After getting a new really really comfortable shoulder rest yesterday i then found something else causing me discomfort is my chinrest My teacher said a few weeks ago that i may have to get a new chinrest but hasn't mentioned it since, but it's quite small and it digs into my jaw/chin - i'm very bony and stuff Anyway for the time being (not gonna buy a chinrest without asking my teacher which kind first) i just found a cloth and put it over the chinrest and it's soo comfortable and makes my violin seem more secure too. I played for 3 hours without any discomfort
Should i still get a new chinrest or just use the cloth over the one i already have? Or is that stupid? Does anyone else do anything like that? I've seen some people use one, but not very often

I'm not a violinist but I have seen lots of violinists use a cloth over their chinrest - I've often wondered why - surely they can make a more comfortable chin rest?

True, but a cloth is much more soft and comfortable especially considering i'm so boney - it seems nicer to put my chin over a soft cloth than cold hard wood (/plastic whatever you'd use) But i'm sure most of the digging in is the shape of my chinrest - it's quite small too

Edit: sorry i thought you said FIND a more comfortable chinrest. My post still sort of makes sense though

Is there a reason shoulder rests are padded and chinrests are hard wood/plastic?

The only danger you may have is that you're now clamping your fiddle between a shoulder rest with rubber-clamp feet, a chin-rest with a metal clamp and also a muffling cloth... it's highly probable that the tone will suffer.

Any luthier will tell you that a fiddle sounds best with no shoulder or chin-rest - however most people can't play like that so some compromise has to be made. Some people use a cloth, some a chin-rest only, some a shoulder rest only etc. but all three might be problematic.

I don't use a chin or shoulder rest and my fiddle resonates so much more than when I used both.

If you're not noticing any difference in resonance or sound quality, I'd say continue with it if it works for you, otherwise, rethink the set up to make it more comfortable with the minimum amount of added on bits.

Good luck,

Allan

True - i never thought of that
I'll try with and without tomorrow and see if there's a difference
Although i did notice today that my tone sounded better than usual (for once) But that may have been due to 3 hours practise today - i'm sure it'll be back to normal tomorrow !

If you feel your tone is better, then maybe you're feeling more relaxed with the fiddle set up like that and that's having a positive impact.

The thing is, it's a bit of a paradox. In order to get the best tone out of a fiddle, it has to be totally free to resonate, so the less stuff we put on it the better - but then in order for us to make the most of this tone, we have to be totally relaxed, and most of us have to use some of that stuff in order to be relaxed.

It's a compromise then - find the mininum amount of stuff you need to be totally relaxed and you've found the best tone you can possibly produce on that fiddle (it may not be the best tone that the fiddle can produce, but that's another story).

Some people use cloths to stop any sweat running down and dripping onto the varnish. Sweat is acidic - some peoples more so than others - and getting it on the varnish spells for the possibility of damage to the varnish and exposing the bare wood.

Others use cloths because the skin of their neck suffers an allergic reaction to the (zinc/nickel) metal pieces of the chinrest, or the even varnish.

It can also help stop that violin neck rash that some players develop (esp. professionals), which again, could be a combination of sweat reaction and/or allergic reaction to something.

A small piece of chamois is good to use - provides protection and a bit of grip too - but needs to be thrown away and replaced when it starts to become hard and greasy from contact with your skin

I'll further back up what AmandaL is saying - I play with neither a chin-rest or a shoulder rest and have extremely acidic sweat - so much so in fact that a set of strings lasts me on average about six weeks if I'm playing regularly...

Where I hold my fiddle, there's a big mark where my chin goes and then where I play in the higher positions, there's a mark on the rib too.

I'm eating my fiddle away little by little !

Allan

I noticed that Hilary Hahn (amazing American violinist) uses quite a large white cloth over her chinrest. I always assumed it was to protect her very valuable violin although you don't see Vengerov of Joshua Bell using one. Also I wouldn't imagine a lady like her with flying sweat and snot

I wondered if it would muffle her sound at all because it covers quite a lot of her violin and I don't personally think it looks very attractive.. looks like she's playing on a bale of towels rather than a beautiful violin

One of the online violin shops sells a little chamois type cloth to fit over the chinrest without covering any of the violin. Perhaps that would help?

Or eat more cakes - that would make you much less boney

Have you an address for that please, lottie?

STERLING ADVICE from lottie - I'm off to the pâtisserie round the corner!

Take a look at the Wolf Maestro leather chin rest. Extremely comfortable, the leather breathes and has just the right amout of 'give'. Arc Verona sell them for around £28. It's about average height, in other words, it may not be suited to a long neck. See what you think.

There's this one... http://www.vivaceviolin.com/pp/Accessories...ssories/SP.html

and there's this one... http://www.gelrest.com/

and here's the link for the leather chinrest Zhuologist mentioned... http://www.arc-verona.co.uk/wolf-maestro-c...viola.1471.html

I can't find the one I saw previously of the chamois type but you could always try buying a piece of chamois and fitting it over... but I'll keep looking because I'm sure I saw it somewhere.

Ahh I've found it.... http://www.thestringzone.co.uk/cart.php?ta...category_id=118