Funny thing not to know after four years of playing, but how much? How often? Upstrokes or down? short strokes or long? What kind? Is it "rosin" or "resin"? Why is it $2.50 at Long and McQuade and $35.00 at the dusty old fiddle maker's shop? How much is too much? How little is not enough? How do I get the dust off my fiddle? SHOULD I get the dust off my fiddle? What is it made of, anyway? What happens if I accidentally drop it into me beer? (Will it ruin the beer?) Input invited.
Actually rosin is quite nutritious. It is refined from sap of coniferous trees (read "pine sap"). In a pinch, you might be able to use it to ward off scurvy (the disease, not the tipsy fellow in the pub . Well....
it doesn't have warning lables advising *not* to eat the stuff....If you die, then you can always sue the manufacturer!
How often, how much: use it whenever your bow isn't grabbing enough. When the humidity is high(spring ,summer, fall), you need to use more, when the humidity is less, you need to use less.
I hold my bow with my thumb covering the ferrule of the frog, (that piece of silver that wraps around the hair) so that the rosin doesn't accidentally crack against it. I hate having bits of resin floating around in my case. I use as much as will stick on the hair, which tends toward a gravelly sound. After playing, I wipe the strings free of rosin, because it will rot the strings if allowed to accumulate. Further, the extra mass on the string, from accumulated resin, has an impact on the overtones produced by the strings, and the fiddle just will not sing with the strings caked in rosin. The dust on your fiddle will eventually amalgamate with the varnish, essentially damaging the finish on the fiddle. If you like the original finish on your violin, then you would do well to gently wipe the fingerboard and the body clean of resin. If you have a buildup that doesn't wipe off readily, then try a bit of vegetable oil on a soft rag. (Rosin and vegatable oil makes a great salad dressing afterward.... just kidding, don't try that at home , kids!!) The vegetable oil will not damage either a spirit varnish or an oil varnish, so it is safe to use.
Kerri, there are only three reasons fiddlers use rosin at all. First, it makes a grand flourish of bowing technique and mystery when you apply it (and the fiddle isn't even out of the case yet!). Second, you get another grand flourish and mystique when rosin dust flies off your bow in the midst of some gritty (but likely accidental) staccato work when your elbow hits the edge of the table in mid stroke. And third, rosin gives us a terrific all-purpose excuse when our playing isn't up to snuff..."Ahh, t' fiddle isn't responding today. With so much/little rain in t' air, the rosin will not grip."
Some people get very fancy with their choice of rosins. I've tried a bunch, and I'd recommend W.E. Hill & Sons in the green "flexible" cover (it's a scrap of felt or polyester glued to one side of the rosin cake), or Colophane Millant-Deroux, which comes in a little plastic case. The Millant-Deroux goes on light and thin, perfect for low humidity. It gives a clean, smooth sound and can help reduce bow noise on the strings if that's a problem. The Hill is darker and seems to work better for me during higher humidity (rare here in Montana). In very humid climes, or for a really chunky sound and triplets that sound like a cougar barking up a hairball, I sometimes use Pop's bass rosin.
Try to avoid the rosins that come in the little rectangular boxes and cannot be removed. You'll soon wear a groove in the rosin, and as your bow sinks into the groove, the rosin or box sides can scratch your bow. It's best to use the round cakes and rotate them as you rosin up so you wear the top of the cake down evenly.
In general, I stick with the Millant-Deroux. It can be tricky to get a different weight of rosin to stick to the hairs once they're coated with your regular rosin. You can wipe the hairs off with a clean cloth before applying new rosin, and some people go so far as to strip all the old rosin off with alcohol--but you should be VERY CAREFUL not to get any alcohol on the stick. And it will take a while to build up another coat of rosin on the hairs after such a treatment.
