Author: cuscoclarinet
Date: 2007-02-02 14:37
Lelia,
in your post you mention Bill Weaver's method of cleaning-
"when he finds one that's in "grandpa's basement" condition, with ancient, blackened rosin clotted all over the belly, he does put the disassembled fiddle underwater to clean it"
-after hearing that I can only sumise that A) Mr. Weaver was pulling your husband's leg, B) your husband was mistaken as to Mr. Weaver's methods, or C) your husband needs to find a new violin tech!
My girlfriend is a luthier, as are a large number of our friends (sort of strange that after a long career in fine woodworking that I wound up in clarinets with all these luthiers about! Guess I'm just the "black horn" of the family@;->) and not one of them has ever heard of completely dissasembling a violin or submerging any part of it in water.
One must take into account that a violin has parts (the table, corner blocks, end block and linings) that are made of soft wood, the ribs are steam bent curves and often barely more that 1mm thick, and that all the glue joints are easily water soluble hide glue. Submerging materials like this for ANY length of time would seriously damage them!
As for clarinets, well, we're talking a different animal altogether. As they're generally made from very oily woods, are generally somewhere around 8.5mm thick and a closed structure, I wouldn't take any issue with rinsing them off under the tap. Even still, I'd never fully submerge one as I really see no use in it. Even if it's been in "grandpa's basement" taking a soft brush and the right detergents should remove all of the grunge. The rather cursory rinsing is just to remove the soap and lifted off filth.
|
|
The Clarinet BBoard
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
