PERIODIC MAINTENANCE OF
VIOLIN AND
BOW
Pull stray hairs out of the bow. When hairs break on the bow (and
they will) you pull out the remaining piece of bow hair in the
direction that will not pull out additional bow hair. At the tip,
you pull away from the frog. And at the frog, you pull away from
the tip.
Wipe off rosin. Use a soft cloth to wipe off rosin that builds
up mainly on the top of the instrument, to prevent damage to the finish.
Watch the bridge. Keep an eye on the bridge to make sure it is
almost vertical, with the top of the bridge leaning slightly towardws
the tail piece. Also, watch that it is not warping or bending.
Strings notch themselves into the bridge. If your strings tend
to cut into the bridge, you can slow down that erosion of the
bridge. To do that, place the small tubular plastic or
small piece of padding that comes with a violin string in between the
string and the bridge. Remember that this will alter the height
of the string, so you may need to make cother changes to compensate for
that.
Bow rehairing. You will need to have your bow re-haired occasionally. Depending on how many hours per day or week you play this might be once a year, or once every two years, or perhaps even less frequently. I recommend using real horse hair.