Apply the rosin over the length of the bow with long strokes up and down. You might want to start with a few short strokes to build a little friction and heat so the rosin goes on easier. If you get hand oil on the hairs from your right thumb resting against them as you play (as I do), avoid the oil patch when your rosining--it's better not to spread the oil up the hairs.
Do clean all rosin off the strings and then off the fiddle top and fingerboards EVERY TIME after you play. Scotty's right about it harming the strings, tone, and varnish. According to Consumer Reports, rosin buildup on strings is one of the leading causes of inconsistent tone.
Anyone else have a recommendation on favorite brands of rosin? Anyone else have an allergy to the stuff? My sinuses go nuts after a night of breathing rosin dust. And please don't tell me I'm using too much...I rosin very lightly, usually only every second or third time I play (unless absolutely necessary). Swing and jazz fiddler Paul Anastasio uses powdered rosin and plays in a great swirling tornado of rosin dust. I imagine he has decades-old amber-encased boogers in his nose.....
You should be able to find both these brands for under $5 a cake, and a cake will last a couple of years with proper care (no sudden temperature extremes, don't let it freeze, don't drop it on a hard surface, and don't wear grooves in it). Try www.johnsonstrings.com for good prices, or the Lief Luscombe site (see Links) in Canada.
Will
Thanks for the info. I can see I'll need to give my fiddle a little TLC ASAP, (FYI). I have quite a bit of build-up... I wipe it off when it occurs to me (Every couple of weeks), but there's always some that resists a gentle wipe. The oil treatment is new to me. Do you avoid the strings with this process? (I assume so) What gets rosin off the strings? A ball of very sticky raw wool came in my case and I've been using that, but it's too well loved to be any use any more, and I don't know where to get more. Under five bucks, eh, Will? I've paid as much as thirty. Can't remember what kind of rosin it was... You must mean American dollars, eh? ;-D
Gosh, the details that swim by without surfacing for air! I didn't even think about explaining how to cope with all that rosin.
I keep two cloths in my case. One is used to wipe rosin off the fiddle, bridge-end of the fingerboard, and strings. The other cloth is reserved for wiping off the strings at the other end, where my fingers have bled ( )all over them. It's important to keep rosin off the strings where your fingers go (and off your fingers) because it makes slides and little adjustments for intonation impossible. So use a separate rag for each function, and launder them every week.
If the rosin is really crusted onto your strings, you can wrap your thumbnail in the appropriate rag and run it against the strings to scrape the rosin off. If that doesn't work, it's way past time to replace the strings.
I've never heard of the veggie oil as cleaner. I use a special violin varnish cleaner. Seems to me the veggie oil could soak through micro-cracks in the varnish and get into the wood, which wouldn't likely help the tone any. I would avoid using raw wool on the strings for the same reason--the lanolin and oils will interact with the rosin in all the wrong ways.
I've had good luck finding low prices on rosin and strings online. I paid $50 for my first set of Evah Pirazzi strings and almost as much for a set of Obligato's (and I love 'em both), but have seen them online for as little as $35 a set, with free shipping (yes, all prices in US $).
You can also clean your strings with cotton wool dipped into either surgical spirit or your favourite aftershave/perfume - just don't get any of it on the varnish! You get cleaner strings plus the aroma of the local bordello,depending on the brand...
As for applying the rosin, I make four down and three up bows. If it's a grade A session I substitute soap for the rosin of course!
Dave
Rosin is one of the by-products of conifer sap, turpentine is the other. So I wouldn't yam down a hunk of the stuff. I do know that it is disolved by Alcohol & I have used alcohol to clean the gummy crud (rosin & finger gunk) that collects on the hair by the frog. It doesn't have an effect on the bow hair (as far as I have observed) in fact it seems to lengthen the life of the bow hair. I prefer the darker stuff with the felt back I don't know what brand it is.
Gentle handling & maintaining temprature is the key to having it last. One time I left the rosin in the pocket of my jacket during a cold snap, when I brought it inside it started to crack like an ice cube in a glass.
