Every year, in the fortnight before exams, the same conversation happens at our bench.
A student arrives with a bridge that’s been leaning for months, strings that went dead over the holidays, and an exam on Thursday. We do what we can. But the honest answer is that some of it needed doing three weeks ago — not because the work takes that long, but because an instrument needs time to settle after it’s worked on.
Fresh strings drift for days. New bow hair feels unfamiliar until it’s played in. A newly adjusted sound post changes the tone you’ve spent months learning to control.
So the goal isn’t a perfect instrument on exam morning. It’s a stable, familiar one. Here’s the timeline that gets you there.
Four weeks out: everything that needs doing, gets done
This is your one window for changes. Anything requiring adjustment, replacement or bench work happens now, so there’s time to live with the result.
Book a setup check
Bring the instrument in for assessment. A luthier will spot things you can’t: a bridge that’s crept forward, a sound post that’s shifted, a peg about to slip, an open seam starting to buzz. Most of it is quick. All of it is much worse discovered the week of the exam.
Ask specifically about:
- Bridge — is it standing straight, are the feet flush, has it started to warp?
- Sound post — has it moved? This changes tone significantly and can’t be adjusted at home.
- Pegs — slipping or sticking? Both are fixable; neither should be endured.
- Fingerboard and nut — grooves worn into the fingerboard cause buzzing.
- Seams and cracks — a faint buzz you can’t locate is often an open seam.
Change the strings — if they need it
Not automatically. Strings that are still responsive don’t need replacing just because an exam is coming, and a brand-new set brings its own instability.
Replace them if they’re worn flat where the bow contacts, discoloured, fraying at the bridge or nut, or sounding dull and refusing to play in tune with themselves. If you last changed them more than a year ago and you practise daily, they’re due.
Rehair the bow — if it’s due
Signs: the hair slips no matter how much rosin you use, it grips in patches, the ribbon has thinned or gone uneven, or the hair looks grey and greasy near the frog.
Do this at four weeks, not one. A freshly rehaired bow needs playing in, and the last thing you want on exam day is a bow that feels like someone else’s.
Three weeks out: play everything in
Nothing new happens this week. You’re letting the instrument settle and doing the work of getting used to it.
New strings stretch considerably in the first few days. Expect to retune several times a session, and expect the pitch to keep sagging — this is normal and it settles. New bow hair takes a substantial initial rosining and a few sessions before it grips evenly.
Practise as normal, and pay attention to what feels different. If the tone has changed after a setup adjustment, this is the week to notice and adapt — not the week before.
Two weeks out: the stability check
One question this week: does it hold?
Tune carefully, then play a full run-through of your exam programme. Check the tuning at the end. If it’s drifted noticeably, something needs attention — slipping pegs, strings still settling, or a fine tuner that’s reached the end of its travel.
This is your last comfortable window for a return visit to the bench. Anything found now can still be fixed and settled before exam day.
Also worth doing this week:
- Practise tuning without help. Many students have only ever been tuned by their teacher. On exam day, they’re alone. Make sure they can do it, calmly, from a starting A.
- Play through in performance clothes. Long sleeves, a collar, or a new outfit changes how a violin or viola sits under the chin. Cellists: check what you’re wearing doesn’t interfere with the instrument against your chest.
- Try the accompanist’s room, or any unfamiliar space. A different room changes what you hear, which changes how hard you bow.
One week out: change nothing
The most useful thing you can do this week is leave the instrument alone.
No new strings. No rehair. No shoulder rest experiments. No swapping rosin because someone recommended one. Every change resets your familiarity, and familiarity is worth more on exam day than any marginal improvement in tone.
What you should do:
- Wipe the instrument and strings down after every session, so rosin doesn’t build up.
- Check the case: are both bow holders secure, is the neck restraint holding, do the latches close properly?
- Confirm you have a spare set of strings in the case. You will almost certainly not need them. The one time you do, it’s the difference between finishing the exam and not.
- Do one full dress run — clothes, shoes, music, everything in order, no stopping.
