Violin Care and Maintentence, How to Keep Your String Instrument in Good Condition

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How to Keep Your String Instrument in Good Condition

By: Mark Landson

Cleaning Your Violin

Cleaning your violin, viola or cello is important to keep it in its best shape. The main problem that can come from lack of cleaning is that the varnish will get damaged, sometimes beyond repair.

That said, the great violinist Paganini is said to have never wiped off the rosin from his violin, and in fact one of his instruments is completely black to this day all around the bridge area from caked on rosin! I guess we'll never know how his uncleanliness affected his public's enjoyment of his playing, but I'm guessing that you probably want to keep your instrument in good condition. That's why you're here, right?

The main thing is that you want to remove the rosin residue from strings, fingerboard, and the body of the violin under where the bow travels.

What you'll need is a cotton cloth, some rubbing alcohol, and a violin cleaner solution. Violin Polish is NOT the same as cleaner. Polish can be used in addition to cleaner to give the varnish a nice shine.

First, you'll want to take the cloth and dampen it (don't soak it!) with alcohol. Use the Alcohol ONLY on the strings and fingerboard! DON'T use the alcohol on any varnished part of the instrument. Clean off the rosin residue that's caked on the strings, and it will make the strings last longer and sound better.

Now, that said, if your fingerboard is not a real ebony fingerboard, and it happens to be a painted or varnished fingerboard, DON'T use the alcohol on it! Alcohol will take the varnish or paint right off.

Next, take a cotton cloth (not the same part of the cloth where you have alcohol on it, of course) and put some violin cleaner on it. Wipe the body of the instrument, especially under the strings, to get off the rosin residue. Also wipe the part of the body where your hand may touch it a lot at the upper bout. Many times oil from your fingers can degrade the varnish at that spot, so you'll want to be sure not to forget it. After cleaning, you are ready to polish the violin with a different cloth to produce a nice shine for the varnish. This step isn't essential, but does make the instrument look better!

Getting Dust bunnies out of the inside of a violin

My dad has a great story about how a student asked him how to get the dust bunnies out of his violin. Apparently, the dust had collected into a ball and was rolling around inside the instrument. My dad explained that the way to get out the dust was to take some rice and put it inside the violin and swish it around. The dust will stick to the rice and then you can shake out the rice.

Unfortunately, the next week the student returned very distraught. He was very upset because he had done exactly as told, and now had an even bigger problem. Now he had RICE stuck inside his violin. When he asked how to get the rice out, my dad looked in the violin. "Well, now I didn't tell you to COOK THE RICE!"

This works if you need to do it, but please don't cook the rice! :)

Mark Landson is a violinist, violist, and composer. He's probably done dumber things with his viola than stuff cooked rice inside. His new classical chamber music group, Neo Camerata mixes classical technique and artistry with an updated stage production and original music. Check it out at www.NeoCamerata.com.

Mark Landson contributed this to The Violin Space.

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