Not a couple of days in and my first problem!

I played my Viola open bows with my tuner to find the C string had slipped out of tune slighty, now the peg has slipped completely and will wind up to C but will not stay in place! So now I have no low C, why has it done this and how can I get it to stay in place? Really don't want to take it to my teachers as she is 30 miles away from me, could take it to the music shop on Monday though.

Practise went a bit down hill from there, I was going really well this afternoon but this evening it really was hard going and quite scratchy, I put it down to being tired from yesterdays lesson! Still very happy with it all though

Turn and gently push in at the same time, that should fix the problem.

This happened to me (but with a violin), unfortunately I was a bit over enthusiastic and then managed to break the E string with an unpleasant pinging noise

As said before if you push it in sideways then try winding to tighten the string (then possibly push in a bit more sideways...) anyhow thats what I did and it seemed to work ok. (after I replaced the broken E string of course!)

Thankyou It's done the trick, just played 2 tunes and the G Major scale much better as well now not thinking about that



Exactly what I was worried about, breaking the string perhaps being a little too gentle with the instrument!

Strings break, it happens.

My foavourite string breaking was when I was little and a 6th former was tuning instruments. My friend gave her her viola to tune to which the 6th former said 'wow this is really flat' starting turning the pegs (alot) and broke the string.

x

It's one of those things you will soon get used to.

A quick word of advice:
If you find you have a string that's gone a bit flat - too much just to fix with a fine tuner but not yet really floppy, DO LOOSEN the string first with the peg a bit BEFORE you start to tighten it up and retune, otherwise, especially with the higher strings, you are much more likely, accidentally to overtighten and cause the string to break. And do remember to push the peg in slightly into the hole when tuning up. It helps to do this sitting down with your viola on your knee, one hand turning the peg and the other gently supporting the scroll/neck at the top.

Enjoy your viola!

Thanks for all your help

The peg keeps slipping, every time I get the Viola out that one string © is way out of tune infact unplayable the sting is very slack so I have to tune it up, the others are staying where they are!

Is this quite common on Violas?

Push it in a bit harder! Pegs should usually stay put, normally the only tuning changes are caused by changes in humidity and/or temperature, or if you've been doing lots of pizzicato.

If it keeps slipping despite that take it back to where you are renting from and ask them to check the pegs as they seem to be slipping (they will probably put some special peg paste on), or else mention it to your teacher if you are seeing him/her soon.

Thankyou will give it a go

I would recommend peg paste. My C string is the only one of the strings on my viola that slips and it doesn't do it often. It's got a tendancy to slip when I have an orchestra concert coming up or it's too cold. You should be able to get some at your local music shop. I've always found that a tad of peg paste does the trick. Good luck