Q&A for How to Place a Bridge on a Violin

Excessive rosin will just make a mess on the instrument you're bowing. Try to keep it moderate and always clean the rosin from the instrument before it hardens.

You might need to put rosin on your bow. Rosin allows the bow hairs to grip the strings when dragged across, creating the vibrations that make the sound. If you go up and down the bow a few times with some rosin, it should make noise.

Never ever make renovations like that on your instrument! Talk to a luthier, they will find you a bridge that better suits your needs.

No. After each practice, simply loosen the bow hair (not the actual strings).

If your bridge feels too high, it probably is. if you have a millimeter ruler, you can check the heights at the end of the fingerboard: on a full size violin the E should not be higher than 4mm, and the G not more than 6. The best solution is to bring your violin into an instrument shop with trained violin repair personnel and have them check it over for you, as bridge feeling extremely high can be a sign of a more serious problem such as the neck or soundpost coming loose. They probably won't charge you anything to check over, and if all it needs is a simple bridge height adjustment, it will be quick and inexpensive.

The shafts of the pegs are tapered, so it is likely you pulled them out a bit when you loosened the strings to place the bridge. You might just need to push them inwards more firmly as you tune. If they continue to slip, you can have them adjusted by a professional at an instrument shop. Be very careful doing anything with your bridge on your own as you can quite easily damage the instrument; it is usually easier and cheaper in the long run to have a professional do it for you.

The strings may be loose and need tightening and tuning. The bow may also need rosin.

If the bridge is not placed where it should be, the sound may be affected. If the E and the G have been inverted, the string height will be wrong, it can cause buzzing sounds or even discomfort while playing. Remove it and replace as it should be, or have a violin repairer do this for you if you can't manage to get it right yourself.