After each playing session you should use a polishing cloth to remove the excess rosin from your strings and the instrument. This is a soft, lint free cloth. If you do this after every session you will not need to use a polish. If you do use a cleaner/polish make sure you purchase one specifically made for cleaning string instruments. DO NOT use any harsh chemicals.

The first thing I look for is to see if the bow hair near the frog is dirty. This happens over a period of time - usually 6 months to a year. An indication is that you are using more and more rosin to get the same grip on the strings, but too much rosin will produce a harsh sound.

If some or most of the hairs are missing it will cause the bow to warp one way or the other. If this happens, it will usually render the bow useless

If the hair looks as if someone took scissors and cut some or all of the hair, your bow has hair mites and must rehair the bow and fumigate your case to get rid of these pests.

Washing the bow hair will probably damage the bow, and won’t fix the real problem.

When the limit of the frog has been reached, DO NOT continue to turn the end screw, you will damage the eyelet in the bow.

If the end screw is too hard to turn or too loose take it to the repair shop.

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If it falls off – loosen the strings a ¼ turn and put the bridge under the strings with the pronounced slope toward ‘E’ string twist the bridge into a standing position then center between the nicks on the f hole and fingerboard.

Warping and bending of a bridge happens when a bridge is not repositioned on a regular basis, you should take to a repair shop to determine if the bridge can be fixed.

Take your instrument to a local violin shop and have another bridge fitted to your instrument.

You hear something rattling around on the inside of the instrument. It takes only a few minutes to set the post back up, but requires a special tool and training.

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The strings are false and dull sounding (no tonality).

How much does the player practice? Not keeping fingernails clipped. This damages the strings. Also if a string is dark in appearance the string has corroded.

A violin is made from different types of wood Usually spruce for the top, maple for the back and ribs, and ebony for the fingerboard and pegs. Wood is a porous material, and is sensitive to changes in temperature and primarily humidity.

Take the instrument to a repair shop as soon as possible. String instruments require a special type of glue. DO NOT try to repair yourself.

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