Some Basic Advice — that may be helpful to you
Please note:
Before attempting any of the following it is worth knowing that it is possible to cause damage to your instrument or at least add to problems that may already exist unless great care is exercised.
No responsibility can be accepted by me for any resulting damage or any problems to any instrument(s) relating to any of the advice listed below.
You must err on the side of caution. If in any doubt seek professional advice.
However I do hope that this information is useful to you.
Please call me if you require further advice or help.
Cleaning the varnish — the best advice is to regularly remove rosin dust from the varnish using a soft duster.
This is to prevent rosin embedding itself onto the surface, as traditional varnish types are made with resins and drying-oils, the rosin dust attaches itself quite firmly making it very difficult to remove safely.
If necessary have it professionally cleaned.
We use a variety of substances to do this — such as very fine abrasive powders with olive oil, various solvents / cleaning materials / polishes depending on the type — therefore great care is involved when using these items as there is a certain amount of risk to the varnish.
It is best to avoid using methylated spirits to remove rosin from the fingerboard and strings - as it will also remove varnish too!
If used, and spilt onto the varnish, it must be left to completely evaporate. Don’t touch at all — which will really mess up the varnish — seek advice.
The use of proprietary cleaners / polishes may be of use, but if unsure just use a duster, as some polishes contain linseed oil which toughens over time and is quite hard to remove from most varnishes that are by nature relatively delicate.
Bridge — needs to be regularly checked to see that it is sitting upright (the back at 90 degrees to the belly). A bent bridge can end up permanently warped.
Poor lubrication of the string-grooves is the reason for this, which also makes tuning more difficult too — as the strings are not sliding over the bridge-top as independently as they should, but gradually pulling at the top, bending it out of shape.
Rosin builds up around the string-grooves, preventing free movement of each string to slide along / over its groove.
Or maybe the string-grooves in the bridge-top are now too deep (which is also damaging to strings).
Each groove depth should be 1/3 of the diameter of its relevant string.
So when tuning strings with pegs, the bridge pulls towards the fingerboard causing the whole bridge to bend. Sometimes the top of the bridge bends back towards the tailpiece when using the tailpiece adjusters.
This also causes the feet to make poor unbalanced contact pressure onto the belly, with more pressure on the front edges, thus altering the pressure on the soundpost with consequential lower sound quality.
To check that the bridge is upright — the back of the bridge should be at right-angles to the surface of the belly as when it was fitted — use a small piece of paper or card such as a business card.
This avoids damage to the instrument if dropped onto the varnish!
Slide the card vertically down the back of the bridge between the middle two strings connecting to the tailpiece.
The bridge will normally appear to lean slightly backwards towards the tailpiece.
Lubricate string-grooves — remove only one string at a time to avoid the soundpost falling(!), and rub dry soap (a bar of soap will do) into the groove. Don't apply soap on grooves where string sleeves will be used, as they will then slide over the bridge-top.
But if the bridge is noticeably bent it is worth seeking advice before putting soap on the grooves, as doing this could make the bridge fall down flat on its face — with a very alarming noise — with consequential marks / dents (or worse) to the belly.
If allowed to remain bent this may cause damage to the surface of the belly.
Sometimes bridges can be straightened by restorers, but may need to be replaced.
Bridge feet — should not be repositioned - damage to both the belly / varnish, and to the feet is possible, and the fit (contact) will be less good also.
The 'ankles' (the narrowest part above the foot) should be reasonably slim (violin 2.75 mm wide) to allow flexibility and better response.
Soundpost — should be upright, square to the plane of the body. It is a light to firm fit, but may fall if all strings are removed. Change one string at a time unless help is at hand to replace the post if it falls — even if replaced will almost certainly affect the tone to some degree.
Position of post — usually there is approximately a 3mm gap between the post and the back of the bridge-foot. Laterally the post is approx. 1mm inside the outer end of the bridge-foot (sitting under the outer-end of the bridge-foot).
Post position can be checked using a piece of thin card about 35mm wide by 140mm long that has a longitudinal slit down the middle to the edge for 3/4 of the length. Slide one half (flat with the belly) into the 'f' hole with the other half above. You can approximately measure both of the 3mm and 1mm measurements mentioned above.
