With good care given to string instruments, their life duration can be limitless. Here are a few pointers for their care and maintenance:
Avoid extremes in temperature and humidity. Wood cracks easily when put under too many extremes of temperature. Never leave the instrument by a radiator, in a car, or in a room that is prone to these variances in temperature. If it is necessary to bring the instrument into an environment with a real difference in temperature, allow it to acclimatise more slowly by leaving it in the case for a short period of time before opening it. If travelling abroad with an instrument to a hotter country with low humidity, invest in a humidifier so that the instrument has time to slowly adjust without drying out too quickly.
Cases are the safest place in which to leave the instrument when it is not being played, unless an investment is made into an instrument stand. Whilst the stand is not as safe as a case, it is at least a designated place to support your instrument.
For the bowed string instruments, simple procedures such as loosening the bow in between playing times is essential for keeping the bow stick in its natural shape and preventing it from warping (bending so that unnecessary pressure is put on frog and tip of bow and the tracking of bow is out, making it more likely that wood touches string rather than bow hair). Avoid touching the horse hair as the natural oils in the fingers reduces the effectiveness of bow sound quality despite application of resin. Bows will need to be taken in to a qualified Instrument repairer for re-hairing sooner than necessary if the bow hair is constantly touched (the bow needs to be of sufficient value to warrant this, otherwise it is better to just replace the student bow). Be careful not to over resin a bow. It only increase need for cleaning the instrument afterwards, and it can reduce the quality of tone to a gruffer, rasping sound.
For cleaning the main body of the instrument, a simple polish cloth is sufficient to remove general dust and resin. If the resin has been left on the body of the instrument for extended amounts of time, there are special products that can be bought to remove the resin without damaging the varnish of the instrument. Likewise, with guitars, there are products you can buy for the fret board. But for all these additional cleaners, they are to be used rarely and sparingly.
Care should be taken when looking for
instrument repairs, a trusted and established firm is better than a cheaper lesser known company. Your instrument, for example an
Admira guitar needs care from an experienced professional.
For the Strings, there are many different varieties out on the market. It is a matter of experimenting with different tone qualities and materials used, to find the sound that works with the instrument being played. Asking for recommendations from those with sufficient experience in the instrument business can also help (music shop or musicians). It is also worth knowing that even if the strings do not break, they only have a certain length of life span before the elasticity and sound quality deteriorates and oxidisation can occur (blackening of the string).