I keep my rosin tied to my case with fishing line, since I tied it on I have not lost it & it's been about a year now!
A real time and trouble saver is, when practicing I keep a small piece of cloth under the strings where the bow passes over. That way I don't have to clean the rosin off my fiddle every time I practice, I can just clean the strings and wipe any dust off the fingerboard.
Two very fine violin makers here in Canada have told us - to never, ever, ever use that special violin varnish cleaner. I know that it is sold readily and it does the job wonderfully. However with repeated use - it damages and dissolves the varnish. Soft cloths laundered frequently are what you are to use (flannel is best - great use for those old winter P.J.s) after every time you have finished playing the violin.
I've talked with five of the most awarded violin makers in the U.S., including the only North American winner of the Cremona Competition, and they ALL recommend using a varnish cleaner. Yes, you only apply it two or three times a year, and a soft cloth is all that's needed for the daily cleaning, but a reputable varnish cleaner will save your finish from the ravages of rosin and skin oils. That said, there are some cleaners that can harm your finish. If in doubt, ask a fine maker to clean your finish for you once a year.
A lot of this can be solved by simply being sure to wipe your violin off every time you play. The rosin will eventually eat through your finish if you don't.
I've heard both sides of the cleaner/no cleaner argument. Some makers feel that a hard stiff finish is better for sound, and some seem to feel that a flexible finish does the wood a better job. My guess is that it's part of that fiddle mystique (or, as my guy calls it, the fiddle-lahdidah-hocus-pocus-ridiculousness. *grin*).
It also tastes better. Brad, you actually typed the phrase, "Yam down a chunk of it" - I may never get over that one!
My old violin teacher gave me some rosin once, it was round, VERY dark, and had a green felt-like wrapping that was permanently attached to the base of the rosin and had a built-in elastic band for closing it up. No idea what brand it was, this was over 10 years ago, but I loved the stuff!
Oh, and Kerri -- it's "rosin" not "resin" -- "resin" is what you get out of a tree. If you're a terrible speller, it's what you get when you dehydrate a grape. Heh.
Jeff, that sounds like Hill dark, to me. They use the green felt wrapping with elastic. It's one of the more popular rosins on the west side of the pond, perhaps in UK too, since it's made there.
Jeff, the only trouble with the cloth under the strings bit is that you have to make sure to wipe under the fingerboard a ways, as the resin dust flies under there, too -- my repair guy pointed this out to me once (literally, while tch tching about the semi-permanent resin build up there!).
Zina, yes, you still have to clean off some parts of your fiddle, but the cloth under the strings means you have a lot less to clean, and it prevents what's usually the heaviest buildup - between the bridge and the end of the fingerboard - from occurring.
Will, I'm going to try to find some Hill dark and see if that's the stuff.
I'm trying to remember the name of this rosin I bought at Rock Egan's shop a bit back -- it's French, and very very light, lots of dust, a ten dollar cake. Not too terribly grabby, which I sort of miss. I *do* find that everyone likes to borrow it at sessions, because they like the way the dust flies.
What a wealth of information! I'm glad I asked the question! I didn't know there was such a thing as varnish cleaner! I never thought of putting a cloth under my strings! My god! You people are amazing! Tell me more!
Hey, any Canadian's around? I hear you guys have got a brand of dustless rosin only available in Canada. Maybe you can ship some of that down here to Texas?! Love to try it. Will might need a cake too!
Dustless rosin, sure, it's refined from the gum of the rubbermaid pine tree. (species: dusticus pinesoleicus). We use it for polishing hardwood floors and everything, and in the winter, we freeze big disks of them and use them for hockey pucks. In the summer, we play frisbee with them, and when we get tired of that, we mix a little ground beef with them and throw them on the barbeeqoo. YUM YUM, reel good.
