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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 4:35 pm
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Here are some proper maintenace tips for violins and violas:
- only tighten bow to about a pencil width gap between the hair and the shaft of the bow, if you tighten further than that, you could warp the bow from too much tension. Tell others in your orchestra not to overtighten either. - ALWAYS untighten the bow, so the hairs are loose, before you put it back in the case, otherwise you could risk warping the bow. - wipe your strings with a cloth before you put instrument back in case to prevent build-up of rosin on the strings. - use about six strokes of rosin on your bow for about every six hours of playing. Putting too much rosin on the bow will produce less of a clear tone. Depending on the quality of the hair and age, you might need a little more rosin. (If you flick the hair a little, you shouldn't get a large cloud of rosin coming out) - Try not to touch the hair (except for your thumb with bow hold) - generally a re-hair is needed for your bow once a year - generally strings are replaced once a year, even if not broken (they wear out). Depending on the brand and quality of strings, they could use replacing even more frequently. - bring your instrument to a string shop/luthier once in a while to get instrument adjusted (soundpost, bridge), especially if the instrument is dropped because the soundpost on the inside could have moved. - get a humidifier for your instrument for the winter to prevent drying-out of the wood which could lead to sides becoming unglued or splitting of the wood.
That is all that I can think of. The maintenance info is accurate, in my opinion, because I work at a high quality string instrument repair shop in the summer. It will let you get the most out of your instrument. I use all of these maintenance tips myself for my violin and it is always in tip-top shape. I hope this information was helpful and that you will take the maintenance tips into consideration. smile
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 7:57 pm
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Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 7:22 am
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Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 10:14 pm
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Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 7:50 am
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Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2008 12:20 am
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Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2008 7:42 am
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I recut and fit a bridge by starting with a good quality bridge blank. A bridge blank is is bridge you can go buy over the counter at the local music store (don't get the kind with the swivelly feet, they sound awful). Start by thinning and shaping the feet. Use some low-tack tape and attach some fine grit sandpaper to the table of your violin and start sanding down the feet by rubbing them up and down on the sandpaper. (There are flashier and fancier ways to do it, but this is completely no-fail and lowtack tape is safe enough for the length of time (10 minutes tops) that it'll be on the violin for all but the most delicate finishes.) I like a thin bridge, so I sand down the flat side of the bridge, too. Take a sharp knife and finish the curves and cutouts in the bridge. To do the top arch, put the blank under the bridge in the place you want it to go, trace the curve of your fingerboard onto the face of the blank, get out the ruler and add your string clearance and cut or sand down. There's usually a definite arch to the bridge and you should be able to easily play as many strings at a time as you want to. Put the bridge on the violin, make sure you have your heights right and the bridge sounds the way you want it to, take it out and notch the top, give it a final sanding and voila, you have a finished bridge that actually fits your instrument.
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Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2008 2:00 pm
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Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 5:26 pm
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Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 5:53 pm
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Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2008 6:55 pm
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