Care and Maintenance Tips

1. Keep your instrument away from heat, cold and direct sunlight

2. During the winter, heated buildings can drop to around 20% humidity or less

   1. Dry environments can cause instruments to crack or seams to open

   2. Try to store your instrument in an environment between 40%-60% humidity.

   3. Your case may be that environment

   4. Recommended case humidifiers

      1. Boveda (easiest to use)

      2. Oasis

      3. Stretto

   5. Recommended case hygrometer: D’Addario Humdity and Temp. Sensor

   6. Never leave your instrument in a car or any location in direct sunlight

3. Keep your instrument free from dust and rosin build-up.

   1. Ideally cleaned after very use. Prevents dust from the rosin adhering to the varnish

   2. Use a cotton cloth to remove from fingerboard, strings and instrument.

   3. Clean the stick of your bow too!

4. In low humidity, pegs may lose friction. To fix this problem:

   1. Apply peg compound to the peg

   2. Re-wind string around peg so its wrapped right next to the peg box wall

   3. If pegs do not show equal and constant friction they may be worn and need adjustment by a luthier.

5. Bridge: should stand squarely in the center between the inside notches of the f-holes

   1. Correct angle of the bridge is achieved by having the back side of the bridge (faces the tailpiece) perpendicular (90 degrees) to the top of the instrument.

   2. Bridges tend to learn towards the fingerboard and eventually warp. This happens due to the fact that the strings are pulled towards the pegs while being tuned

      1. #2 pencil is your friend! Liberally apply pencil lead in string grooves (one at a time) to help strings move across the bridge smoothly.

      2. Adjust bridge angle by laying instrument securely in one’s lap, bracing pinky and ring fingers on each hand against tailpiece and fingerboard, and moving one area of the bridge near the string with thumbs at a time.

         1. If this seems to be difficult, contact luthier..