Wolf Forte Secundo Shoulder Rest Review | Violin & Viola TV #204
In this episode I’m going to review a product that I’ve been using for almost twenty years and that is an all time favorite amongst my students and clients.
It’s the Wolf Forte Secundo shoulder rest.
Amateur and professional players from all over the country (and abroad) visit me for ‘rest fitting session’ in which I find and adjust the perfect chinrest and shoulder rest (or cushion or nothing) for them. Most of the time they know the Wolf, as it’s a Dutch brand that most people here use.
Often people are a bit skeptic about the Wolf, because they have tried it before. However very often this Wolf appears to be the perfect rest for them.
A Wolf can be a good fit for almost everybody, because it’s adjustable in so many ways.
The key is in adjusting it and taking the time for that. Often people reject the Wolf, because they just didn’t find the way to adjust it.
The advantages of the Wolf above other rests are:
- You can make the screws on the feet even higher with tubes that come with the rest when you buy one.
- You can place the feet upside down, so the rest is a lot lower or a lot higher.
- You can bend the rest, so it follows the exact shape of your collar bone. This is not possible with rests that are made of wood or plastic.
- You can adjust it in width and height.
- You can tilt the cushion.
The disadvantage of the Wolf is that you can’t make it extremely low. I’m a big fan of holding your violin a bit to the middle and low. This automatically means you need either no shoulder rest (like I play the viola) or a very low shoulder rest (like I play the violin). This is the reason why after almost twenty years of playing with a Wolf I have replaced it quite recently with a Viva la Musica Augstusin Diamond rest (click here for the review).
I see that in 90% of the cases people end of with this Wolf. If you want to buy your first shoulder rest or you have a shoulder rest that doesn’t fit you well, the Wolf is a good starting point.
If you are interested in buying the Wolf Forte Secundo shoulder rest, Click here!
Is this video helpful to you? Please let me know in the comments below! If you like it, share it with your friends!
What’s your favorite shoulder rest and why? Share it in the comments below!
Love,
Zlata
PS: Do you have questions or struggles on violin or viola playing? Post a comment below or send an e-mail to info@violinlounge.com and I might dedicate a Violin & Viola TV episode to answering your question!
Violin strings featured in this video:
Wolf Forte Secondo, Violin Shoulder Rest. 4/4 and 3/4 size. Rubber padded, ergonomically curved bar. Height and pitch adjustable with screw-on swiveling legs. Height adjustable from 1 to 3-1/4. Sliding width adjustment on one end.
Most valued features:
- Adjustable
- Comfortable
- Quality
- Price
Hi! I'm Zlata
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Dear Zlata, Nice you are getting a week to do something. I liked your description of the shoulder rest. Don’t know if it available here or not. I have really been having trouble getting something that can help me hold the violin on my shoulder, something I found out when I was starting the small siren in “Freeing your Vibrato”. Almost dropped the violin a couple of times. My body is not like it used to be when I was younger. I don’t have any meat on my shoulder any more, and there is a depression in the front of my chest where my pacemaker is located. I had to make a big pad and attach it to the front of my shoulder rest with hair bands because the front of my shoulder rest actually rested on my pacemaker and I had a lot of trouble with the violin trying to rotate, and trying to do the small siren holding my thumb in one place on the neck of the violin made the problem even worse. So information about these bendable shoulder rests is of much interest to me. I do pay a lot of attention on what you have to say in your videos.
Michael