Hi Olaf. You repaired my 1840 French Salzard violin a few years back after it was damaged by humidity. You did magic on it and it has been fine ever since. I live in Port Douglas and humidity reaches 95% in summer. My violin teacher (95 yrs) advised me to wrap my violin in silk within it's case, which I now do. She does this to hers also. Keep it in a cool air conditioned dry environment when I can. I will get some of this small silica sachets too. That's a great idea. Cheers to you. Love your clips.
Your timing is flawless Olaf! Just had my instrument lying in the bathtub for 3 hours. It is a trumpet though... 🤣 But there is something with your mindreading nowadays. 😁 Keep up btw! You're so cool! 😍😍
You should do a series of videos on extreme climate care for instruments! Extreme heat, cold, dryness. Given the state of the planet, we'll need to do more violin maintenance than previous generations of violinists.
I live in a pretty arid area. The top and bottom plates of acoustic guitars are known to crack in dry environments. Acoustic instrument shops here will recommend the use of a small humidifier inside instrument cases. It's basically a perforated plastic capsule that contains a sponge which needs to be re-moistened every few days to prevent the wood from becoming too dessicated.
Silica gel can get saturated and worn out, and it's hard to tell by looking at it. It can be recharged with heat. One suggestion is to use color changing silica gel crystals that show how much water they contain so you know when to recharge them. You can buy them online from many sources.
I'm happy to see you safe Olaf. When I heard the news of the flood, the first thing came up in my mind was you and the beautiful violins in your studio.
that's why I like winter. Cuz I play in cold weather, inside my house and my guitar is doing fine, door and windows closed. If I play in summer I always go and turn on the air con then play in the room when the air con is and with clothes that have long sleeves, so I don't leave humidity on the instrument by accident. And I always play with a towel underneath to prevent it from slipping off my pants and also have it ready to wipe the instrument just in case
I'm just reliving the nightmare I had last week. I dreamt that my violin was stuck in the dishwasher, and it was melted by the time I got it out. I opened my case as soon as I woke up... just to be sure. 🤣
"Keep your practice room closed" -Olaf my parents: no My parents never close my home practice room after they open the door to check what I'm doing and they won't do it even if I told them to :
Thanks for the heads up Olaf.. I have to humidify the violin and viola in the winter, but now we’re starting to head into the season of humidity reduction, so shortly, it will time to absorb moisture instead of supplying it. We ping pong back and forth every year over here, without much dwell between extremes! 😉
Me practicing violin in Jakarta when I see Olaf has a new video: beware humidity, it can destroy your instrument. Gulp. Actually I only take the violin out of its case in a small room with a great AC unit. Sometimes I put the case in the room when I'm working from home on my laptop, because I know that violin-chan enjoys the same climatic conditions that I do.
I’m from Indonesia too, and yes, I also only practice in air conditioned rooms. Honestly tho, it’s not because I’m concerned about my violin, I honestly just can’t stand the humidity nowadays 💩
Have to worry about the opposite here in Canada during winter... gets ridiculously dry and I have to humidify the room. I've heard it's a good idea to aim for 50% humidity, so I do... hopefully that actually is a good percentage to aim for.
I'm in this weird position where I can typically afford to be lazy (solid-bodied instruments sealed in so much thick finish) but I do own an upright bass and an acoustic guitar so I try to be mindful of these things. Thank you for being a wonderful source of information. I have so many questions.
I was watching a bluegrass performance by a band which included one-time Florida State Fiddle Chanpion Charlie Hudson. It was the usual hot and humid day in sunny south Florida. Charlie's fiddle was falling apart as the glue melted! We had a luthier in the audience ("Ron" of Ft. Lauderdale,) but he couldn't transport the violin to his shop because he had arrived by motorcyle. We can assume that eventually the violin got repaired - and hopefully Charlie didn't sell to me his only "backup" fiddle...
Since Zhongruan is basically be played by putting the instrument on lap like classical guitar, often the bottom piece of wood would come off after some while of 'perspirative' practice! In Malaysia, we also have this bad humidity issue... And I saw a double bass 'peel-off' just like Hubert's violin in our high school =(
I have an 1.89x shutz violin that have suffered this kind of wether problem twice, the gloo went of and it opened in a side in the concert hall during a raining season on winter... Good thing I know good luthiers...