Unfortunately the rubbermaid pine is the favourite habitat of the 7-footed caterpillar which eats the bark of the trees. Hence local supplies have been dwindling in recent years, and the price of the dustless rosin has gone through the roof! If you want some, I can scrape the grill of the bar-b-q for you. I suspect that there is several hundred dollars worth encrusted on it. Send me your address and loads of money, and I will send you some. And if you like the rosin, I have a wonderful original stradivari for sale (the only one that he ever made out of plastic. It is worth a fortune, but for you.... :O)
I'm sort of new to this discussion group, but I love it...so much info, and hillarious comments!
Just wanted y'all to know that "dustless rosin" is definitely available in NYC at least. I found it at the really great wholesaler, IDEAL Musical Merchandise Company, 150 W. 22nd St. in Manhattan. 212-675-5050. Everything here is really cheap, but I go directly there in person, don't know what they do about shipping things. And, don't know about the quality of the dustless rosin, just saw it there.
For some years now I have been using isopropanol for cleaning both my cello and fiddle strings. I don't advocate using surgical spirit or methylated spirits because they contains oils and other 'orrible stuff (in the case of meths), and you don't want that on the strings! The same comment applies to aftershave and perfume - be very sure that the product contains no oils and leaves no residue when it evaporates.
Isopropanol is a very pure alcohol, in the chemistry textbook sense. It is not the same substance as ordinary alcohol (ethanol), and won't do you any good at all if you ingest it! It is used for cleaning electrical components and circuit boards, and also in pharmacy and for various medical purposes. You can usually get it in pharaceutical/drug stores.
Isopropanol evaporates very quickly (it's also very flammable) and should be applied with a lint-free cloth. It will go through varnish like nobody's business, so when using it to rub the rosin off the string you should position the violin (viola/cello) so that the neck of the instrument is horizontal and the belly is at right angles to the floor. This will avoid any accidental drip from getting on the varnish. And don't let it contact the fingerboard either. Having said that, if you just dampen the cloth with the isopropanol it evaporates so quickly it is unlikely to drip. But be careful, nevertheless.
When I put on a new string I retain the old one as a spare, but I always clean it with isopropanol before storing it away.
Caveat: The above comments assume that you're using metal covered strings. Does anyone out there use uncovered gut any more (apart from the early music people who tend to play at A415)? I don't know whether isopropanol would have an adverse effect on uncovered gut - perhaps not, because it evaporates so quickly, and in any case uncovered gut violin A's are not renowned for longevity!
Rosin!
Rosin!
Funny thing not to know after four years of playing, but how much? How often? Upstrokes or down? short strokes or long? What kind? Is it "rosin" or "resin"? Why is it $2.50 at Long and McQuade and $35.00 at the dusty old fiddle maker's shop? How much is too much? How little is not enough? How do I get the dust off my fiddle? SHOULD I get the dust off my fiddle? What is it made of, anyway? What happens if I accidentally drop it into me beer? (Will it ruin the beer?) Input invited.
# Posted on October 30th 2001 by Kerri Brown
Re: Rosin!
Actually rosin is quite nutritious. It is refined from sap of coniferous trees (read "pine sap"). In a pinch, you might be able to use it to ward off scurvy (the disease, not the tipsy fellow in the pub
. Well....
it doesn't have warning lables advising *not* to eat the stuff....If you die, then you can always sue the manufacturer!
How often, how much: use it whenever your bow isn't grabbing enough. When the humidity is high(spring ,summer, fall), you need to use more, when the humidity is less, you need to use less.
I hold my bow with my thumb covering the ferrule of the frog, (that piece of silver that wraps around the hair) so that the rosin doesn't accidentally crack against it. I hate having bits of resin floating around in my case. I use as much as will stick on the hair, which tends toward a gravelly sound. After playing, I wipe the strings free of rosin, because it will rot the strings if allowed to accumulate. Further, the extra mass on the string, from accumulated resin, has an impact on the overtones produced by the strings, and the fiddle just will not sing with the strings caked in rosin. The dust on your fiddle will eventually amalgamate with the varnish, essentially damaging the finish on the fiddle. If you like the original finish on your violin, then you would do well to gently wipe the fingerboard and the body clean of resin. If you have a buildup that doesn't wipe off readily, then try a bit of vegetable oil on a soft rag. (Rosin and vegatable oil makes a great salad dressing afterward.... just kidding, don't try that at home , kids!!) The vegetable oil will not damage either a spirit varnish or an oil varnish, so it is safe to use.
