Best Cpu Cleaner

[Claribel Szwaja]

December8, 2006 at 10:34 PM I think it is best not to use violin cleaners or polishers. They tend to leave a residue of silicon or oil on the violin which can combine with the rosin dust and over time cause a sticky mess. This is according to Rene Morel. The best thing to do is to wipe rosin off after playing and have your violin cleaned every so often by your luthier.

December 9, 2006 at 02:36 AM I've had great success cleaning antique attic grunge off violins using (really) saliva, and a soft cloth. The enzymes in it help break up old grit, and the proteins keep it from running all ober the instrument - it stays where you put it.

Wash your hands before playing. Wipe off rosin after playing. Perspiration and light dirt can usually be removed (as Geoff said) with a clean cloth SLIGHTLY moistened with water. If the violin needs serious cleaning, it's best to leave that to a professional.

Polishes usually contain some kind of oil. Oil can penetrate small fissures in the varnish and end up in the wood, damping the sound, or making future gluing and repair more difficult. Some oil will remain on the surface and catch dirt, essentially turning your violin into an air filter. If the oil is a vegetable base, it may harden over time, forming a new "varnish" layer incorporating dirt from the air, perspiration and rosin. Yuck! This can be very difficult to remove, even by a pro!

Some people have a perspiration chemistry which degrades varnishes. The old Cremonese varnishes were particularly susceptible to this. Hand washing helps, and some luthiers are starting to use a wax developed by museum conservators. It can help isolate varnish from moisture, reduce wear if regularly applied, and has a molecule size large enough that it won't penetrate varnish or wood easily.

It used to be OK to slather on anything which made the violin look nice and shiny, but those of us in the trade are learning to think more and more like conservators, and are avoiding contaminating original finishes with foreign substances.

December 10, 2006 at 09:04 PM I'm not sure water, distilled, deionized or straight from the tap, is all that good for varnish. Unless used very sparingly on a slightly damp cloth, it tends to be pretty mobile as well, getting into places you may not want it, and causing unprotected wood to swell. I've had varnished instruments (guitars, mandolins) that showed clouding of the finish wher an arm had rested during playing; admittedly, perspiration contains dissolved electrolytes, but even so, it was the fluid in which they were dissolved that affected the varnish.

With that said, though, a month ago I cleaned my fiddle for the first time in about twelve years using the spit technique (use mouthwash first), and I must say, it worked rather well...every so often I wonder what that unfamiliar shiny thing is doing under my chin...

Many luthiers are now using deionized water when they can, but it doesn't remove rosin very well. Excessive amounts can render the varnish more porous, leaving a white mark like Bob described, much the same as a "water ring" from placing a wet glass on varnished furniture. Water must be used very sparingly.

December 11, 2006 at 03:53 AM Oh, I can think of way more pleasurable (and potent) ways of getting alcohol in your spit. Of course, you want to get rid of the residual alcohol in your mouth; I was just suggesting that maybe you don't want your violin to smell like a burrito.

December 12, 2006 at 05:30 PM my personal favorite: a rag. It is smooth, white, and has a nice yellow, pink, and blue plaid pattern on it. I get it washed every few years. When I see more dust on it than rosin, that's usually a sign it needs cleaned.

I don't worry so much about the cleaning of the bow as I do scratching it up with the string. I have wondered and pondered if this is a technical problem in my playing. I have tried other bow grips and angles and amounts of pronation and have come to the conclusion that it is a choice, and aesthetically best for me. It suites my body and my strenghts best. Not all the time, of course. Sometimes a flatter bow is called for. But I do a lot of orchestral playing, and in order to blend well and be precise, but not too bold...my bow gets pretty gungky.

December 13, 2006 at 03:07 PM Despite all of the cautions I think a polish like Hill cleaner polish is quite useful in SMALL amounts--there is no shortcut for the hard work of thinking, judicious amounts of polish are certainly relatively harmless when dealing with the fiddles most of us have. Would I use is on a Gadda maybe not--but I do use it on my Mozzani.

As for my bow I put a small amount on my fingrt tip apply it to the worst part of the rosined area and then use a cloth--I've been using the same cloth for 30 years. It probably has several bottles of different polishes in it by now--lol.

