Welcome to our forum. A Message To Our New and Prospective Members . Check out our Forum Rules. Lets keep this forum an enjoyable place to visit.
Private messaging is working again.
Log In
Register
Home
Topic RSS
(6 votes) 
Regulars
Offline
I just rosined my bow with Hidersine 6V (very dark violin rosin) after not bothering for 4 or 5 days, and it sounds horrible. Too gritty and crunchy. Do people find that initially, maybe if you put too much rosin on, you need to work off the excess?
I shall be keen to see how it wears off, and I'll wonder about using a more medium amber rosin instead, like the 3V.
Andrew
Verified human - the ignominy!
Regulars
Offline
I only use 3-4 bow strokes across the rosin cake at a time.
If you over-rosin, you can always remove some of the excess from your bow hairs with a clean cloth.
Regulars
Offline
Yes, I found a twoset video that said don't over-rosin. I didn't realise I was over-rosining!
Andrew
Verified human - the ignominy!
Offline
Well, the main issue with over rosining is the mess. Some people don't want too much grab but I like as much grab as possible. If you are sensitive to a grainy sound that usually disappears very quickly when the excess rosin flies off. The build-up on the strings and the bridge can eventually affect the sound if you don't wipe up regularly.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
Advanced member
Offline
I've had a problem myself with not knowing if I use too much or too little rosin. I think it's both. For a long while lately I've had a very crunchy sound that I've absolutely hated. Been thinking it's me who just can't produce a good clean tone.
The other day when i was rosining I noticed that it felt like it dragged a bit in the middle of the bow and decided to take a cloth and wipe it all off real well. Wiped all rosin off and kept wiping it until it felt like it had the same even friction the entire bow. I tried it straight after and was still making sound, and it was a lot better. Reapplied some and still sound a lot better. (I still don't feel it's a good sound though lol) So I will probably be wiping my bow completely clean from time to time from now on.
Member
Offline
I always use only two-three bow and remove excess of bow.
Regulars
Offline
@Bella86
If you're still not totally happy with the results from dry wiping your bow hair, consider giving them a bath:
It's was intimidating when I first tried but brought terrific results. I felt like I was rosining a freshly rehaired bow afterwards.
Tip One: After the 3 baths (I used isopropyl alcohol, not acetone) and 5 minutes drying time, the hairs were a bit stiff and sticking together. I combed them gently with a soft toothbrush and was delighted with the final result.
Tip Two (obvious): Keep the alcohol or acetone away from anything on your bow that's not the bow hair! 
Regulars
Offline
Using solvents sounds a bit heavy-handed to me. I've got some acetone - I used it to get some glue from a label off a tape-measure the other day - the first 4" of that tape measure is now blank, white fibre-glass, lol! 
As @Fiddlerman says, too much rosin quickly wears off with playing, and I'll use a dry cloth if I want to remove excess even quicker.
Andrew
Verified human - the ignominy!
Regulars
Offline
Agree... acetone or isopropyl alcohol is a pretty heavy handed cleaning method. But I was in a sticky place with my bow hair and took what I felt was a risk. Worked out fine but not planning on doing that frequently
Advanced member
Offline
@bocaholly I'm not game to start taking my bow apart. I'm sure it's easy but with my luck I'd break something. And I think you were right with using isopropyl alcohol instead of acetone. The bottle he has look like Gripen Aceton which comes in 2 versions, one of them contains oil. So I sure hope he used the one without LOL
I think i'll stick to cloths and maybe try toothbrush at some point and leave the solvents for desperate times!
Offline
In my whole (long, long) life, I have never bathed my bow hair. I haven't even heard of a professional violinist who has done it.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
Honorary advisor
Regulars
Offline
Fiddlerman said
In my whole (long, long) life, I have never bathed my bow hair. I haven't even heard of a professional violinist who has done it.
It’s on the Internet. And as you know, the Internet is a wealth of misinformation. LOL!!!
Anyone who is considering this, or any method of care for your instrument... I have only this advise... talk to a professional before attempting anything you are not sure of or have not already gone over with your luthier or violin shop. This is your instrument. It is not an arbitrary object to experiment a new cleaning method on, with chemicals and home remedies that could harm the instrument or the finish.
Personally, I put too much money and care into my violin to start trying out internet solutions on it.
- Pete -
Regulars
Offline
I try out internet solutions all the time 
In the case of giving my bow hair an alcohol bath, I figured the worst that would happen is that I'd have to get it prematurely re-haired. It's a carbon fiber bow, though, so no danger of ruining the wooden stick. By the way, it's not just one nut on the web discussing this method.
Some just use lint free swipes (alternating swipes drenched in alcohol and dry swipes 4 to 5 times consecutively.) One violin maker suggested warm, soapy water baths (but you really have to avoid getting the tip and frog wet and expect longer drying time than with alcohol.)
OK, done beating my dead horse 
Offline
I'm not saying that you shouldn't do it, just that I haven't done it. I guess I splurged and got re-hairs too often.
Also, my colleagues didn't do it, as far as I know.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
Regulars
Offline
I find too much rosin to be as bad as too little (perhaps worse, since it's easier to add rosin than to remove it). Coupled to quite dry air, my sound almost drove me crazy several times, to the point of making me stop playing altogether a few days and consider stopping forever (i'm extreme like that 
I tried (carefully) swiping the hair with alcohol to remove the excess rosin once. It sure is effective, it didn't damage anything, I'd do it again if absolutely needed, but I'd rather not if I can avoid it.
Regulars
Offline
Two things. Picture restorers never use anything but distilled water, afaik. (just a caveat)
And 30 years ago I did a lot of oil painting and stuff and I was with a friend once and we had given a large wash to a piece of paper, and she used a bristle brush to paint neat bleach onto the paper. After about a minute the brush's bristles had completely dissolved.
Hair is a natural substance and chemicals don't necessarily agree with it.
Oh, a third thing - alcohol dissolves protein.
Andrew
Verified human - the ignominy!
Offline
Everyone has a right to their opinion and every opinion is worth consideration. I've never over-rosined any of my bows or felt like a bow had too much rosin to use. Good to know that others have.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
Honorary advisor
Regulars
Offline
@Fiddlerman , How can one over rosin a bow? synthetics might be different, but if your drawing across a wound string, that would pull excess rosin from the bow hair. If a person believed they had over rosined, wouldn't it be easier to just pluck the hairs on the backside of the bow hair and let the rosin powder fall off?
Before you think I may be enlightened, my 76 year old fiddle playing uncle is up from Mississippi saying very colorfully that you can't over rosin a bow. Sometimes, you want to change from a light to a dark rosin depending on where you're at or what the weather is doing and you pluck at the strings and just wipe at it with a cloth diaper. that it doesn't have to be perfect, just has to be.
Also said to tell you he really likes this Legend. Sounds good for new wood.
Regulars
Offline
Many fiddle styles actually want the crunchy sound that classical players avoid. It's a stylistic choice.
At least for me as a violist using dark rosin, the rosin doesn't come off the bow hairs without physical contact with something, and when it does, it builds up on the strings. If I feel my sound is too gritty, I wipe the strings and the bow hairs with a dry cloth. Also, plucking at the bow hairs is inadvisable because the oils on your fingers need to stay off the hair. Oily bow hair doesn't hold rosin at all.
1 Guest(s)
Mouse
Fiddlerman
ELCBK
Jols
Strabo
