I play a lot of gig in close proximity to water (occupational hazard of piracy).  I adjust my playing, minimizing slides, position shifts and paying extra attention to intonation to avoid those micro-adjustments. 

Could be worse!  I had a guy working for me as an inspector of machined parts. Unfortunately this man had unbelievably high acid content in his sweaty hands. So much so that he was causing my gauges and instruments to RUST!  I offered to keep him on if he wore latex or rubber gloves, but he declined. 

Well, let's say I used to play out in the beating sun. High iowa humidity. I'd pack a fan. Have it blowing at my trunk. Luckily my hands aren't that sweaty. It amazed me how the hyde glue holds?

I regularly wipe my strings & fingers down. As for the hide glue, I did mention once-upon-a-time on this site that the neck of my good violin, a Berndt Dimbath, did detach itself, one particularly humid day. I sent the fiddle to Benning Violins in L.A. and they promptly fixed it. With the comment, "zeese sings happen." (Yeah, I'm ribbing Hans' accent here.)

Plenty of humidity here, Rhode Island is the Ocean State. Corn starch on the palm works well, (don't overdo it) . I use a soft T-shirt type cotton to wipe down the strings between tunes. Also, if you have high humidity make sure to relieve the tension on the chin rest clamps so the rib can expand and not buckle out. Use just enough torque to keep it in place. It will probably get loose in the Fall/Winter.

Just keep a towel handy, like on your shoulder or lap. I have what they call "hyper-hydrosis" or something like that--where sweat just runs down your head and hands like a stream.

Unless you want to pay for expensive treatments, you just deal with it and keep a towel handy to wipe down between numbers.

If you simply have "cold clammy" hands, I don't consider that a problem. A dry, calloused fingertip slides around on the string and makes life difficult, but a moist one sticks where you want it and helps intonation and vibrato. More friction with the string/fingerboard, you know.

Thanks for the comments. My problem is more where the left hand, thumb and first finger touch the neck. If hot and clammy the hand just doesn't slide around like I want it to. I have to only touch with my thumb, which I am not accustomed to doing.

When I used to play outdoor summer gigs, I would pack a small container of baby powder, I think it was Gold Bond, and keep in my case for that problem, worked for me.

The first thing to do is to keep everything clean. Wash your hands before you play every time and keep your strings and instrument clean with a dry cloth by going over them every time you put the violin away. If there’s dirt on the neck, getting it damp will make it sticky.

There are things that can contribute to the sweatiness of hands and the acidity of sweat like food choices, coffee consumption, and cigarette use. If you have an ongoing problem with acidic sweat, changing what you put into your body may help to balance pH. A doctor or nutritionist may be able to give more insight.

I would be careful with powders on your hands. I had a customer who was a student at a local music school. He had been loaned a very fine violin and bow for use during his studies. Unfortunately, he was a very heavy coffee drinker and smoker, and that, combined with his diet of very acidic foods made his sweat highly corrosive. He practiced heavily each day and he was very concerned about keeping his hands dry (he sweated profusely as well) so he began putting talcum powder on his hands before playing every time. This may have reduced the sweating, but it didn’t stop it. His sweet was so corrosive that it ate the varnish away where he touched the handle of the neck and the upper bout right down to the wood and he ruined the winding, thumb grip, handle, and frog of the bow he was using. His teacher asked him to take better care of his equipment but he continued to do damage. Finally the instrument and bow were taken away from him and I was asked to salvage them. The talcum powder and nicotine had gotten into the wood and it was a nightmare to deal with. The bow was deemed a total loss because of the extensive damage to the wood (the frog and stick developed cracks in several places and the facets of the bow and frog were worn down drastically). It was so heartbreaking to see such a fine instrument and bow damaged, and it all happened in less than a year.

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Originally posted by The Violin Beautiful

The first thing to do is to keep everything clean. Wash your hands before you play every time and keep your strings and instrument clean with a dry cloth by going over them every time you put the violin away. If there’s dirt on the neck, getting it damp will make it sticky.

There are things that can contribute to the sweatiness of hands and the acidity of sweat like food choices, coffee consumption, and cigarette use. If you have an ongoing problem with acidic sweat, changing what you put into your body may help to balance pH. A doctor or nutritionist may be able to give more insight.

I would be careful with powders on your hands. I had a customer who was a student at a local music school. He had been loaned a very fine violin and bow for use during his studies. Unfortunately, he was a very heavy coffee drinker and smoker, and that, combined with his diet of very acidic foods made his sweat highly corrosive. He practiced heavily each day and he was very concerned about keeping his hands dry (he sweated profusely as well) so he began putting talcum powder on his hands before playing every time. This may have reduced the sweating, but it didn’t stop it. His sweet was so corrosive that it ate the varnish away where he touched the handle of the neck and the upper bout right down to the wood and he ruined the winding, thumb grip, handle, and frog of the bow he was using. His teacher asked him to take better care of his equipment but he continued to do damage. Finally the instrument and bow were taken away from him and I was asked to salvage them. The talcum powder and nicotine had gotten into the wood and it was a nightmare to deal with. The bow was deemed a total loss because of the extensive damage to the wood (the frog and stick developed cracks in several places and the facets of the bow and frog were worn down drastically). It was so heartbreaking to see such a fine instrument and bow damaged, and it all happened in less than a year.

