Once you have brought a violin you bring home a lot of responsibilities in regards to its care and maintenance. It would be a pain to watch music instruments turn into bad condition. Even if you don’t see the artistic value in it, commercially you are losing a lot on resale price potential. In addition, you will not get the same wonderful feeling when playing the violin during your violin lessons or in performances.
An easy checklist would help you maintain your violin in top condition, given that all the boxes are ticked. There are a lot of factors that are bound to ruin your violin’s condition. Anyways all factors and problems can be attended and fixed if given enough care and maintenance. Listed here are some coolest DIY care and maintenance tips to help keep your violin in top state.
Placing and cleaning
Placing and cleaning the violin does take basic common sense alone. Surprisingly there are repairs that have been caused, since violin owners fail to do both. Always clean your violin with a good instrument cloth. You can get a few of them from violin shops. When not cleaned properly, the strings can get harder to play. As a result you only end up getting your violin strings broken and in need for replacement. Always place your violin in a way, so that the string-side is placed upwards. Do not place anything over the violin since the strings could exert pressure and get ruined.
Temperature and humidity
Your violin always stays a gem of woodwork. The wooden make however can be affected by temperature and humidity. Drastic change in humidity can only have negative effects on the wooden violin. The instrument expands in summers, whereas contracts in winters. Some cracks are bound to happen if you don’t protect the exterior. Some homeowners may prefer to humidify rooms during winters. Similarly, they dehumidify homes with air conditioning in the summers. Using a case humidifier for instruments is another cost effective option, music lovers are left with. Make sure, not to expose your violin directly to sunlight for anything over few minutes.
Not so overlook-able adjustments:
Adjust the bridge to make sure it stands perpendicular to the violin exterior. A slant or learning bridge is normal to happen with use. Loosen the violin strings and tighten it whenever you notice leaning effect. Tuning problems are another common occurrence caused by various factors. It can be caused by wound strings, poor tuning or humidity variations. Peg drop solutions come in handy to solve peg drop problems. Fingerboard would show wearing signs from playing. Small bumps may show up in proximity to finger positions. Dressing on the board can eliminate these small bumps permanently.
Maintenance of parts
As a rule of thumb, replace your violin strings every year. Annual replacement helps keep strings in ideal condition. This is a DIY task, but you can get assistance from your violin teacher or friend during your first time. Re-hair your bow depending on how frequently you play. To re-hair every 6-18 month sounds good as a pound. The tips of the bow need to be handled gently. It can shatter when hit right on spot. It’s vital to loosen the hair on the bow during and after every use. Bows may demand regular repairing with top quality. Violin maintenance is not a ‘run of the mill’ process.
Crucial don’ts:
- Do not place your violin on the floor, chair, sofa, or any place you would walk or sit.
- Do not touch the horsehair with the bow. The oils in your finger would make the hair slippery.
- Do not try to have a ‘do it yourself’ approach with violin repairs.
- Don’t leave a violin inside your car any time of the year. It would expose your violin to heat and radiation.