Whatever else you do, **never EVER ** remove more than one string at a time! You want to keep the overall tension as close to operational as possible, to avoid stress on the bridge or soundpost. Wipe the notches in the nut and the bridge to remove possible FOD ("foreign object damage"), then run a pencil or other source of graphite powder into the notch to act as a lubricant. I recommend a cleaning step after removing the old string and before installing the new one. Just adding a bit to Brian T's well-done answer. Initially this will be with the fine tuners but eventually they will reach their tightest limit and I will then slacken off the fine tuner completely, tune roughly with the peg up to about half a note flat (less if I can manage it) before using the fine tuner again. Over the next few days I find that I will play for 15 minutes and the strings will be out of tune as the strings bed in and stretch slightly so I'm retuning very regularly. Finally I use the fine tuners (which were previously completely slackened off) to complete tuning. The tuning on the lower strings will have changed so I go back and retune again using the pegs up to half a note below. I do this for all 4 strings ending with the E. With 4 fine tuners I aim to tune up to no more than half a note below the desired note on the pegs first. On the violin I start with the G string and work my up. Try and have the fingerboard end of the tube flush with the edge of the bridge. Try also to make sure the plastic does not stick out from the bridge towards the fingerboard as this will affect the sound produced by the string. This will protect the bridge from the string. Make sure this fits in the groove in the bridge. The E string should come with a tiny plastic sleeve about 1-2 mm long. This means that left to its own devices it will cut into the bridge with bad consequences. On the violin the E string is much thinner than the other strings, is usually made of a strong metal like steel and is under much greater tension. Finish tightening when the string is taut but not tight. Before going too far fit the ball or loop end into the tailpiece / fine tuner. The idea is that when you have finished the tightened string will be flush with the edge of the peg box so that it doesn't interfere with the other strings. Go in the direction of the side of the peg box. Under a good light, thread one end of the string through the hole in the peg until about half an inch is sticking out the other side and start winding the string on the peg maintaining some tension in the string so it doesn't loosen. I always start with the lowest string (G on the violin) and work my way up to the highest, which is the most delicate, the most likely to break and the most finicky to fit. If you have a fine tuner then loosen the fine tuner to the maximum extent. Unhook the ball or loop from the tailpiece or fine tuner. Pull the string out from the hole in the peg. Remove a string by first loosening the peg and turning until the string is completely unwound from the peg. Avoid the pain of having the soundpost fall by removing and replacing one string at a time. If you remove all the strings at once you may be lucky and have sufficient friction to keep the soundpost in place but it's not worth the risk. The soundpost is held in place, not by glue, but by a combination of friction and pressure exerted by the tension of the strings via the bridge to the top of the instrument. Nevertheless it is worth checking your E (A for viola) string fine tuner to see if it is ball end or loop and buy your replacement string accordingly. Modern violins for beginners and intermediate players will have a modern fine tuner fitted for all 4 strings which normally take ball end strings. The lower 3 strings always take ball end strings. Traditionally these instruments have a fine tuner on the highest string (E for violin, A for viola) which may take a loop end string.
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