If you are a violin enthusiast, then you understand the advantages of having the best violin tailpiece with tuners in your instrument. Most modern violinists are in love with the straight steel, wound steel E or viola A string. They go further by including it in the Wittner FineTune Pegs.
The argument is whether it's essential or not to add a fine tuner to your tailpiece. If you are a beginner, it is advisable to have four fine tuners in your tailpiece to help you quickly tune your instrument while still learning how to use pegs.
However, if you are a professional violinist, violist, or advanced player, you are expected to have one fine tuner on the e-string to ensure it sounds best during play. The guide below will help you pick the best tailpiece for your violin, whether you're a beginner or professional violinist.
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1. | [amazon fields="B000LIEPDE" value="thumb"] | ||
2. | [amazon fields="B00HGDRSB8" value="thumb"] | ||
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5. | [amazon fields="B085G79Q2M" value="thumb"] |
Table of Contents
Why Do You Need Violin Tailpiece?
Tailpieces come in handy to hold the strings on your instrument, depending on how many you use. Using the suitable tailpiece boosts the difference in resolution, responsiveness, and resonance of your instrument, and that is where the question of the suitable tailpiece comes in.
You can add four fine tuners to a tailpiece, but some tailpieces have a built-in fine tuner, so you don't have to go through the hustle. The disadvantage of adding a fine tuner is that they shorten the afterlength; this is the length between the bridge and tailpiece. However, you will not experience that problem with built-in fine tuners because the string length and the after length are proportional to each other.
For years, steel strings were considered cheap student instruments due to the shrill sound, which partly created the mentality that "real violinists don't use fine tuners." Instead, as a violinist, you are expected to master peg tuning skills, which is a sign of reaching a certain level.
So, let us look into the best violin tailpiece with fine tuners for beginners.
1. WITTNER 918131 Tailpieces for Full-Size Violin
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Tuning the steel cored strings has been made much easier by the Wittner tailpiece. The user needs to have some way to fine-tune the fractional instrument while "running" the heli-cores. You either use four fine tuners or this.
This Wittner tailpiece is much cleaner compared to other tailpieces. Fortunately, those who do not wish to take the violin tailpieces for tuning at the local shop can change it themselves. This light alloy tailpiece is a quality product that works smoothly.
It is smaller in size compared to a standard wooden tailpiece. Although the tuner seems not to hold up, it gives an excellent service, which is recommended to solo violinists and students who need fine tuners that are quick and practical to tune. In addition, the composite tail vibration helps in vibrating the violin.
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CONS
2. Wittner 4/4 Violin Ultra Composite Tail Piece
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Although the Wittner can be a pain to tune when you want it to align with the pegs, it can be made more accessible by adding four tuners. However, putting four tuners on a standard tailpiece may make the instrument a little bit heavy, and this will make you want to change the lengths of the strings.
The Wittner 4/4 Violin Ultra Composite Tail Piece is a light alloy tailpiece made of plastic and four tuners. In addition to this, it features an ultra-robust with a nylon tailgut which is compatible with 4/4 violins.
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3. Violin Tailpiece, 3 in 1 Ebony Tailpiece
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If you're looking for a quality piece, then it is time to get yourself the 3 in 1 ebony tailpiece. This instrument satisfies your search by its quality composite material. This Violin Tailpiece boasts a premium ebony wood material that is anti-corrosive with a delicate artistry design that makes it sturdy and durable.
Additionally, its fine tuners, which are four pieces, are made of space-age composite material that is durable and does not rust. This tailpiece has a solid nylon rope that keeps it more potent and makes it work better.
Furthermore, this tailpiece is easy to install and suitable for a 4/3 or 4/4 violin.
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4. An-do-er 3/4 4/4 Violin Fiddle Tailpiece
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The an-do-er 3/4 4/4 Violin Fiddle Tailpiece comes with a design that is suitable for the 3/4 and 4/4 violin. This piece is made of lightweight aluminum alloy, which comes with a piece of tailgut that is included in the package.
In addition, it allows for string tension pull, a common condition that manufacturers consider. This exclusive design is exceptionally unique and comes with integrated fine tuners that will benefit a beginner. This means you don't have to go through the hustle of adjusting the strings.
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5. Jinqu1 Pcs Violin Tailpiece 4/4 Carbon Fiber
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Jinqu1 Pcs tailpiece comprises carbon fiber material whose design is a fit for a 4/4 size violin. This piece includes one violin carbon fiber tailpiece and one size tailpiece of tailgut. Jinqu1 tailpiece is strong enough to withstand the tension of the strings. With the four pieces of built-in tuners, you are sure your music will be impressive to match your musical needs. Lastly, it is pretty fit for different levels 4/4 violins.
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How to Select the Right Fine Tuners
The fine tuner of violin tailpieces is an essential aspect of music-making; that's why when choosing the best violin tailpiece with fine tuners, you should consider the following;
1. How Many Fine Tuners You Need
While some instruments require one fine tuner or two, others use four basing on their advantages and disadvantages. Many questions on the best violin tailpiece with fine tuners go around the users' minds, like fine tuners that are built-in, their advantages to added ones, or why other violins use one while others use four.
2. User’s Ability
Using fine tuners is based on the musician's ability rather than the use of strings. When the steel E strings were introduced in 1919 by Thomas Infeld, their use was unnecessary earlier. In the early times, all strings of violin instruments were composed of the gut; at first, it was plain, then wrapped with metal.
The combination of the two materials is unique as the gut is stretchy and metal is not. To change the pitch, you have to stretch a steel string at a minimal distance. You can also tune the gut string further to change the pitch.
The violin tailpieces featured more tuners as the manufacturer of the steel strings brought strings that were widely adopted into the market. Compared to the steel strings, they are stretchier and get tuned easily using pegs to see if they are correctly working.
So, the tailpieces with built synthetic strings often have one fine tuner for the E string. In comparison to synthetic string, fine tuners, for minor adjustments, work and even have strings that make many players, including professionals, prefer them for their convenience.
3. Quality
As much as fine tuners alter the after-length by protruding from the top of the tailpiece, lengthening the tailpiece, and shortening the after-length, they may harm the violin's sound. Violin fine tuners work by shortening the after-length by 10mm.
However, do not limit yourself to lose fine metal tuners and instead explore tailpieces with integrated fine tuners such as Wittner carbon tailpieces that work and sound much better. These light-alloy tailpieces do not protrude from the top, making the correct after-length ratio preserved.
Using these integrated tuners also prevents buzzing issues that lose tuners often have. The most used metal strings by cellists, whether beginner or professional, are the Larsen, Jargar, and Spirocore. If you are looking for a carbon tailpiece with fine tuners that sound good, then it is time for a Wittner ultra tailpiece or a Jinqu1 Pcs tailpiece.