When to Get Professional Help...

For your bow

• Because playing eventually wears out the hair, your bow should be professionally rehaired at least once each year, and any time the hair has lost its bite (friction), is dirty and can’t be cleaned well enough, or has lost a lot of hair.

• Dirty bow hair can be cleaned with denatured alcohol, but alcohol can damage the finish of the stick, so it’s safer to have your luthier clean it.

• If the ivory or bone tip on the bow's head cracks or breaks, have your luthier replace it.

• If the bow’s winding and leather grip are worn or missing, have them replaced.

• If turning the bow screw slowly in a clockwise direction fails to tighten the hair, your bow screw eyelet will need to be replaced.

• If for any reason the curve of the bow stick has been lost or distorted, take it to your luthier; the proper shape can be restored.

• If your bow breaks, take it to your luthier to see if the bow can be repaired so that it is playable, although it will lose some of its value.

For your instrument

Have your luthier give the instrument a checkup occasionally, to be sure everything is in working order, and immediately if any of these occur:

• The pegs are hard to turn, or turn too easily.

• It’s suddenly hard to tune the instrument and keep it tuned.

• A crack develops in the wood.

• The tone changes, and tuning won’t make it better.

• There’s a rattle inside the body of the instrument and the instrument’s “voice” is gone.

• The fingerboard feels unsteady or loose.