Re: playing outdoors

I placed a call to our violin dealer and he pretty much told me the same
thing. He said that violins are much tougher than people seem to think and
that cold was less of a problem than heat. He suggested that the car ride
down to the park would give the instrument, in its case, a sufficient
gradual cool-down, and that we should avoid taking it into a warm room
beforehand (the documentary people have an office across the street from the
park, but we should not take the instrument inside.) Likewise, afterwards we
should warm it gradually. The car ride home should do the trick, and we
should leave it in the case for a while when we get back to the house.

He also asked if she had any important auditions or recitals soon after (no)
and said that should the soundpost move as a result of the cold he could fix
it during the week after, though he doubted such a thing could happen.

I'll let you know how it goes. It still remains to be seen if she will be
able to play in the cold at all. We might do a runthough today and see what
happens.

karen 

in article [EMAIL PROTECTED], Harold F. Evans at
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote on 11/26/03 7:48 PM:

> I've been a violin maker for over thirty years now and have never seen a
> problem with cold weather regarding the health of a violin.  Heat and
> high humidity are much harder on a wooden instrument than are low
> temperatures.  In fact, I have stored some of my inventory in an
> unheated garage for a couple of  years, as a temporary convenience.
> I've never found any problems with any of these instruments at all.
> 
> Most wood responds well to cold temps.  As an experiment try taking an
> inexpensive violin outside on a cold day.  Or, you could even try
> placing it in a freezer and see what happens.  I doubt you will have any
> difficulty with it at all.  Put the same violin next to a radiator or
> leave it in a hot car in the summer, though, and you'll likely destroy
> it.  I've reassembled many an instrument after a client has left one in
> a hot car for just a just a few minutes.  One of these violins got so
> hot that the ribs separated and straightened out to their original
> shape.  I had to bend them and reshape the whole violin -- might as well
> have started from scratch to build the thing.
> 
> On the contrary, I can't recall ever having to fix an instrument left in
> a cold attic, basement, or car.  Your mileage may vary, but this has
> been my experience.  Personally, I would not worry about this too much.
> Let us know how it goes, though.  OK?
> 
> Harold F. Evans DMA
> 
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