How to polish my violin...?

Question

My violin has a lot of rosin built up on it, and it's starting to cause the body of my violin to have a sort of dull-ish appearance. I've used alcohol wipes to clean the strings, but if i use them on the body I'm afraid they will damage the varnish of the instrument. Help please! The icky sticky rosin is really bothering me...

Answer 1

I would call these people and ask them what to use for a violin, this stuff works well on guitars, I use it exclusively, even to buff out the lacquer finnish on the guitars I've built.

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Accessories/...

Answer 2

Oh no;  don't use alcohol on the wood!

If your violin is a student violin (not worth over $1,000), there is a good product you can get that is really not a polish, but it's a cleaner, and you can use it on the wood and the strings, and it works beautifully.  Use a very small amount, with a clean, dry cloth, like an old washcloth or tee shirt:

Fiddlebrite

http://www.elderly.com/accessories/items...

If you want, you can buy a cleaner/polish.  See:

http://beststudentviolins.com/survival.h...

The main thing is, do not use any household product on the instrument;  only use products specfically designed for the violin.

Oh, and the reason you should only use Fiddlebrite on inexpensive instruments is that fine instruments sometimes have a French polish, and they don't like the Fiddlebrite.

Answer 3

Please do not use alcohol wipes on the body of your violin. This will damage the varnish of the wood. It is best to use a special cloth that can be bought at most music supply stores. Or, you can also use an old t-shirt. Good luck! :)