Hidersine Piacenza Violin 4/4 Outfit

The Hidersine Piacenza is the perfect violin outfit for stepping through the mid-level grades

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.
Your new Hidersine instrument will have already been inspected and setup ‘ready to play’ in Hidersine's UK service workshops. This means that you can buy with confidence, take your new instrument along to your lesson and be ready to go from the off.

This model is a 4/4 (Full Size) Size, so will be suitable for most teenagers and adults, but we strongly recommend you speak to your local music store or your music teacher to ensure you, your child or your student are measured for the correct size.
Your Hidersine Piacenza violin, viola or cello is supplied as an outfit, which is to say it is complete with what you need to get started. The Violin is supplied in an oblong, shockproof case with internal accessory compartments and an outer music pocket.

Most importantly, your Piacenza outfit includes a Half-Mounted Brazilwood bow, without which no sound is possible. Just tighten the hair, apply a little of the included Hidersine rosin, and the bow is ready to go!

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 violins and violas both benefit from a genuine Ebony fingerboard, pegs 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. This is essential in areas such as the pegs, which are under a lot of tension from the strings. The shaft of each peg needs to be retain its integrity, and using Ebony is one of the best ways to ensure this. 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.