Learnt so much from this one, Olaf.... I'm lucky to be based in the UK.... but note comments re sweat when playing the violin. Will bear this in mind for the distant future when the notes I play take my hand off the fingerboard!
Your channel is so informative and interesting when you talk about specific cases and examples like this. I don't even play (or have an interest in pursuing) but this is still fascinating to watch.
Dear Mr. Olaf, how to choose a good thermometer+hygrometer? How does analog versus electronic/digitals? I think I better need one so that our house instruments (my 50 years-old piano, newly made Zhongruan, my brother's about 10 years old violin and maybe an used double bass soon in future) safe from all these crazy heat and humidity in our house especially our practice room (Malaysia is a damn hot and humid country as well!)...! Many thanks
That high arched violin reminds of one I've seen where the belly started to bulge more, in turn letting the neck & fingerboard drop lower. The other thing with humidity level changes is the horse hair of bows. Someone (from humid conditions) coming to orchestra practice in an airconditioned hall, tightens their bow as normal but after a while the tension becomes excessive with the bow looking like a baroque bow. Something to always be aware of too.
I don’t know if you approve my methods but In the Philippines, I just simply Take a desiccant pack those small ones and literally put it in my acoustic guitars. Have found out they keep their sound even during the rainy season.
I'd imagine that in East and South East Asia (Taiwan, most of Japan, Korea, parts of mainland China, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia...), where classical music is actually quite popular, the challenges due to humidity must be quite extreme.
Hi, Olaf! Your videos are really instructive, thank you! I've been meaning to ask if it's better to the instrument to have humidity changes or just to be damp constantly. What happens is I live in a very humid place (70%) and when I put one of those big sachets that you showed the humidity inside the case drops to 50%. But then I open the case to play the violin and 1h later the case (and the violin) is at 70% humidity again. That means it goes back and forth, I don't know how bad that is for the instrument. I'll try the closet tip! :)
in my country you can find those bag "silica gel like" that are used to keep the weed at a certain humidity. they are called "boveda" you can choose 62% or 67%: i wonder if for a violin that amount of humidity it is too wet
fun fact: I live in Indonesia and the average humidity level in Indonesia is 80% and the humidity can go up to 90% and I own a violin Love from Indonesia :> btw to keep my violin from getting destroyed by the extreme humidity level I put 1 packet of silica gel in my violin case and sometimes up to 3
Yoyo Indo gang 🙌 Yes humidity levels are over the roof here! Humidity levels are usually 60% on good days, and can actually reach well above 90% on worse days. Somehow I feel that I’m much more affected by the insane humidity compared to my violin. Maybe violins can actually acclimate to their surroundings better than humans can? 😃
Oh my, this is like watching a violin horror story! I must look at my viola first thing in the morning. Afraid of those oily gross perspiration maps. I wonder (and I don't know where to ask), if a violin gets a new varnish, does it look very different then? My instrument is second handed and not in that good condition, but I love the old colour of varnish it has. Will it change absolutely when it gets new one?...
Just a thought: A hack for keeping salt from clumping is to add a few grains of raw rice. So could you put some rice in a cloth and put in the case, or could that be harmful for the instrument?
@@AskOlaftheViolinmaker Yes, you're right of course! Don't know why I didn't think of that. Maybe time to sack my brain and hire a new and better one ... 😉
Hi Olaf, I recently purchased my violin and I need help finding a polish for it. There’s so many brands out there and I don’t know where to go from here. I have a HERITAGE STRINGS HV44S 4/4 VIOLIN.
If I have a small seam open on my DB and it can clamp cleanly.. should I just patch it myself with some hot hide glue (or fish glue) and get it clamped... Saving a several hundred dollar trip?
It really depends on your skill level... it's definitely important to use hide glue, clamp it correctly, making sure the join matches and to wipe off the glue. We also revarnish and polish the area to protect it... A violin maker is always better.
I live on a small island. Humidity, yes. Is it harmful for my violin to go through rapid changes of temperature? Like for it be in AC at night and then in the heat of the day?
Do you suggest all the time put away the instrument after the playing into the case even the climate is normal? Thank you for your help :) Best regards from Germany
I ordered an electric 5 string violin and I realized it came from Beijing China. In the case was a humidity detector that looks like a watch. This tells me the amount of humidity with my violin.
