Lay the Shoulder Pet on your shoulder with the tab (or tail) toward your back and the seam on top of your shoulder.
Position the violin/viola on top of the Shoulder Pet.
Using your instrument wriggle around the grains inside the Shoulder Pet until it conforms to the ideal shape for your comfortable set-up position.
You may want to secure the Shoulder Pet to your clothing with a safety pin; however, it is usually balanced well enough on it's own.
Some players use the Shoulder Pet in conjunction with their conventional shoulder rests for more comfort and a better set-up.
Why other shoulder rests fail?
Other shoulder rests
fail because they:
- do not fit easily (or at all) inside the instrument case.
- do not adjust to our constantly changing body shapes.
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are rigid and frequently very uncomfortable.
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often are not adjustable enough to allow a good set-up.
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keep falling off the instrument.
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dampen the sound of the instrument
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have hard surfaces that could potentially damage the instrument's varnish, burnish tuxedos.
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often catch long hair between the instrument and the shoulder rest (ouch!).