Violins come in 9 different sizes: 4/4 (called ‚full size‘), 3/4, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16 and 1/32. 4/4 size being the biggest, 1/32 the smallest. All adults, regardless of their size, use the 4/4 violin. There is another uncommon size, 7/8, usually used by female professional violinists who want a full-size violin’s sound but whose hand might be a little small for the full size violin. So violin makers would make violins just a little smaller than full size to accommodate these players.
To measure what size violin best suits you, you need to know the length between your neck and the middle of your left-hand palm or left wrist. This is measured when your hand is fully extended and raised perpendicular to your body, just like holding a violin. About 50% of the teachers prefer students to use the length from the neck to the wrist for measurement instead of the neck to mid-palm approach. The violin size determined by the neck/wrist approach would be the size that is more comfortable for students to hold. The violin size determined by the neck/mid-palm approach would be the biggest size students should use. When your child is right in between two sizes using the two different measuring methods, you should also consider that kids do go thourgh growth phases and may outgrow a size in 6 months. In that case, you may want to choose the larger size.
We would always recommend to consult your teacher if you have one available.
The following chart lists the length of each violin size. Find the length using your preffered approach and determine the size of violin to get.
Violin size 1/16 1/8 1/4 1/2 3/4 4/4
Age 3-5 4-6 5-7 6-8 7-10 ab 9
arm length in mm 350-430 430-445 445-500 500-560 560-600 ab 600
Body length in mm 230 255 280 320 335 350-360
Whole size in mm 380 425 460 520 560 590-600