December 13, 2006 at 03:17 PM Hill cleaner contains abrasive and can cause damage to oil varnish...the best way to clean a violin is to use a very small amount of mineral oil and gently apply it all over...than, with another clean cloth, to remove gently the excess of oil...

December 13, 2006 at 06:14 PM I have a number of luthier friends who maintain that one should not use a polish or cleaner more than a couple of times a year, and instead wipe the violin down gently and thouroughly after each time you play. This is going to sound weird, but the favored polish among some I have asked is Super-Sensitive - it is supposed to be the most mild, least abrasive.

December 13, 2006 at 06:18 PM As for bows and strings - I have been told to use 99% isopropyl alcohol (70% which is what you commonly find at the pharmacy has mineral oil on it and will ruin your bow hair) on the hair and on the strings (while holding the violin upside down, and applying with a q-tip so none drips on the varnish).

January 16, 2007 at 11:57 PM I prefer wiping it down with a dry cloth before and after playing and leave the cleaning to the professionals. As for the saliva, I'd rather that be kept oraly contained.

January 17, 2007 at 12:10 PM the general rule is that dont use this and that or the varnish will be compromised, so better let the profs do it. no problem with that, except the profs will still need to use SOMETHING:)

January 19, 2007 at 04:32 PM I'm always polishing my violin,my violin shines like glass.A word of caution before you start polishing, make sure you try a small section on the varnish before you apply to the whole area of the violin surface,some polish cleaners can soften the varnish surface which will smear badly...Last year I bought some Cromonese Polish formulated by Stefano Conia the well known Italian violin maker.Just take a look at the professional string sections in orchestras ,their instruments shine like their lives depend on it!

January 19, 2007 at 05:25 PM i don't have much experience, but i would treat a newer violin differently from a very old one where the varnish can be fragile and thin. in the latter case, be very careful because not many here are qualified to reverse a chemical reaction, or many chemical reactions whatever the case may be. just because it shines for the time being can be misleading...

February 11, 2012 at 02:54 AM David Burgess said (in this resurrected conversation)"Many luthiers are now using deionized water when they can, but it doesn't remove rosin very well. Excessive amounts can render the varnish more porous, leaving a white mark like Bob described, much the same as a "water ring" from placing a wet glass on varnished furniture. Water must be used very sparingly."

My question is: Is it dangerous for the untrained to use this in small quantities? Also, if so is it best to get the product from scientific suppliers? I am thinking mostly in relation to student level violins.

February 11, 2012 at 07:44 PM I can only remember having cleaned a violin twice, once many years ago and once a year and a half ago. On both occasions, having wiped away any excess rosin, I used linseed oil applied very sparingly and with a very soft cloth. I've forgotten where I got this idea from, possibly the luthier I used to go to about 1970.

Nowadays, however, I leave it to the professionals, as Bruce Berg and Peter Ouyang have noted above. My current luthier did a superb job of cleaning a violin for me recently. Even so, it's not something I would have a professional do at all often; instead, I just wipe away with a soft cloth any excess rosin (I never leave much) after each playing.

Some years ago I had an incident involving a small child and a peanut butter sandwich, which resulted in small oily paw marks all over my 1864 German violin (it happened in my absence). I had a lesson the next day and showed my instrument to my teacher, who took out a small bottle of 'Viol' instrument cleaner and gave it a once over. She showed me it was also useful for removing rosin from the strings, which it seemed to do rather well. It is a German product which looks oily, smells like sandalwood and pine, and has a reddish tint. My violin (which had old rather worn varnish) seemed clean after that and didn't suffer any ill effects that I could discern. Like one of the posts above, there are no ingredients listed so I don't know if it really is oil or what, but it did the job from what I can tell. Although I've never bought any I've seen it listed on the occasional website for strings, under accessories. I tend to just wipe my instruments with a clean dry cloth and it keeps them looking nice enough.

February 12, 2012 at 05:15 PM There is a school of thought (at which I've never been educated, but I know some folk fiddlers who have) which says that your street cred in the business is proportional to the thickness of rosin between bridge and fingerboard, and to the angle of departure of the bridge from the vertical.

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