Five string violin setup article

Last Fall I was asked to give a short talk about best practices for setting up 5-string violins at the Violin Society of America convention in Minneapolis, MN. Afterwards I was asked to write an article so that it could be published in The Strad trade magazine’s luthier’s “how to” section known as Trade Secrets. The collection of these articles get republished as a book every few years. I was delighted to be asked to contribute on the subject of 5-string setup. The full article is printed in the August 2026 publication of The Strad magazine. Here is a short excerpt from the full article.