Best,
Scott
# Posted on October 30th 2001 by scottythefiddler
Re: Rosin!
Kerri, there are only three reasons fiddlers use rosin at all. First, it makes a grand flourish of bowing technique and mystery when you apply it (and the fiddle isn't even out of the case yet!). Second, you get another grand flourish and mystique when rosin dust flies off your bow in the midst of some gritty (but likely accidental) staccato work when your elbow hits the edge of the table in mid stroke. And third, rosin gives us a terrific all-purpose excuse when our playing isn't up to snuff..."Ahh, t' fiddle isn't responding today. With so much/little rain in t' air, the rosin will not grip."
Some people get very fancy with their choice of rosins. I've tried a bunch, and I'd recommend W.E. Hill & Sons in the green "flexible" cover (it's a scrap of felt or polyester glued to one side of the rosin cake), or Colophane Millant-Deroux, which comes in a little plastic case. The Millant-Deroux goes on light and thin, perfect for low humidity. It gives a clean, smooth sound and can help reduce bow noise on the strings if that's a problem. The Hill is darker and seems to work better for me during higher humidity (rare here in Montana). In very humid climes, or for a really chunky sound and triplets that sound like a cougar barking up a hairball, I sometimes use Pop's bass rosin.
Try to avoid the rosins that come in the little rectangular boxes and cannot be removed. You'll soon wear a groove in the rosin, and as your bow sinks into the groove, the rosin or box sides can scratch your bow. It's best to use the round cakes and rotate them as you rosin up so you wear the top of the cake down evenly.
In general, I stick with the Millant-Deroux. It can be tricky to get a different weight of rosin to stick to the hairs once they're coated with your regular rosin. You can wipe the hairs off with a clean cloth before applying new rosin, and some people go so far as to strip all the old rosin off with alcohol--but you should be VERY CAREFUL not to get any alcohol on the stick. And it will take a while to build up another coat of rosin on the hairs after such a treatment.
Apply the rosin over the length of the bow with long strokes up and down. You might want to start with a few short strokes to build a little friction and heat so the rosin goes on easier. If you get hand oil on the hairs from your right thumb resting against them as you play (as I do), avoid the oil patch when your rosining--it's better not to spread the oil up the hairs.
Do clean all rosin off the strings and then off the fiddle top and fingerboards EVERY TIME after you play. Scotty's right about it harming the strings, tone, and varnish. According to Consumer Reports, rosin buildup on strings is one of the leading causes of inconsistent tone.
Anyone else have a recommendation on favorite brands of rosin? Anyone else have an allergy to the stuff? My sinuses go nuts after a night of breathing rosin dust. And please don't tell me I'm using too much...I rosin very lightly, usually only every second or third time I play (unless absolutely necessary). Swing and jazz fiddler Paul Anastasio uses powdered rosin and plays in a great swirling tornado of rosin dust. I imagine he has decades-old amber-encased boogers in his nose.....
On that happy thought,
Will
# Posted on October 31st 2001 by Will Harmon
Hill and Millant-Deroux
You should be able to find both these brands for under $5 a cake, and a cake will last a couple of years with proper care (no sudden temperature extremes, don't let it freeze, don't drop it on a hard surface, and don't wear grooves in it). Try www.johnsonstrings.com for good prices, or the Lief Luscombe site (see Links) in Canada.
Will
# Posted on October 31st 2001 by Will Harmon
Re: Rosin!