Some people (rare!) do adjust their own soundposts at their own risk(!), but damage to the inside of the belly can occur if post is moved around without great care.
Pegs — lubricate with dry soap and / or chalk / peg-paste. If pegs still turn poorly, or slip, then the peg-shafts may need to be reshaped / trued.
Peg-shafts — can either wear causing 'steps' or 'ridges' at the point of entry into the peg-box holes, this in turn resists the normal taper of the peg-shaft 'jamming' into the hole and causes slippage.
Also pegs can if not fully seasoned when fitted, shrink very slightly 'flat' or oval (cross-section), which also causes pegs to slip. If there is enough material, and these two faults are not excessive, the pegs can be skimmed / trued — the peg-box holes may be ok and need little or no reaming.
Nut — string-groove depths of the ebony nut should (like the bridge) be 1/3 of the diameter of each relating string, and occasionally lubricated with pencil lead.
Poor quality grooves can cause buzzes. If the groove is not parallel / straight, instead of the free string vibrating from the very edge of the nut, a buzz can occur when it vibrates from just inside the length of the groove.
Grooves that are too deep can also buzz.
String damage can be caused if the string-groove curve — along its length, over the over the top from fingerboard edge of nut to peg-box — is not a gentle smooth and even arc properly carrying each string. This may show as a slight ‘knee’ if looked at closely, putting extra strain on the strings at a single point, which is already under considerable tension.
String breakages — at the tail-piece this could be due to a sharpness to the edge of the key-hole slot in wooden tail-pieces. Or sharp adjusters, if a small adjuster is used there is a small plastic guard to soften the sharpness of the hook that the string loops over.
Or breakages where a string winds round a peg — there is not a lot that can be done unless there is wear to the string (at its most stretched tension) because it touches the peg-box wall.
Fingerboard — the string-surface should have a slight gentle length-wise hollow (equal to each string’s diameter) along each string’s position. A shallow sighting (from the nut end) along the length of the board’s surface will reveal any unevenness or wear (sometimes it is possible to see wear from players fingers that look a little like frets on a guitar).
Wear to the surface under the strings at finger positions can also cause buzzes.
Buzzes — there are many other causes elsewhere — like loose purfling, old cracks opening, open seams, adjusters, end-pins (cellos), even loose flapping glue-runs (unintended) inside an instrument, and even old glue rattling inside old wood-worm holes have been a cause, and very hard to find too!
String Heights — above the surface of the fingerboard —
measured from the board’s surface, to the centre thickness of each of the two outer strings.
At the wide end of the fingerboard the heights are:
Gut / Nylon Strings:
Violin - 5.75 mm / 3.75 mm (G and E)
Viola - 6.5 mm / 4.5 mm (C and A)
Cello - 9.0 mm / 6.0 mm (C and A)
Metal Strings:
Cello - 8.0 mm / 5.5 mm (C and A )
String Heights — at the nut end — check by inserting thin card (a business card will do) between board and strings. All strings, and all instruments, have much the same clearance.
Tying strings — a neat way that I’ve found to best tie strings onto pegs is to push the string-end right through the peg’s string-hole so that it protrudes by about 5mm. This length will depend on the final tuned peg-handle angle — usually at 90 degrees to the neck-line — as you will know for normal comfort when tuning.
Next pull the peg ‘out’ slightly of the peg-box until it traps the string-end against the inside wall of the peg-box, which will hold the string-end in position.
Rotate the peg for half a turn holding the string-end against the wall while applying a little tension to the whole string with your other hand, until the free part of string that you are winding onto the peg meets the 5mm protrusion, place the free part between the wall and the protruding end.
Wind another half turn until the free part meets the string ‘knee’ — that emerges from the string-hole (the sharply bent part of the string — opposite to the protrusion). Place the free part away from the peg-box wall, to the middle of the peg-box.
Wind a further half turn to meet the 5mm protrusion, placing the free part between the two pieces of string.
Wind almost another half turn to just before touching the ‘knee’ — then, to trap the ‘knee’ — cross over the single turn (or multiple turns if trying to lose some excess length of string) to the peg-box wall, and, jamming the peg, wind neatly until tuned to pitch.
The final position of the free part should just touch the wall. Sounds complicated but quite simple really.
AW
