoulder and chin rests - you'll eventually find one that works for you.

This very interesting website shows various musicians and how they had their setup adjusted to fit their physique - some very different outcomes - some used no shoulder rest at the end, some used no chin rest, some used both, some had very high chin rests - worth a read!

http://www.violinistinbalance.nl/index.html


Allan

Thanks everyone

I went to a violin shop today and tried loads out - i tried about 3 different wolf ones, a bonmusica, some other one and the maple mach one. He brought out a £50 one but i was like aah that looks nice but i can't afford that.
He also gave me a kun like i have already so i could compare each one to what i already had.

I didn't like the wolf's, they felt really big and bulky =/ I really liked the bonmusica, it was comfortable and my violin felt very secure but i didnt like how big and bulky it was - i want something small and comfortable to help me hold it and it seemed really big and stuff.

I asked if he had the plastic mach one, as i knew i could never afford the £50 maple version! He went to get it then came back with a maple mach one - for half price! He gave it to me for £25 as it was their last one and it didn't have any of the packaging with it - nothing wrong with it though
He also gave me a decent bridge free that he'd adjusted to fit the flat surface of my electric violin (really needed a new bridge for it)

The mach is very comfortable and makes my violin feel secure but at the same time is small and not to mention looks great

Also rosfrog - a few weeks ago my teacher did mention something about me maybe having to get a different chinrest, but hasn't mentioned it since >_< I play with the chinrest like on my cheek :s



Nothing to do with shoulder rests but the violin he lent me to try them on i absolutely loved it x_x I don't know how much it was worth (probably not that much seeing as he just gave me it to test out shoulder rests) and it had no label inside but i absolutely adored it! I couldn't put it down it had such a clear yet full, biiig sound - soo much nicer than my current violin! And made me sound MUCH better It's a shame i have to wait another 10 months till i get my new violin i LOVE that one, it was so, so nice, + had exactly the kind of tone i love

OK a bit late but...

Back in the olden days when I actually played violin I got a rest called play-on-air.. Aparently Yehudi used one.. It was a black airbag really.. Was pretty small, light and very comfy. Dunno if they still make them.

Any music shop should be perfectly happy to let you have a go with the rest...
I use a Wolf Secondo shoulder rest - it's quite high up, but I've got bony shoulders and a long neck too, and it works for me!