VIOLIN AND FIDDLE CARE

  • You should tighten your bow to get a separation between the stick and hair of approximately a quarter inch prior to playing. Do so by gently turning the tension screw at the bottom of the bow. Making the bow hairs too taut could result in damaging the arch of the bow and even possibly snapping the stick.
  • Rosin your bow before playing. Rosin is used to make the hair sticky in order to vibrate the strings. Hold the rosin in your hand and bow over it in the same way as you draw the bow over the stings. Do not use too much as it produce a sticky build up on your violin.
  • After playing, gently wipe with a soft cloth to remove  the excess rosin on the strings and top of the fiddle.
  • Don’t foget to loosen your bow hair when you are finished playing.
  • If you live in an extreme dry environment you should invest in some kind of humidifier or snake made for violins to avoid having your violin crack from dryness.
  • When tuning a violin turn clockwise to tighten (bring the pitch up) and counter clockwise to loosen (bring the pitch down). Push the peg in towards the hole while turning.
  • For very sticky or loose pegs there is a product called peg compound, which will both lubricate your pegs and provide friction for the peg not to slip.  You shouldn’t need very much and not so often. The best time to apply the compound is when changing strings as you need to remove the peg from the fiddle.  Wipe off excess compound before restringing. Make sure that you pushed the peg in hard enough before using a peg compound .