How to clean a violin... without polish?

Question:

How to clean a violin... without polish?

Is there any home remedy or something oh how to clean my violin?? The space in between the bridge and the fingerboard is really rosin-ee. And both sides of the fingerboard (on the body) is starting to get sticky. I know I should buy a cleansing kit but, I probably can't get to one a few days, and it's starting to bug me.. I clean it after everytime I play but, it doesn't help as much as I'd like it to. Any suggestions??

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: To begin, you need to realize that the violin got that way from not being properly cared for in the first place. You need to wipe it off with a clean, dry, soft cotton fabric (such as a piece of an old t-shirt - one that has been washed!) after each playing session. If you do this, you will not have this issue again in the future.

Now to the problem at hand. Go to a pharmacy and buy some alcohol wipes. You can get a box of 250 for a couple bucks. They are great because they are individually wrapped, so you can keep them in your case. Also, you can use them to clean your strings and fingerboard as often as you like, without doing harm to either. The alcohol wipes will take the rosin right off the fingerboard and strings.

Hold the instrument upside down (because you typically don't want the alcohol to get on the varnish of the violin), wipe the strings and fingerboard down thoroughly, and then immediately dry with a soft cotton cloth.

Usually you would not want to use these wipes on the wood of your instrument, but because yours is so caked with rosin, it will be OK in order to get rid of all the build up. The alcohol wipes will take the rosin off the wood as well - just be sure to wipe off the instrument immediately afterwards with dry cloth so no moisture remains on the instrument. You don't want the alcohol to remove the varnish from the wood. Keep in mind that the alcohol wipes hardly contain enough moisture to do much, if any damage to the finish if you are careful and dry it right away.

Good luck. It's no fun playing on a gunked-up, sticky instrument!

By the way - you can also use these small wipes to clean the rosin off the wood part of your bow - just make sure to not get the alcohol on the bow hair!