The WAVE Chinrest for Violin
Posted on May 16, 2020
As a reward to myself for consistent playing during the month of April, I ordered a WAVE Da Capo chinrest.
Because I struggle with a short neck, finding a low-fitting chinrest and shoulder rest combo has always been troublesome. While I liked my previous chinrest, on my Master fiddle, I had issues where this chinrest would slowly migrate towards the tailpiece. When it made connection with the tailpiece, I learned very quickly that it caused an awful buzzing in my D string.
I’d heard about the WAVE Da Capo a while back – probably from searching forums for another type of low chinrest. But it wasn’t until last month that I finally placed my order for one. You can see from the webpage that these aren’t cheap chinrests, and come with many options that alter the price. In my experience, they are pretty equivalent to what I paid for my chinrest on Amazon. I believe these are hand-made in the USA, to boot, and have an interesting story.
So what’s different about the WAVE? If you look at the picture below, you’ll notice that instead of following the couture of the bottom of the violin, this chinrest extends beyond it. The idea is that the chinrest comes to meet the chin, rather than forcing the player to reach to meet the chinrest.
Though I only ordered the WAVE 1 Da Capo, when the maker got in touch with me to fill my order, he offered to send both WAVE 1 and WAVE 2 for me to try. He noted that they had a slightly different shape, based on feedback he’d received.
There’s a 30 day trial period with the promise of a refund if the WAVE did not work for me. I could try both types, and keep the one I liked best.
I’ve been using the WAVE Da Capo for a week. It did take a little getting used to at first. But now, I really love it – especially in conjunction with my new shoulder rest (will write about that later, too).
I did feel a difference between WAVE I and WAVE II. I believe my Master ended up with the WAVE II. But I really liked them both quite a bit. Since I didn’t have a good chinrest on my Bunnel, which I still keep as my backup fiddle, I decided to spoil myself and I bought the second to keep, as well.
Now, what I’d love is a tailpiece that matches the color of the chinrests. But I’m too much a scardy-cat to change out the tailpiece on my Master! My luck, I’d drop the soundpost.
So, for now, I can live with the differences in color. And I do want to note, whatever oils he used to make that WAVE, it smells really nice every time I play violin!