Hey rock violin fans. Check out this Mark Wood video from last week's NAMM trade show.

Added by on Jan 26, 2012 at 11:16am –

If you don't already "like" us on Facebook, we'd like to tempt you into it by offering your a free video download on bow care.

Click here to "Like" Strings Magazine and get a FREE video download on how to care for your bow.

Don't forget to share!

Added by Greg Olwell on Mar 27, 2012 at 10:55am –

A quick-and-easy guide to evaluating a new stick

• Type of Material   Brazilwood (prices usually run between $50 and $200); Pernambuco (priced anywhere from $100 to $10,000 or more); carbon fiber (priced anywhere between $50 and several thousand dollars); fiberglass (usually the lowest-priced option).

• Sound   Look for a bow that will give both a smooth, broad sound and at the same time possesses great clarity of focus and the quickness of response that comes from a stronger, stiffer bow.... Continue
  Added by Richard Ward on May 11, 2012 at 2:30pm –

Click here to see 'Strings' senior editor Greg Olwell with the office purple fiddle (hand-crafted no less). In solidarity with New Mexico middle school student Camille Cruz who was told last week that her purple violin was not suitable for the orchestra class and the sixth-grader would have to rent one of the district's violins that is a more traditional color for $30.

And weigh in on the discussion: purple violins—a legitimate way to engage a violin student or the bane of string teachers... Continue

Added by Greg Cahill on Sep 17, 2012 at 2:00pm –

Read how the Beatles—who mark their 50th anniversary this month—launched the string revolution, not with 1966's "Eleanor Rigby," as was recently claimed in one prominent British music magazine (tsk, tsk), but a year earlier with "Yesterday." This fab 2005 "Strings" archive article sets the record straight. http://bit.ly/S1yqfX

Added by Greg Cahill on Oct 26, 2012 at 11:26am –

By the time I left college to go to violin-making school I had been playing the violin for well over ten years—and yet I had not the slightest clue how the thing was made, much less how it worked. Now, approaching the 40th anniversary of that day in early October when I arrived in Salt Lake City, every time I pick up my tools I’m still amazed at the instrument’s beauty. And by its acoustical sophistication: the only instrument that produces a sound richer in overtones than the violin... Continue

Added by James N. McKean on May 08, 2013 at 9:51am –

Before I begin work on the rib structure, I join the top and the back. I want to let the joint rest before subjecting the plates to the stress of arching and graduating, but I'll also be using the back as a leveling plate to build the ribs on.

After I’ve run the two parts of the back through the joiner planer to level and roughly join them, I finish the joint with a beautiful old jack plane that my parents found for me 25 years ago. It was made in Pennsylvania in the 19th century, and the... Continue

Added by James N. McKean on May 13, 2013 at 2:55pm –