How to clear and care for a violin (and a viola)?

After every practice, loosen the arch, cleanse with a dry cloth the resin that was put on the ropes and cover and put the violin in his case with secure closures. Once a week, look at the bridge to confirm that it remains right. And never touch the arch's dregs with his fingers.

All that follows applies equal to the viola: it's something bigger and more serious, but it's care exactly the same way.

To sum up

Loosen up the sows every time you keep the bow: if it's tense, the stick's curved.
Do not touch the bristles: The skin's fat prevents the resin from clinging and that area stops ringing.
Clean the resin with a dry cloth after his touch with a strap and a cover and a stick with a dry cloth and with no alcohol near the varnish.
When tuning, the bridge leapes to the diapason: review every week and straighten it before it falls.
The soul is an inner piece that only moves the luthier. If it falls, loosen the strings and do not touch the instrument.

What to do after every practice, every week and every year

A schedule of care for the violin and viola
When	What to do
After each practice	Loosen the arch, clear the resin from ropes, cover and stick, put into the box and close the closures
Each week	To check that the bridge is right and that the microtuning machines are at an end
Each month	Check broken dregs, resin status and inside case
Each 6 to 12 months	Change strings if they are spent and do a review with the luthier
Each or two years, depending on their use	To change the arch bristles (fringes)

If you play several hours a day, the deadlines are shorter. Rope and dregs are a guide: what's with the sound and what your teacher tells you.

Resin and bow: what's most bad

How to put the resin (cholophenia)

Keep your bow up till, at the centre, between your stick and your dregs and put more or less a pencil and more or less.
The resin passes through the bristles, from the heel to the end with slow movements. Three or four passes are usually enough.
If the resin's new and smooth, it doesn't get hold of it: it gently scrape its surface and open it up and your teacher or luthier will show you how.
A bow with new dregs needs a lot more after the first time.

The excess can be noted: rough sound, a white cloud and powder glued to the cover. A better little resin at once or at best two practices. Keep it in your box or wrapped in fabric: it cuts if you fall and soften with the heat, for example in a car to the sun.

Take care of the arch

Don't touch dregs or wolves, or put talco or other products.
Loosen the sows while keeping the bow, until they are relaxed but without hanging.
If a sock is broken, cut with scissors close to the end and heel. Don't rip it out: you can loosen up the cuff that holds them.
Take care of the arch's end: it's its most fragile and a blow to the atril or ground can break it.
If the case goes a long time closed, open and air it from time to time: there are tiny insects that eat dregs in dark and unused cases.

If you're still learning the grip, look how to hold the violin's bow: A relaxed hand also takes care of the stick and sows.

How to clear ropes, cover and varnish

Use a soft cotton or microfiber cloth that's only for violin. Hold the instrument by the handle, and:

The cloth goes through the ropes between the bridge and the end of the diapason, where the resin accumulates.
Clean the cover under the ropes and around the effes without moving the bridge.
Clean the diapason, the edge of the minion and the stick of the arch.

If the resin has already been tightened onto the ropes, they do not scrape with fingernails and metal objects. Some use alcohol in a cloth to cleanup them but it's risky: a drop on the varnish will be good enough to purify them or dissolve them. There are string cleaners and for varnish of arc instruments. Nevertheless, the thorough cleaning of the varnish is best to leave them for review with the luthier.

Never use products for furniture, purifiers and generic polids. A soft area where you support the jaw or hand is wear and wear by sweat and luthier can protect them.

Bridge, soul and clamps

The bridge

The bridge isn't glued: it's held up by the pressure of the ropes. Each time you stick with the clamps, the strings drag their top a little bit to the diapason. After weeks of tuning, the bridge leapes, deforms and, at best, falls.

Look at him from his side: his face with his face with his face with his cordal should be more or less perpendicular to his cover.
If you are inclined, with the violin supported by your lap, take the upper part of the bridge with thumbs and indexes from both hands and put them softly to your position. If you have never been, first ask your teacher to show you.
When you change strings, you get a pencil's end through the fringes of the bridge and of the cebula: the graph helps them to slide without dragging the bridge.
If the bridge's already curved, straighten it isn't good enough: we have to replace it.

The soul

Inside the violin there's a paddle of wood, the soul, between the top and bottom, close to the foot of the bridge from the back of the string My. It's also not glued. If the bridge falls or loosen up all the ropes at once, the soul can fall. If you hear something loose inside, loosen up the ropes, do not touch the violin and bring it to the luthier: play without a soul can sink or shake up the cover. Never try to put it up.

Nipples and microtuning machines

If a stick scattering, tighten it up a little while you turn it up and if it's glued or shirked, it may require stick dough. With dry air it's more common to slip and hot ground to stick. Check also the microtuner: if they are clawed to the bottom, its lower piece can scrape the cover. Rewind them half its path and reapand with the stick with the stick, with the help [online violin tuner]](/herramientas/afinador/violin) and the steps of how to tuning the violin.

Wet, temperature and case

The violin is made from thin wood attached with an animal tail, thought to give up before the wood. That's why, when the atmosphere resists, the first thing that usually happens is that a union between the cover and the rings is opened up and you notice it with a new buzzing. It's a simple repair for the luthier and far better than a crack.

In Bogotá, in dry seasons or if you use a warmer, a case humidifier helps avoid cracks and loose clamps. Use it well run: it should never drip.
On hot ground and at the coast, the problem is an excess of moisture: sticky varnish, rugged ropes, hard and mold clamps in the case. Wear and wear absorbing sachets.
Don't leave him in a closed car, next to a window with sun or close to a fireplace.
If you get from the cold of the street to a hot house, leave the violin a few minutes in the case before opening it.

The case

Always close the locks or zippits, even if you're only about to move it about two meters. To put up an open case is of the most common ways for a violin to end up on the ground.
Do not carry loose objects (resin, tuning, pencils) where they can hit the instrument.
Do not leave the box in chairs or beds where someone can sit.
Take the cloth out of the box if it's wet.

All this applies equal to viola. For humidifiers and climate trips, read how to save instruments according to climate in Colombia.

Common mistakes from those who start

Keep the bow tense "so we don't have to have to have to hold it tomorrow."
To put resin into every practice as if it were never enough, till the violin goes blank.
Filling with the nashlights and never check the bridge.
To leave the violin on a chair or a bed "just a moment."
Loosen all the ropes at once to clear or change them.
Take him to the trunk of his car or near his bus window, to the sun.

If you start at [violin]](/clases/violin)Your teacher will check with you the bridge and the bow at first class: it's part of his learning, and not an extra.

Frequently asked questions

How often do we have to put resin to the arch?

For most students, a few passing jobs each or two jobs. If the arch scattering without sound, lacks, if you see white powder and the sound is rough, that's more.

How do I know if we have to change the bow's dregs?

When you have lost many bristles, they are more from one side than from the other, the arch will no longer be tensed well or, even with resin, will not hold the string. With daily use they usually be every one or two years and with less use they will last longer.

What do I do if the violin bridge's down?

Loosen up some of the stringed strings, put the bridge and listen, without shaking the violin, if something's loose inside. Take it to the luthier: place the bridge at its exact point and check the soul is part of his work.

Can you clear the violin with alcohol?

No. Alcohol dissolve many violin varnishes and a drop will leave a stain. For day to day, a dry cloth and for profound cleaning, a specific product for arc instruments or luthier.

The viola's been taken care of as well as the violin?

Yes: resin, arch, bridge, soul, moisture and case follow the same rules. They change tuning (Do, Sun, Ree, La instead of Sun, Ree, La, Mi) and the size of the instrument and of accessories such as string, case and minting.