Adaleona said
Hello!

Hey there

Q 1: I have a Chinese factory made (I have been complimented many times with this violin) unlabeled violin that was supposedly an outfit. We bought it off of craigslist years ago with a violin I'm assuming to be a Mendini or Cecilio (haven't seen it, so I wouldn't know), and just recently decided to pick it up after having reasons for quitting every once and awhile. Well, just recently I noticed one of the bows' corks was pulling out when I would tighten my bow. We took it to get fixed...the cork was, but the wooden plug keeping the bow hair in wasn't. Every time I tighten my bow, the wooden plug starts sliding out and no matter how many times I push it in...slides right back out. How can I fix this?

If it's a Cecilio you should be able to see that on the label through the f-hole.
If the spread wedge inside the ferrule is coming out when you tighten the bow, the wedge is probably too long. Pushing it back in won't help. There is a slight chance that it's not big enough too. I wouldn't worry about it too much until it falls apart, if it does. If you want to try to fix it, just cut as much off the inner piece of the wedge as is popping out and then reinsert it. Alternatively, try to cut a new piece which fits better.

Q 2: I have a Dan Wall Stradivarius Copy Viola and when I got it new, the chin rest and tailpiece were cracked - poor instrument had been covered in a layer of dust from never being bought. So we had that repaired...well, instead of having a typical Guarneri style chin rest, I have a different one...I can't remember the style, but I noticed there is like a residue where he old chin rest was from the wooden mould. I have a small OCD for this (I love keeping my instruments looking absolutely gorgeous at all times) and wanted to know if there was any possible way to remove it?

You can remove the cork but probably not without seeing the damage over the rosin. It sticks to the varnish for a couple of reasons. One is the length of time that the chinrest has been clamped on the instrument and the other could be that the chin-rest was put on before the varnish was dry enough. In any case, new violins have softer varnish and cure over time. Even if the varnish is dry enough, the varnish is usually too soft in the beginning for that pressure.

To fix this, remove as much of the old cork as you can and as carefully as possible. I use my fingernail carefully.... I'm not sure what our luthiers use. I'll try to remember to ask them. After you remove it, you can try with a cleaner but most likely the varnish needs to be softened to fix it. This in itself is hard to learn. For an amateur, you may want to take a soft artist paint brush and some alcohol, we use 95% Everclear grain alcohol but rubbing alcohol should work. Brush it on very dry. Brush some on a piece of paper first to absorb the excess alcohol. Repeat this process over and over, carefully, and watch the messed up varnish smooth out if done correctly.

"Caution, I won't take responsibility for any errors made causing more damage."

Also, another possibility would be to use micro sand paper and wet sand it. Trouble is that it will most likely be flat afterwards. You can correct that with varnish if you are talented.

Q 3: My final question! This is on my viola's carbon fiber bow. No clue what brand, but I decided to be stupid and inspect my instrument after I brought it home - okay...I wasn't expecting a viola as an early Christmas present... I wasn't thinking...And well, that's when I noticed the cracks on the tailpiece and chin rest. Well I also noticed that he carbon fiber bow was warped to the right at the tip (not badly, but noticeable) and the tip would tend to lean right if not corrected. This is another OCD I have. My two wooden bows for my violin are perfectly straight, but...my carbon fiber...no. I would really love to fix this if I could!
 

You probably can't fix the carbon fiber bow. You can try by using a warm air gun to heat the stick and correct it but once again, not that easy. I've never done this with a carbon fiber stick and do not think it will work but let us know if you are successful. Usually they don't change shape much. The wooden sticks do. Wooden bows are made straight and cambered afterwards using friction heat or other variations of heat.

Thank you for your time!  

You got it!