How to Care for Your Cello in Extreme Weather

The cello, as every cellist is hopefully aware, is a delicate instrument. Made of thin, warped pieces of fine wood, and held together by a combination of glue and simple friction, they are carefully constructed artefacts.

Because of this, the careful balance that keeps a cello intact and intune is quite easy to disturb.

This can be through clumsy damage, lack of care in upkeep, or a volatile environment.

In this article we’ll focus on the latter; the current heatwave in the UK has seen a dramatic rise in tuning issues among my students, and so this topic is now more relevant than ever.

The Effects of Heat on a Cello

If you see dry wood in a hot climate, it usually doesn’t age well.

It doesn’t take much heat for the fine balance of a cello to break down.

Heat stretches the metal strings of the cello, making the tuning flat.

At extreme temperatures, the wood glue of a cello can lose integrity, and parts of the cello may warp.

This is exacerbated by the fact the cello is always under tension from the strings, and so a loss of glue strength or warping will be potentially catastrophic.

If you notice any seams opening on your cello, lower the tuning immediately, put it in a cooler place, and then get it to your Luthier as soon as possible.

Depending on the brand, the varnish of your cello may also soften, making it susceptible to touch damage or spoil from rosin dust.

In general, keeping your cello away from heat sources such as direct sunlight or radiators is an obvious necessity to keeping it in good shape, especially during heatwaves.

The Effects of Cold on a Cello

Extreme cold produces similar outcomes to extreme heat, but for different reasons and in different ways.

Cold temperatures shrink the strings of your cello, raising their tuning.

This dramatically increases the changes of snapping strings.

More concerningly, cold air tends to also contain less moisture, which is particularly dangerous for wooden instruments.

The wood of your cello will shrink, increasing the potential for glue seams to open.

The large sheets of wood used for the body of the cello will be at risk of splitting.

As mentioned earlier, this is partly triggered by the cello always being under tension.

The worst case I have seen of this, was a cellist in Serbia, who during a winter tour had the bridge of his cello collapse through the body of the instrument.

This was entirely due to the rapid change in temperature and humidity.

Rapid Temperature Changes

More dangerous than the temperature itself, is the rapid change of environment for a cello.

Cellos can survive in hot and cold climates, providing they are eased into them and then maintained properly there.

Rapidly changing temperatures put your cello at a huge risk of damage.

Examples of this include leaving your cello in a car for hours, where the windows magnify temperature changes.

Leaving your cello near windows in sight of the sun is similarly not advised, and nor is leaving it propped near radiators!

How to Avoid Damage

Avoiding climate damage to your cello is a combination of common sense and good planning.

Keeping your cello stored inside a case, especially a hard case, gives it some protection against rapid temperature changes.

Keeping your cello out in the open on a stand can look nice as a room decoration, but if there’s any risk of harsh climate, it should be stored in its case.

If you do have to take the cello to a harsh climate, especially a foreign one, then leave it in its case for as long as you can.

This will soften the blow dealt to it by being in another climate.

You can also crack the case open for a while before opening it properly, which also helps ease the transition.

If you travel a lot with your cello, a hygrometer may be useful to have in your cello case.

This tracks the humidity of the air, and gives you a good indicator of when things are more dangerous for the cello.

Be sure to bring plenty of spare strings with you, as you will likely find yourself tuning the cello a lot when you travel.

Key Takeaways

In general, caring for your cello is not a mystery – the methods for looking after it all make sense given the delicate nature of the instrument.

If you take simple measures to keep it away from extreme temperatures, it will usually stay in good shape and maintain its tuning well.

If you find your cello going out of tune frequently, consider the possibility that you are not keeping it in a good climate at home.

In the long run, good cello care will make your current instrument a lifelong companion!

If you would like expert guidance on developing your playing while learning how to care for your instrument properly, explore personalised in person and online cello lessons at the London Cello Institute.