Thanks for the info. I can see I'll need to give my fiddle a little TLC ASAP, (FYI). I have quite a bit of build-up... I wipe it off when it occurs to me (Every couple of weeks), but there's always some that resists a gentle wipe. The oil treatment is new to me. Do you avoid the strings with this process? (I assume so) What gets rosin off the strings? A ball of very sticky raw wool came in my case and I've been using that, but it's too well loved to be any use any more, and I don't know where to get more. Under five bucks, eh, Will? I've paid as much as thirty. Can't remember what kind of rosin it was... You must mean American dollars, eh? ;-D
I'm all excited now to clean my fiddle. Gotta go!
# Posted on October 31st 2001 by Kerri Brown
Re: Rosin!
Gosh, the details that swim by without surfacing for air! I didn't even think about explaining how to cope with all that rosin.
)all over them. It's important to keep rosin off the strings where your fingers go (and off your fingers) because it makes slides and little adjustments for intonation impossible. So use a separate rag for each function, and launder them every week.
I keep two cloths in my case. One is used to wipe rosin off the fiddle, bridge-end of the fingerboard, and strings. The other cloth is reserved for wiping off the strings at the other end, where my fingers have bled (
If the rosin is really crusted onto your strings, you can wrap your thumbnail in the appropriate rag and run it against the strings to scrape the rosin off. If that doesn't work, it's way past time to replace the strings.
I've never heard of the veggie oil as cleaner. I use a special violin varnish cleaner. Seems to me the veggie oil could soak through micro-cracks in the varnish and get into the wood, which wouldn't likely help the tone any. I would avoid using raw wool on the strings for the same reason--the lanolin and oils will interact with the rosin in all the wrong ways.
I've had good luck finding low prices on rosin and strings online. I paid $50 for my first set of Evah Pirazzi strings and almost as much for a set of Obligato's (and I love 'em both), but have seen them online for as little as $35 a set, with free shipping (yes, all prices in US $).
# Posted on October 31st 2001 by Will Harmon
Re: Cleaning strings
You can also clean your strings with cotton wool dipped into either surgical spirit or your favourite aftershave/perfume - just don't get any of it on the varnish! You get cleaner strings plus the aroma of the local bordello,depending on the brand...
As for applying the rosin, I make four down and three up bows. If it's a grade A session I substitute soap for the rosin of course!
Dave
# Posted on October 31st 2001 by Götz von Berlichingen, III. Akt, Szene 17
Re: Rosin!
Rosin is one of the by-products of conifer sap, turpentine is the other. So I wouldn't yam down a hunk of the stuff. I do know that it is disolved by Alcohol & I have used alcohol to clean the gummy crud (rosin & finger gunk) that collects on the hair by the frog. It doesn't have an effect on the bow hair (as far as I have observed) in fact it seems to lengthen the life of the bow hair. I prefer the darker stuff with the felt back I don't know what brand it is.
Gentle handling & maintaining temprature is the key to having it last. One time I left the rosin in the pocket of my jacket during a cold snap, when I brought it inside it started to crack like an ice cube in a glass.
I keep my rosin tied to my case with fishing line, since I tied it on I have not lost it & it's been about a year now!
# Posted on November 1st 2001 by B Rad
Re: Rosin!
A real time and trouble saver is, when practicing I keep a small piece of cloth under the strings where the bow passes over. That way I don't have to clean the rosin off my fiddle every time I practice, I can just clean the strings and wipe any dust off the fingerboard.
Jeff
# Posted on November 1st 2001 by JeffK627
Re: Rosin!
Two very fine violin makers here in Canada have told us - to never, ever, ever use that special violin varnish cleaner. I know that it is sold readily and it does the job wonderfully. However with repeated use - it damages and dissolves the varnish. Soft cloths laundered frequently are what you are to use (flannel is best - great use for those old winter P.J.s) after every time you have finished playing the violin.