Here in QLD Australia we get both at the same time. Worst case scenario the hide glue can come undone. My advice: keep it cool, keep it dry, but most of all, wait 35 minutes for the video to premiere and find out what Olaf has to say :P
Ahhhh.. that's why I've been hearing Daddy, my E strings not right, get your phone out so I can tune.. I Just thought it was a reluctance to PRACTICE!!!
@@metalvideos1961 Not really if you're keeping an eye on humidity or keep your case closed where typically the humidity will only be slightly dryer than the atmosphere that it was closed in. Instrument cases are primarily not airtight however, and will still be influenced to a degree by temp. Australia's string industry is still incredibly thriving.
Hi Olaf. You repaired my 1840 French Salzard violin a few years back after it was damaged by humidity. You did magic on it and it has been fine ever since. I live in Port Douglas and humidity reaches 95% in summer. My violin teacher (95 yrs) advised me to wrap my violin in silk within it's case, which I now do. She does this to hers also. Keep it in a cool air conditioned dry environment when I can. I will get some of this small silica sachets too. That's a great idea. Cheers to you. Love your clips.
Your timing is flawless Olaf!
Just had my instrument lying in the bathtub for 3 hours.
It is a trumpet though... 🤣
But there is something with your mindreading nowadays. 😁
Keep up btw! You're so cool! 😍😍
You should do a series of videos on extreme climate care for instruments! Extreme heat, cold, dryness. Given the state of the planet, we'll need to do more violin maintenance than previous generations of violinists.
Good suggestion. Australia is hot too so he'll most likely know about that topic as well.
Cheers
Well, it was far hotter at the turn of the 20th century and I heard they put their violin cases in pantries or underground rooms.
I live in a pretty arid area. The top and bottom plates of acoustic guitars are known to crack in dry environments. Acoustic instrument shops here will recommend the use of a small humidifier inside instrument cases. It's basically a perforated plastic capsule that contains a sponge which needs to be re-moistened every few days to prevent the wood from becoming too dessicated.
Silica gel can get saturated and worn out, and it's hard to tell by looking at it. It can be recharged with heat. One suggestion is to use color changing silica gel crystals that show how much water they contain so you know when to recharge them. You can buy them online from many sources.
Wow, I didn't know those colour changing crystals existed. Probably Olaf didn't either.
this makes me glad i play an instrument that isn't quite so susceptible to moisture
I'm happy to see you safe Olaf. When I heard the news of the flood, the first thing came up in my mind was you and the beautiful violins in your studio.
Thank you Olaf! I'm now glad I kept the silica that came with my new violin :)
that's why I like winter. Cuz I play in cold weather, inside my house and my guitar is doing fine, door and windows closed. If I play in summer I always go and turn on the air con then play in the room when the air con is and with clothes that have long sleeves, so I don't leave humidity on the instrument by accident. And I always play with a towel underneath to prevent it from slipping off my pants and also have it ready to wipe the instrument just in case
I'm just reliving the nightmare I had last week. I dreamt that my violin was stuck in the dishwasher, and it was melted by the time I got it out. I opened my case as soon as I woke up... just to be sure. 🤣
"Keep your practice room closed"
-Olaf
my parents: no
My parents never close my home practice room after they open the door to check what I'm doing and they won't do it even if I told them to :
Thanks for the heads up Olaf.. I have to humidify the violin and viola in the winter, but now we’re starting to head into the season of humidity reduction, so shortly, it will time to absorb moisture instead of supplying it. We ping pong back and forth every year over here, without much dwell between extremes! 😉
Thanks Dont Float Away
Do one on excess dryness too please?
Me practicing violin in Jakarta when I see Olaf has a new video: beware humidity, it can destroy your instrument.
Gulp.
Actually I only take the violin out of its case in a small room with a great AC unit. Sometimes I put the case in the room when I'm working from home on my laptop, because I know that violin-chan enjoys the same climatic conditions that I do.
sama aku juga gitu/same I do that too
I’m from Indonesia too, and yes, I also only practice in air conditioned rooms. Honestly tho, it’s not because I’m concerned about my violin, I honestly just can’t stand the humidity nowadays 💩
Have to worry about the opposite here in Canada during winter... gets ridiculously dry and I have to humidify the room. I've heard it's a good idea to aim for 50% humidity, so I do... hopefully that actually is a good percentage to aim for.
I'm in this weird position where I can typically afford to be lazy (solid-bodied instruments sealed in so much thick finish) but I do own an upright bass and an acoustic guitar so I try to be mindful of these things. Thank you for being a wonderful source of information. I have so many questions.