If something genuinely breaks this week, bring it in immediately rather than waiting. A snapped string or slipped sound post is quick to fix. The mistake is turning up on exam morning hoping it will be fine.
The day before
- Rosin the bow. A few full-length strokes — not a heavy coating. Over-rosining gives a gritty, scratchy tone, and the waiting-room panic-rosin is the classic way to sabotage a good preparation.
- Tune, and check it holds through a light run of the programme. Don’t over-practise; you’re confirming, not cramming.
- Pack the case tonight, not in the morning.
What goes in:
Instrument · bow (loosened) · rosin · spare strings · shoulder rest or endpin stop · clean cloth · tuner or tuning app · your music, with anything the examiner needs · exam confirmation details · a pencil.
Cellists and bassists: confirm your endpin stop is in the case, and check whether the venue floor is carpeted. A slipping endpin on a hard floor is a genuinely miserable way to start.
Exam morning
Keep it minimal. The instrument is ready; this is about not undoing that.
Don’t leave the case in a hot car, and don’t leave it in direct sun. Heat softens rosin and moves tuning.
Let it acclimatise. Moving from Singapore’s outdoor humidity into a cold, air-conditioned exam room shifts pitch noticeably. Open the case as soon as you arrive and give it fifteen minutes if you can.
Tune in the waiting room, then check again just before you go in. It will have moved.
Tighten the bow — to your normal tension, no more. Tightening extra “for security” is a common nervous habit and it makes the bow bounce.
Wipe the strings with the cloth. Ten seconds.
Don’t rosin again.
Then leave it alone and go and play.
Why booking early matters
Exam season is the busiest period on our bench, by a wide margin. In the fortnight before a major exam window, same-week appointments become genuinely hard to offer — and the work that’s most valuable, like a rehair or a setup adjustment, is exactly the work that needs settling time you no longer have.
Book four to five weeks ahead and none of this is a problem.
Our luthier, Wang Xiao Yi (Sean), handles setup, adjustment, rehairing and repair work in-house.
📍 289 Tanjong Katong Road, Singapore 437072 · 📞 +65 6345 3815 · Tues–Sat, 10am–7pm
What you might need
Browse the Exam Prep Collection →
Strings
Fit them four weeks out, not the week before.
- Pirastro Evah Pirazzi Neo Violin Set — $161.40. Synthetic core, medium tension. For advanced students wanting projection and a quick response under the bow.
- Larsen Aurora Cello Set, Medium — $196.50. Available right down to 1/8 size, which makes it one of the few genuinely good options for younger cellists on fractional instruments.
- Larsen Aurora Viola Set, Medium — $139.40. Warm and even across the strings.
Browse all strings →
Buy a spare set at the same time. Keep it in the case, unopened. It’s cheap insurance against the one thing that can genuinely end an exam.
Rosin
If your cake has gone shiny and glazed, or worn down to a sliver, replace it at the four-week mark so you’re used to it.
- Gustave Bernardel Violin/Viola/Cello Rosin — around $20. Medium-light grip, strong bow control. A reliable default.
- Guillaume Violin/Viola/Cello Rosin — $30.50. Low-dust with a rounded tone, and the metal tin survives a school bag.
Browse all rosins →
Bow
If your bow is warped, flat in the camber, or the fibreglass stick that came with a starter outfit, a rehair won’t fix what’s wrong. Better to upgrade — again, four weeks out.
- Rosenberger Violin Bow — $300.00, sizes 4/4 to 1/4. A meaningful step up in response and balance from a starter bow.
Browse all bows →
Comfort and setup
Neither of these should be changed in the final fortnight — but four weeks out, a shoulder rest that actually fits is one of the biggest playing improvements available.
- Pirastro KorfkerRest LUNA Violin Shoulder Rest — $393.60. A premium option for advanced players; fully adjustable and notably light.
Browse shoulder rests and accessories → · cases →
Prices correct at time of writing.
The one-line version
Four weeks out, fix everything. One week out, change nothing.
Most exam-day instrument disasters aren’t bad luck — they’re a repair that happened too late, or a change made too close. Give the instrument time to settle and it’ll do what you’ve trained it to do.
Good luck. 🎻