# Posted on November 1st 2001 by fiddlers3
Varnish Cleaner
I've talked with five of the most awarded violin makers in the U.S., including the only North American winner of the Cremona Competition, and they ALL recommend using a varnish cleaner. Yes, you only apply it two or three times a year, and a soft cloth is all that's needed for the daily cleaning, but a reputable varnish cleaner will save your finish from the ravages of rosin and skin oils. That said, there are some cleaners that can harm your finish. If in doubt, ask a fine maker to clean your finish for you once a year.
# Posted on November 1st 2001 by Will Harmon
Re: Rosin!
A lot of this can be solved by simply being sure to wipe your violin off every time you play. The rosin will eventually eat through your finish if you don't.
I've heard both sides of the cleaner/no cleaner argument. Some makers feel that a hard stiff finish is better for sound, and some seem to feel that a flexible finish does the wood a better job. My guess is that it's part of that fiddle mystique (or, as my guy calls it, the fiddle-lahdidah-hocus-pocus-ridiculousness. *grin*).
zls
# Posted on November 1st 2001 by Zina Lee
Re: Rosin!
P.S.
The darker the rosin, the more "grabby" it tends to be.
# Posted on November 1st 2001 by Zina Lee
Re: Rosin!
It also tastes better. Brad, you actually typed the phrase, "Yam down a chunk of it" - I may never get over that one!
My old violin teacher gave me some rosin once, it was round, VERY dark, and had a green felt-like wrapping that was permanently attached to the base of the rosin and had a built-in elastic band for closing it up. No idea what brand it was, this was over 10 years ago, but I loved the stuff!
# Posted on November 1st 2001 by JeffK627
Re: Rosin!
Oh, and Kerri -- it's "rosin" not "resin" -- "resin" is what you get out of a tree.
If you're a terrible speller, it's what you get when you dehydrate a grape. Heh.
zls
# Posted on November 1st 2001 by Zina Lee
Re: Rosin!
Jeff, that sounds like Hill dark, to me. They use the green felt wrapping with elastic. It's one of the more popular rosins on the west side of the pond, perhaps in UK too, since it's made there.
# Posted on November 1st 2001 by Will Harmon
Re: Rosin!
Jeff, the only trouble with the cloth under the strings bit is that you have to make sure to wipe under the fingerboard a ways, as the resin dust flies under there, too -- my repair guy pointed this out to me once (literally, while tch tching about the semi-permanent resin build up there!).
zls
# Posted on November 1st 2001 by Zina Lee
Re: Rosin!
Zina, yes, you still have to clean off some parts of your fiddle, but the cloth under the strings means you have a lot less to clean, and it prevents what's usually the heaviest buildup - between the bridge and the end of the fingerboard - from occurring.
Will, I'm going to try to find some Hill dark and see if that's the stuff.
Jeff
# Posted on November 2nd 2001 by JeffK627
Re: Rosin!
I'm trying to remember the name of this rosin I bought at Rock Egan's shop a bit back -- it's French, and very very light, lots of dust, a ten dollar cake. Not too terribly grabby, which I sort of miss. I *do* find that everyone likes to borrow it at sessions, because they like the way the dust flies.
Zina
# Posted on November 2nd 2001 by Zina Lee
Re: Rosin!
"Cougar barking up a hairball"....hehehehehe. Will, have you ever actually heard a cougar barking up a hairball? Does it really sound like that? Heh.
Consumer Reports did a report on violin strings? Wow.
zls
# Posted on November 2nd 2001 by Zina Lee
Re: Rosin!
What a wealth of information! I'm glad I asked the question! I didn't know there was such a thing as varnish cleaner! I never thought of putting a cloth under my strings! My god! You people are amazing! Tell me more!
# Posted on November 2nd 2001 by Kerri Brown
Re: Rosin!
Hey, any Canadian's around? I hear you guys have got a brand of dustless rosin only available in Canada. Maybe you can ship some of that down here to Texas?! Love to try it. Will might need a cake too!
