Violins In Long-term Storage

December 19, 2015, 6:44 PM · Violins are prone to tonal losses after long-term storage. This includes loss of volume, and can often include loss of tone colour and quality in more severe cases. The severity of tonal losses depends on how long the violin was kept in long-term storage and the quality of the instrument. Supreme quality instruments show very little tonal loss, even after a long storage period.

How to determine if a violin has been kept in long-term storage

Here are two things noticable with violins that were recently pulled out from long-term storage.

1. Loss of volume
Loss of volume is the number one sign of long-term storage. Violins will never sound loud in any size space in this state.

2. Loss of quality
Violins can lose it's quality from long-term storage. This is noticable in more severe cases. A violin will often sound very dull and sombre.

How to fix this
Violins need to be played in order to maintain their full quality. The only way to make a violin sound good after long-term storage is to play it for at least two weeks.

Why does the violin still sound weird after two weeks of usage, assuming the instrument was last used two weeks ago?
Chances are the strings are old. Leaving violin strings on a violin during long-term storage can lead to aged strings, which will not sound too good, even after the two weeks of usage.