Tools:

Narrow and thin carving knives or long steel needles, thin tweezers, cotton yarn, hard paper.

Installation steps:

① Install the violin on a shoulder rest to prevent damage to the backboard. Turn the right sound hole towards yourself. Lower the first and second strings of the violin by one and a half to two notes.

② Shake the fallen sound column to the right sound hole, use a knife or needle to move one end to the sound hole, and use tweezers to remove it. If it is necessary to replace the sound column, the sound column can be ground into different lengths and end faces with different inclinations based on visual inspection of the distance and inclination of the panel and back plate where the sound column is installed.

③ Mark the slanted side of the sound column (i.e. the side facing the right sound hole after completion) with a pencil. Place the marker facing yourself and tie cotton yarn on the left side of the sound column. Make two knots so that the long head after the first knot faces the right sound hole, and the long head after the second knot faces the left sound hole. In this way, when pulling the cotton yarn, the sound column will be very obedient and will not rotate or warp randomly.

④ Insert a long cotton yarn into the right sound hole, blow it towards the left sound hole, and insert it with tweezers. Insert the sound column into the right sound hole. If the sound column is thick, it must be inserted through the circular hole on the sound hole head.

⑤ Place the cotton yarn on both ends vertically at a position about 7-8 millimeters from the sound hole gap towards the belly of the piano. Manipulate the cotton yarn on both sides of the sound column left and right, adjust the upper end of the sound column to the appropriate position, and make the lower end of the sound column face the left sound hole. Due to the tension of the cotton yarn, the lower end is raised.

⑥ Gently use a carving knife to move the lower end towards the right sound hole.

⑦ Measure the distance from the inner edge of the left sound hole to the bass beam with a randomly marked hard paper, and then measure the distance from the inner edge of the right sound hole to the upper end of the sound column with a hard paper. Manipulate the cotton yarn to make the latter equal to the former, in order to achieve left and right balance.

⑧ Use a carving knife or steel needle to forcefully push the lower end of the sound column towards the right sound hole from the left sound hole, making the sound column vertical.

⑨ Use the sharp edge of a carving knife or steel needle to move the sound column about 5 millimeters away from the back panel from the right sound hole. If the sound column does not rotate, it is fine. Observe whether the sound column is properly installed from the left and right sound holes, as well as the circular hole in the direction of the fingerboard.

⑩ Temporarily raise the strings by one note and wait for one or two days before returning to standard pitch. After a few days, adjust the position of the sound column in the longitudinal direction of the violin.