# Posted on November 2nd 2001 by Caoimghgin
Re: Rosin!
Dustless rosin, sure, it's refined from the gum of the rubbermaid pine tree. (species: dusticus pinesoleicus). We use it for polishing hardwood floors and everything, and in the winter, we freeze big disks of them and use them for hockey pucks. In the summer, we play frisbee with them, and when we get tired of that, we mix a little ground beef with them and throw them on the barbeeqoo. YUM YUM, reel good.
Unfortunately the rubbermaid pine is the favourite habitat of the 7-footed caterpillar which eats the bark of the trees. Hence local supplies have been dwindling in recent years, and the price of the dustless rosin has gone through the roof! If you want some, I can scrape the grill of the bar-b-q for you. I suspect that there is several hundred dollars worth encrusted on it. Send me your address and loads of money, and I will send you some. And if you like the rosin, I have a wonderful original stradivari for sale (the only one that he ever made out of plastic. It is worth a fortune, but for you.... :O)
# Posted on November 2nd 2001 by scottythefiddler
Re: Rosin!
Never heard of it, caoimghghin. (And by this I mean dustless rosin, not Canada). Sorry.
# Posted on November 3rd 2001 by Kerri Brown
Re: Rosin!
I'm sort of new to this discussion group, but I love it...so much info, and hillarious comments!
Just wanted y'all to know that "dustless rosin" is definitely available in NYC at least. I found it at the really great wholesaler, IDEAL Musical Merchandise Company, 150 W. 22nd St. in Manhattan. 212-675-5050. Everything here is really cheap, but I go directly there in person, don't know what they do about shipping things. And, don't know about the quality of the dustless rosin, just saw it there.
Cheers all,
Ann
# Posted on November 4th 2001 by Annmurphy
Re: Cleaning strings
For some years now I have been using isopropanol for cleaning both my cello and fiddle strings. I don't advocate using surgical spirit or methylated spirits because they contains oils and other 'orrible stuff (in the case of meths), and you don't want that on the strings! The same comment applies to aftershave and perfume - be very sure that the product contains no oils and leaves no residue when it evaporates.
Isopropanol is a very pure alcohol, in the chemistry textbook sense. It is not the same substance as ordinary alcohol (ethanol), and won't do you any good at all if you ingest it! It is used for cleaning electrical components and circuit boards, and also in pharmacy and for various medical purposes. You can usually get it in pharaceutical/drug stores.
Isopropanol evaporates very quickly (it's also very flammable) and should be applied with a lint-free cloth. It will go through varnish like nobody's business, so when using it to rub the rosin off the string you should position the violin (viola/cello) so that the neck of the instrument is horizontal and the belly is at right angles to the floor. This will avoid any accidental drip from getting on the varnish. And don't let it contact the fingerboard either. Having said that, if you just dampen the cloth with the isopropanol it evaporates so quickly it is unlikely to drip. But be careful, nevertheless.
When I put on a new string I retain the old one as a spare, but I always clean it with isopropanol before storing it away.
Caveat: The above comments assume that you're using metal covered strings. Does anyone out there use uncovered gut any more (apart from the early music people who tend to play at A415)? I don't know whether isopropanol would have an adverse effect on uncovered gut - perhaps not, because it evaporates so quickly, and in any case uncovered gut violin A's are not renowned for longevity!
# Posted on October 3rd 2002 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Rosin!
is there any substitution for rosin?
# Posted on May 15th 2008 by Nicole s
Re: Rosin!
The only thing I'm aware of is a synthetic rosin made by Super Sensitive called "Clarity."
Click on this link to Johnson Strings and scroll to near the bottom of the page (a long ways down): http://www.johnsonstring.com/cgi-bin/accessorysearch/accessorysearch.cgi?select1=RN&instrument=VN
# Posted on May 15th 2008 by Will Harmon