The hand-carved Piacenza instruments are designed and built with care and attention and are ideal for taking players into more advanced musical territory, making more complex pieces and techniques achievable. This particular ‘Finetune’ model has the added benefit of Wittner’s incredible, internally geared, FineTune pegs, so maintaining accurate tuning will be an absolute breeze.

Wittner’s Finetune pegs are a genuine revelation for player of all standards, with even seasoned professionals choosing to fit them to the very finest instruments. But these discreet, internally geared pegs make life so much simpler for students too! Traditionally, most bowed instruments are tuned using wooden pegs, which are ‘wedged’ into the wooden holes of the pegbox at the top of the instrument, with simple friction keeping them in place. When the strings needed to be tuned therefore, for the pegs to turn, they would have to be loosened, turned and then pushed back in. This process can take a little force and isn’t the easiest or most accurate for inexperienced hands. Plus, over time the pegs can slip – therefore losing their pitch – or stick – making them hard to turn and tune. Any teacher, student or professional will tell you the amount of time that can be wasted getting their instrument into tune, at pitch, and having it stay there! The clever, German-engineering employed in Wittner’s Finetune pegs allows the student or professional to turn the internally geared peg in a controlled way, without the main shaft of the peg ever losing contact with the pegbox. This means you can make tiny, incremental increases or decreases in pitch - just like tuning a guitar. Getting your instrument in tune, and keeping it there has literally never been easier…. So now your precious time can be spent on learning and playing – not tuning.. and re-tuning.

Hidersine Piacenza instruments feature a hand-carved solid spruce top – or sound-table. This is important because your instrument’s primary voice is formed by this sound-table, and therefore the top can resonate as a single, coherent structure and sound great as a result. Plus, as the wood ages and the solid tonewood top gradually relaxes at a cellular level into its natural rest state, it will resonate even more naturally, and the sound will improve further. Hidersine Piacenza instruments not only have a solid top, but they also have a stunning solid, flamed Maple ribs and backs too. These highly figured, solid tonewood sections further enhance the instrument’s natural tone. The top produces the instrument’s primary voice, and the back and sides add the character. (The term ‘Flamed’ refers to the figuring of the Maple grain, which looks like flames striking across the wood. Maple with a natural ‘flame’ is highly prized, with the most intricate and stunning natural grain patterns demanding very high prices throughout the world of musical instruments.)

It’s important to understand the hand-carved element of the Piacenza’s construction. Although most musical instruments have a fair amount of human input in their building process, unsurprisingly instruments created for the entry-level tend to have much higher levels of machine-made elements. While this makes the process efficient, it can take away from the individual ‘soul’ of each instrument. Each mark from the luthier’s carving tools are there for a specific reason. The amount of time taken to carve the arched tops and back of a violin is integral to their structure – lightness and strength - and the resulting tone. Luthiers have been passing their learned skill down the generations for centuries, and in the case of Hidersine Piacenza instruments, the skilled hand-carving techniques can begin to be truly appreciated.

Hidersine Piacenza Finetune violins benefit from a genuine Ebony fingerboard and chin rest. This prized hardwood has traditionally been used for hundreds of years due to its truly long-lasting properties. Unlike dark-stained or ‘ebonized’ softwoods often used on inferior instruments, genuine Ebony will not mark, pit or wear out under lengthy playing periods. Ebony should remain structurally sound for a very long time, and it will also feel smooth on the fingers and chin, helping make the playing experience more pleasant all round.

The bow is one of the most important upgrades you can make to any bowed instrument setup. The upgraded bow included with your Hidersine Piacenza Violin, Viola or Cello will help you to produce an enriched tone, plus it offers a premium touch in the form of a genuine Ebony ‘Frog’.

Supplied with:

• Oblong Styrofoam Case with accessory compartment and music pocket
• Brazilwood, Half-mounted bow with Ebony Frog
• Hidersine Rosin block

Fully Set-up

Before we ship your violin, it will be set-up in our workshop by our specialist string repairer. Unlike many online retailers, we only sell fully set-up instruments. We do not sell 'out of the box'.

The set-up includes:

• Adjusting the tuning pegs so they fit correctly and flush with the peg box.
• Cutting and shaping the bridge - a violin from the supplier will come with a 'blank' bridge which needs to be cut and shaped to correctly fit each individual violin. The feet need to be correctly angled to sit on the instrument and the top of the bridge needs to be shaped to be in line with the curve of the fingerboard. If the the bridge is not correctly fitted, the strings can be too high making it difficult to play and the bridge can become unstable.
• Adjusting the top-nut so the strings lie correctly, allowing the violin to play properly.

All this is INCLUDED in our price.