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not being a smarty... but would a CF violin and bow be a good solution in such cases?  

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Originally posted by tonyelder

not being a smarty... but would a CF violin and bow be a good solution in such cases?  

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I don't think so, because if the issue is fingers and hands being moist and not moving along the strings, neck, and fingerboard, it will still be problem with carbon fiber, and the strings will have the same issues. A carbon fiber body can get dirty and grimy as well. Epoxy may be a more durable moisture barrier than shellac or oil varnish, but it isn't impervious to sticky substances.

As far as dealing with heavy acidity, it may make a difference to use a carbon fiber violin, but the tonal penalty would be so severe that it would not be worthwhile. 
 

Applying the idea to the bow, carbon fiber does resist wear from hands better in some ways. The hair is the same and is still affected by moisture and dirt and carbon fiber is so much stiffer than pernambuco that it makes the bow behave differently, though. At the lower end, where the wood used in sticks is regularly too soft, carbon fiber can be a better option, but as you get into the intermediate level, carbon fiber meets its limitations pretty quickly. 
 

For a performance major in a music school, this isn't a realistic option because the equipment just can't provide what's needed tonally. The only realistic options are changes to routines or much more frequent maintenance. I remember going to a violin shop years ago and seeing a player drop her instrument off just for cleaning. The shop owner told me she was one of the top orchestra players in the area. He said she drank a huge amount of coffee and it made her sweat profusely and left deposits on the varnish. To keep it from eating away the varnish on her fine old violin, she just brought it in to be professionally cleaned every few weeks because she couldn't wean herself from the coffee. The violin looked absolutely filthy when I saw it, shockingly so, but it was reportedly only a few weeks' buildup, and she practiced quite a lot every day. I'd never seen a violin in regular use that was filthy like that before, and it was startling to me.

Some players use their violins every day for their whole careers and the violins look like they did when the makers finished them, but some play them for a matter of weeks and make them look thousands of years older. 
 

"...who was a student at a local music school. He had been loaned a very fine violin and bow for use during his studies."

The CF would not be a good fit for a student... during his studies ???    ...sounds extreme, but...   ok   

I hope the student appreciates what happened and the owner learned something as well.

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Originally posted by tonyelder

"...who was a student at a local music school. He had been loaned a very fine violin and bow for use during his studies."

The CF would not be a good fit for a student... during his studies ???    ...sounds extreme, but...   ok   

I hope the student appreciates what happened and the owner learned something as well.

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CF would not have been a good fit for a violin performance major at a university playing advanced violin repertoire and performing regularly. The student hopefully learned something. His teacher gave him an earful for his behavior and cavalier attitude toward the things he'd been given for free. The organization that owned the violin made him contribute a small amount toward its repair and he was loaned new equipment that was not nearly as fine to use going forward. Because the organization was charitable, the shop didn't charge for the repair work on their instruments. 

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Originally posted by The Violin Beautiful

quote:

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Originally posted by tonyelder

"...who was a student at a local music school. He had been loaned a very fine violin and bow for use during his studies."

The CF would not be a good fit for a student... during his studies ???    ...sounds extreme, but...   ok   

I hope the student appreciates what happened and the owner learned something as well.

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CF would not have been a good fit for a violin performance major at a university playing advanced violin repertoire and performing regularly. The student hopefully learned something. His teacher gave him an earful for his behavior and cavalier attitude toward the things he'd been given for free. The organization that owned the violin made him contribute a small amount toward its repair and he was loaned new equipment that was not nearly as fine to use going forward. Because the organization was charitable, the shop didn't charge for the repair work on their instruments. 

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They know what they are doing.

"Because the organization was charitable, the shop didn't charge for the repair work on their instruments."

...and:   "Finally the instrument and bow were taken away from him and I was asked to salvage them." 

Good on you, shop.  

We (my band) played a four hour show, with two breaks last Saturday night in the extreme Florida heat and humidity. I wore a cooling scarf and towel, and kept wiping off my hands. I had a small fan blowing on me. I had to sit down halfway through, I was getting dizzy. I vowed that would be my last outdoor show in the summer, so this won't be an issue for me anymore!

I just spend 10 days camping and playing in 75 to 89% humidity (brought my home gauge this year). I'm my experience, the number one Factor is clean your hands and fiddle/strings. Start with clean and dried hands and the sweat seems to be less of a factor. For nearly everyone I play with the biggest factor is when the temp dropps and the humidity climbs. Most rosin seems to loose it's effectiveness. My choice - Cecelia Solo, works great in those conditions and requires very little applied. Last year I gave a broke-in-half chuck of it to a new acquaintance, Marge (hell of a fiddler and singer), when she was having issues. This year, she told me she's converted dozens of her friends to it. I also had the pleasure of being part of several of her camp's jams. Was even recommended the rosin by one of her friends at one point in the week :-D

Sorry for the drift. Clean your hands, fiddle neck and strings, it helps a lot.

Pros are going to be taken care of in most situations on formal stages that are sheltered from the elements with hand towels, water,cooled/ shaded "green rooms"etc. I've played good gigs like that and it's much easier than gigs that don't provide those things...