I clean my strings regularly, and especially if there is a lot of rosin buildup on them, but I was wondering what would happen if I left the rosin there. Would it damage the strings, or would I get a better sound?

The thought struck me because I recently saw Nigel Kennedy play, and his violin is covered in the stuff!

Thanks

I`ve always been taught to clean the strings. I don`t know exactly why but would guess as follows;

(i) A coating of rosin around the string would affect the evenness of the grip of the bow; on the one hand the rosin on the strings is sticky, so may grip tighter than usual, on the other hand it is unevenly applied across the string, so you won`t get a uniform response to bowing. Furthermore the rosin on the string is not fixed in place, but liable to come off in random bits, again adding to the unevenness of the response.

(ii) A coating of rosin around the string may have a "damping" effect on the vibration of the string, affecting the sound produced.

(iii) Presumably if a coating of gunk around a string improved the sound, somebody would be selling gunk-coated strings to professionals.

(iv) I haven`t seen the Nigel Kennedy effect, but I would guess that he starts off with clean strings, but puts so much rosin on his bow that it quickly transfers to the strings. As a soloist no doubt he wants to be able to play loud enough to fill a concert hall, and feels that lots of rosin on his bow gives him a good grip on the strings. I suppose everyone has their own tricks - apparently Kreisler used to keep his bow extremely tight - even when he put it away in its case.

I think rosin lying on the body of the violin can also cause damage to the varnish.

Rosin doesn`t do physical harm, don`t worry about it, but do clean your strings and your instrument with a cloth after each playing session - a build up of rosin should be avoided if possible.

every now and then i take my violin to a local dealer and ask them to clean the built up rosin.

James
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