I was watching a bluegrass performance by a band which included one-time Florida State Fiddle Chanpion Charlie Hudson. It was the usual hot and humid day in sunny south Florida. Charlie's fiddle was falling apart as the glue melted! We had a luthier in the audience ("Ron" of Ft. Lauderdale,) but he couldn't transport the violin to his shop because he had arrived by motorcyle. We can assume that eventually the violin got repaired - and hopefully Charlie didn't sell to me his only "backup" fiddle...
Since Zhongruan is basically be played by putting the instrument on lap like classical guitar, often the bottom piece of wood would come off after some while of 'perspirative' practice!
In Malaysia, we also have this bad humidity issue...
And I saw a double bass 'peel-off' just like Hubert's violin in our high school =(
Hey Olaf, good day from the 🇵🇭
I have an 1.89x shutz violin that have suffered this kind of wether problem twice, the gloo went of and it opened in a side in the concert hall during a raining season on winter...
Good thing I know good luthiers...
Hello Olaf, thank you for this video today! It was very informative. 😊
Thank you so much, Mr. Olaf!
That would save my new Zhongruan and my old piano then =D
Learnt so much from this one, Olaf.... I'm lucky to be based in the UK.... but note comments re sweat when playing the violin. Will bear this in mind for the distant future when the notes I play take my hand off the fingerboard!
Scary stuff, I'm glad I live in a fairly stable climate... Where would we be without luthiers!
Your channel is so informative and interesting when you talk about specific cases and examples like this. I don't even play (or have an interest in pursuing) but this is still fascinating to watch.
i thought the reporter voice at 0:55 was the aMaZING lady from TwoSet it is just me? Sorry off topic 😅
Dear Mr. Olaf, how to choose a good thermometer+hygrometer?
How does analog versus electronic/digitals?
I think I better need one so that our house instruments (my 50 years-old piano, newly made Zhongruan, my brother's about 10 years old violin and maybe an used double bass soon in future) safe from all these crazy heat and humidity in our house especially our practice room (Malaysia is a damn hot and humid country as well!)...!
Many thanks
That high arched violin reminds of one I've seen where the belly started to bulge more, in turn letting the neck & fingerboard drop lower.
The other thing with humidity level changes is the horse hair of bows. Someone (from humid conditions) coming to orchestra practice in an airconditioned hall, tightens their bow as normal but after a while the tension becomes excessive with the bow looking like a baroque bow. Something to always be aware of too.
I don’t know if you approve my methods but In the Philippines, I just simply Take a desiccant pack those small ones and literally put it in my acoustic guitars.
Have found out they keep their sound even during the rainy season.
I'd imagine that in East and South East Asia (Taiwan, most of Japan, Korea, parts of mainland China, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia...), where classical music is actually quite popular, the challenges due to humidity must be quite extreme.
Hi, Olaf! Your videos are really instructive, thank you! I've been meaning to ask if it's better to the instrument to have humidity changes or just to be damp constantly. What happens is I live in a very humid place (70%) and when I put one of those big sachets that you showed the humidity inside the case drops to 50%. But then I open the case to play the violin and 1h later the case (and the violin) is at 70% humidity again. That means it goes back and forth, I don't know how bad that is for the instrument. I'll try the closet tip! :)
in my country you can find those bag "silica gel like" that are used to keep the weed at a certain humidity. they are called "boveda" you can choose 62% or 67%: i wonder if for a violin that amount of humidity it is too wet
fun fact: I live in Indonesia and the average humidity level in Indonesia is 80% and the humidity can go up to 90% and I own a violin
Love from Indonesia :>
btw to keep my violin from getting destroyed by the extreme humidity level I put 1 packet of silica gel in my violin case and sometimes up to 3
btw i made this comment before the video started
whaaat I am from Indonesia and now live in Melbourne.. I didn't know this!!
Yoyo Indo gang 🙌
Yes humidity levels are over the roof here! Humidity levels are usually 60% on good days, and can actually reach well above 90% on worse days. Somehow I feel that I’m much more affected by the insane humidity compared to my violin. Maybe violins can actually acclimate to their surroundings better than humans can? 😃
Oh no!
I'm feeling the bad humidity too in Malaysia!
That heat plus humidity always giving me big problems like eczema, hives or heat rash...
