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I've never cleaned my bow. I always opt for a re-hair instead. Is that an option for you?

This question comes up from time to time - I clean mine a couple of times a year. Methylated spirits works just as well as denatured alcohol and is much easier to obtain.

Unscrew the frog completely and lift it out carefully. Take a shallow plate like a dinner plate, lay the bow stick beside it and drape the hair on the plate, making sure you don't put any strain on the wedge fixing at the tip of the stick. Pour a little meths into the plate and swish the hair in it, letting it soak for about ten minutes. Keep the meths off the stick! Then lift the hair out carefully and wipe down with some kitchen towel. If there was a lot of rosin, the hair will still feel very sticky, so just repeat the process with fresh meths. Let it dry completely (a couple of hours) and then reassemble and re-rosin.

This isn't as scary as it sounds, and I find it improves the sound. I also regularly use a little meths on a folded paper towel or soft cloth to clean the strings.

(posted before so may seem familiar to some!)

Denatured alcohol is just another name for meths.

This summer I had my daughter's cello and bow cleaned at the local violin shop which was relatively cheap and less nerveracking than doing it myself. I have cleaned the bow hair myself before, and daughter's teacher told us to use soapy water on the hair, having first taken the bow apart as described by mcm. You can leave the hair to dry naturally or use a hairdryer (I think - haven't tried that). Putting it together again is straightforward, but make sure you put lots of rosin on the bow afterwards or it won't work and then you will think you've ruined it! That happened to us.

I'm sure I read somewhere to avoid alcohol on the bow - though it's fine for cleaning strings.

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I have bathed my bow hair a couple of times in soapy water

The last time some of the bow hairs streched and I have had to remove around 12 over the weeks.
So it can bring a re-hair nearer.

Be carefull NOT to get water near the ends as I have been told that it cold affect the glue.
Might try the meths approach next time.

Fair enough - I tend to think of denatured alcohol as colourless, as opposed to purple meths. The first time I used meths I was afraid it might colour the hair but it doesn't.


Definitely keep it off the bow stick otherwise it will spoil the varnish, but it is fine on the hair. A fingerboard doesn't have any surface treatment so you don't need to worry when you are cleaning strings.

Some of the very cheap models have a painted fingerboard rather than ebony - wouldn't meths take the paint off?

The point is, the place where the strings really need cleaning is not above the fingerboard, but between fingerboard and bridge where the rosin accumulates. And here, of course, you do need to be careful about dripping meths on the varnish. To be on the safe side, you can clean the strings with the violin upside down (ie strings closest to the floor).

It's not just about rosin, though. I used to help out with a local young people's orchestra. Once, a visiting (professional) violinist showed the youngsters how to clean their violins, including along the length of the string, and out of interest, I did mine too. I was amazed at the black marks that came away on the cloth I had used to clean what I had considered to be a very well looked-after violin! This would seem to suggest that it's not only between bridge and fingerboard that needs attention.

I was taught to regularly wipe the length of the string with a cloth when I was learning as a child. (And this was by the local peri not a professional violinist).

We also used to scrape the resin off the strings between the bridge and the fingerboard with a plastic ruler but I don't think this was a teacher-approved-method