You’ve just made an investment in your violin and I’m sure you want to do everything you can to guard it against unnecessary harm. The violin is  a relatively fragile instrument that requires consistent care and maintenance. |
Here are some things to keep in mind to help protect your instrument:
- The most vulnerable area of the violin is the varnish which sensitive to the oils of your finger tips.
- You want to handle the violin by the edges and the neck which is usually un-varnished.
- Varnish usually responds negatively to significant changes in temperature and humidity.
- Store your violin in a constant level of humidity (between 40%-60%)
- Don’t expose the violin to extreme temperatures (hot or cold).
- For example: Don’t leave it in your car for an extended period of time.
- Clean the violin regularly
- Wipe it down with a soft cloth after each playing session.
- Ensure all rosin dust or fingerprints are removed.
Rosin is the substance (usually pine resin) that a violinist uses to make the hair on the bow sticky.
If a bow’s hair has never been rosined, the violin will not produce usable
sound when the bow is drawn across the strings. Once rosined, the hair
- Light Violin Rosin
essentially grips the string and pulls it . . . but since the bow keeps moving,
the string snaps back to its original position . . . where it is caught again
by the rosin on the hair and the cycle is repeated. This happens extremely
rapidly. In the case of your A-string, it occurs 440 times per second. Without
the rosin’s grip, the hair will simply slide over the string essentially not
making a sound.
The violin bow requires rosin to be applied before playing. While playing the violin, dust will collect on the fingerboard and top of the violin. You need to wipe off this rosin dust with a soft cloth following each playing session. If you continuously experience rosin build up, you may want to consider purchasing a violin surface cleaning product. These cleaning agents are usually very strong so be sure to test the solution on a small, inconspicuous area before applying the solution to the entire instrument.