@@JoanKSX I feel u! I tend to lose focus when there’s high humidity. The heat can make me sick sometimes too 🥲
Oh my, this is like watching a violin horror story! I must look at my viola first thing in the morning. Afraid of those oily gross perspiration maps.
I wonder (and I don't know where to ask), if a violin gets a new varnish, does it look very different then? My instrument is second handed and not in that good condition, but I love the old colour of varnish it has. Will it change absolutely when it gets new one?...
How do you keep the humidity under control in your shop? A dehumidifier maybe?
Cries at living near the beach where any type of heat is just humidity 🥲
Just a thought: A hack for keeping salt from clumping is to add a few grains of raw rice. So could you put some rice in a cloth and put in the case, or could that be harmful for the instrument?
Rice? Salt? Hmmm
Maybe roasted coffee beans, dry tea-bag or dry wood charcoal will do the work as well! =O
You could, but the rice will risk attracting moths and weevils.
You might also invite some hungry guests into your instrument... a dry cloth inside the case is better...
@@AskOlaftheViolinmaker Yes, you're right of course! Don't know why I didn't think of that. Maybe time to sack my brain and hire a new and better one ... 😉
Hi Olaf, I recently purchased my violin and I need help finding a polish for it. There’s so many brands out there and I don’t know where to go from here. I have a HERITAGE STRINGS HV44S 4/4 VIOLIN.
After seeing this, we had a day so humid and sweaty that Pierre did not leave his case.
How much time does it takes for a stringed instrument to be so badly affected by humidity?
Do you have any special methods to reduce humidity in your shop?
I live in a high desert climate (arid), I was told to keep a humidifier in the case. My question is, is that sufficient?
If I have a small seam open on my DB and it can clamp cleanly.. should I just patch it myself with some hot hide glue (or fish glue) and get it clamped... Saving a several hundred dollar trip?
It really depends on your skill level... it's definitely important to use hide glue, clamp it correctly, making sure the join matches and to wipe off the glue.
We also revarnish and polish the area to protect it...
A violin maker is always better.
@@AskOlaftheViolinmaker You definitely can not beat the real deal :)
I live on a small island. Humidity, yes. Is it harmful for my violin to go through rapid changes of temperature? Like for it be in AC at night and then in the heat of the day?
Do you suggest all the time put away the instrument after the playing into the case even the climate is normal? Thank you for your help :) Best regards from Germany
I think, yes?
Because nowadays the environment has gotten way too dusty XD
I ordered an electric 5 string violin and I realized it came from Beijing China. In the case was a humidity detector that looks like a watch. This tells me the amount of humidity with my violin.
Humidity has probably affected the pegs of my violin, they're fixed like anything and won't move at all! What do I do to make them move?
I run a dehudifier in my home. It turns on automatically, when the humidity is high.
Memo to self: get silica.
I often wonder how Cajun fiddlers keep their instruments in one piece. Those bayous get pretty steamy.
Remember not eat those Silica gel sachets, tho...
But Olaf what about extreme heat?
Here in QLD Australia we get both at the same time.
Worst case scenario the hide glue can come undone.
My advice: keep it cool, keep it dry, but most of all, wait 35 minutes for the video to premiere and find out what Olaf has to say :P
@@Deluge4000 ah I see what you did there
For those who don't know, Hubert is just Olaf in a Wig.
Noooo!! Really 😂
Haha! Flutists will never die!
Ahhhh.. that's why I've been hearing Daddy, my E strings not right, get your phone out so I can tune.. I Just thought it was a reluctance to PRACTICE!!!
so australia is not relaly a good place for wooden instruments then. i mean with all the heat and all.
...except possibly for the didgeridoo!
(Sorry, I'll show myself out now...)
Not like almost every building has a/c or something.
@@OhKnow379 A/C is dry heat/cold. still bad for wooden instruments
@@metalvideos1961 Not really if you're keeping an eye on humidity or keep your case closed where typically the humidity will only be slightly dryer than the atmosphere that it was closed in. Instrument cases are primarily not airtight however, and will still be influenced to a degree by temp. Australia's string industry is still incredibly thriving.
Talking about humidity in singapore... sigh
It's because of hide glue.
keep it dry ladies and gents!
Olaf. Please tell your camera operator to hold shots longer. I feel like I am watching a Michael Bay action film. It is giving me motion sickness.
Its cuts from editing. Hey may have made a mistake so he needs to re-record a part. It’s quite a lot but you gotta be considerate.