With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to affect our daily lives, practicing your violin, let alone taking care of it, might be the last thing on your mind. Even if you aren’t practicing as often as you used to, you should keep your violin in tip-top condition. A violin costs a small fortune, so you should try to get as much use as possible out of yours.
There are three main portions of a violin that need to be taken care of regularly: the strings, the bow, and the body. Keeping all three of these parts in check will help you get the most out of your violin by making only small adjustments every month or so.
Taking Care of the Strings
Violins are called string instruments for a reason. Some of the most important parts of the violin are the strings. They are essential to producing sound from the instrument.
Your strings accumulate damage over time from numerous factors. The durability of your strings, how often you play, and even your sweat can wear out your strings over time.
If your strings look worn out and produce less sound, then its time to change out your strings. There a couple of ways you can keep your strings in tip-top shape. You need to make sure to clean rosin off of your strings and change your strings when needed.
Cleaning rosin off of your strings after you play is one way to keep your strings in shape. You can do this by using a soft, linen-free cloth. Just run it over your strings after each of your practice sessions.
Another way to take care of your strings is to wash your hands before you play. Your skin has oils that can potentially damage your strings over time. By keeping your hands free of oils, you can limit how often you need to change your strings.
At a minimum, you should change your violin strings after every 9 to 12 months. If you are practicing often, then you should lean towards changing them every 9 months. If you don’t practice often, then you could get away with not changing your strings for over a year.
If you are a beginning violinist, have a teacher or a professional at a music store replace your strings for you. If you can’t get to a professional right now, wait until you can. You don’t want to mess up your strings if you have no experience changing them.
Taking Care of the Bow
The bow is probably the second most important part of the violin next to the strings. The bow helps produce loud and soft notes from the violin. It is another essential component of your violin.
Like the violin, the bow is made up of a few components: the frog, the bow hair, the bow stick, the bow tip, and the grip. The bow hair is what rubs on the violin strings to produce sound.
There are a few ways to keep the bow hair in tip-top condition. First, you should loosen your bow hair after every time you play. Second, you should get your bow hair changed often.
When you play the violin, you tighten the bow hair to produce the clear sound that you want. After playing, you should loosen the bow hair to release tension. Keeping the bow hair tight for too long can damage your bow over time.
To loosen the bow hair on your bow, you need to twist the frog. If you twist it to the right, the bow hair will tighten. To the left, it will loosen. An easy way to remember how to loosen your bow hair is by using the phrase “righty-tighty, lefty-loosey.”
Changing out your bow hair, also called rehairing your bow should happen once every 6 months. Depending on how often they play and for how long, some professionals rehair their bows every 3 months. A beginner might only need to rehair their bow once a year.
Getting a professional to rehair your bow for you is the best way to go. Getting a bow rehaired can cost up to $50 or less depending on who you go to.
Taking Care of the Violin Body
Lastly, you need to make sure to take care of your violin’s body. The body works in tandem with the strings and bow to produce sound. You can keep the body of your violin in check in a few different ways.
The body of your violin is the backbone of the operation. Although it doesn’t require maintenance every 6 to 12 months, you should take care of it after you play.
For starters, keeping your violin in the case is one of the best ways to take care of your violin’s body. Leaving it out of the case for extended periods of time exposes the wood to outside elements.
During the summer, the wood of your violin expands because of the heat. In the winter, the wood shrinks in cold weather. Keeping your violin in the case will reduce temperature fluctuations for it.
As well as putting your violin back in the case after you play, make sure to wipe off rosin that your bow might have left behind. You can do this with either a soft linen-free cloth or a warm, lightly damp one.
Cleaning rosin off of the body of your violin will prevent it from getting too sticky. Especially during warmer months, it is best to keep your violin clean with as little rosin as possible sticking to it.
Conclusion
Overall, it can be a bit overwhelming trying to take care of your violin at first. However, the goal is to try to take care of it in little and big ways.
Simple things like putting your violin back in the case or loosening your bow hair can add up to a longer violin life. Even if you miss out on getting your bow rehaired or changing out the strings, taking smaller steps will add up.
Taking care of your violin is an important part of being a violinist. If you want your violin to last for years to come, take care of your violin’s strings, bow, and body.