night shade,
i know excatly what you are talking about and have the solution that you need. Every few years (roughly 3) you should take your violin to a good music store,repair shop or where you bought it. get it stripped, this is when they take of the bridge chin rest etc. and they give it a good hard clean with things a lot stronger than our polishers when you tell them they will know excalty what your talking about,trust me my teacher told me!!!
best of luck,this will work promise!

when I said metadin i meant Methadin

wouldnt a citrius based cleaner work? thats what it said on my fret finger sticker sheet thingy

or as Jerry suggested, order his saliva.

i always use that goo gone junk! buy it in the cleaning departmen tor iuse a sos pad for the strings on my viola.

When I first started playing, I did not wipe off my violin every time I played it (what I do now though which does not allow the build-up) and I had a white rosin build-up that would not wipe off with a cloth.

I inquired at a music store and was told to use Dunlop Formula No. 65 Guitar Polish & Cleaner. It worked great. It took me about half an hour though of constant polishing to eventually remove the build-up, but it took it all away.

It sprays out like water, so I spray it onto a clean white cloth first instead of spraying it directly onto the violin. It didn`t look like it was doing anything at first, but I just kept polishing and reapplying the spray. It was a slow process since I had such a build-up. Don`t give up when it looks like it isn`t going to do anything -- just keep polishing and it will do the trick. Good luck. A four-ounce bottle will last forever.

Check with a good music store that specializes in string instruments... or order from Shar or another company (again that specializes in string instruments.) I sure hate to see anyone use household cleaning products on the wood of your instruments! The varnish is different from regular furniture and can be damaged easily.
(I do use alcohol on my strings now and then but always put plastic under them... to cover the wood before doing so.
Another thought about cleaning the violin... use a delicate hand. You don`t want to push hard on the top of your instrument.
Have fun playing music!
folkfiddle
http://www.folkfiddle.com

my friend is using a rosin and cleaner called sielam madrid. she said they are good as they are made of herbal material which won`t build up or damange the violin

but i can`t find where to buy. maybe next time i ask her.

DONT USE FURNTIURE POLISH!!! IT MAY RUIN YOUR FINISH ON YOUR VIOLIN!!!I was always told not to do because the polish on you violin is totally different then the stuff on furniture!

Read this, it may help you: http://www.violinist.com/discussion/response.cfm?ID=5398

I bought Sielam cleaning cream by mail order from Andrew Riley (http://andrewriley.com/). This cream is really good. Since i have skin allergy, I heard this brand uses natural ingredients, which are less agressive to skins than some other products. And it removes dirt and rosin built up effectively.

M

You can take a cloth or papertowel with alittle rubbing alcohol but..VERY CAREFUL NOT TOGET ON VARNISH FIGER BOARD OR ANYWHERE ELSE!!!....but it the build up isn`t on the string and on the violin itself then buy some violin cleaner.... goodluck

Well their are a number of good exclusive violin cleaning solutions out their. Hills make a good one and these types of solutions will work well on every day grime. Do be dam careful with this advice about using spirits, too much and you will take the varnish of your lovely instrument off as well. My best advice to you would be. If your not a violin maker then dont touch it. Give it to a good repair shop/ dealer and let them do what they know best.

Just put a bit of perfume (or something similar) on a cloth/duster, and wipe it off the strings. If you haven`t cleaaned it before, you may need to scratch it off a bit as well.

i`m guessing you don`t wipe your violin after every time you use it? that is usually the best way to keep your violin lookin` clean and pretty... but anyway, to solve your problem, you could probably buy some cleaner from a music store. i`m not exactly sure what it`s called because my violin came with the cleaner when i purchased it a couple years back.