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I notice I have to use the rosin a bit more often on hot humid days. Since I use a dark rosin, from all I've heard, I kind of expected that I would use less of it than I did in cooler less humid weather.
Is that typical, or is it some other thing going on, like maybe the bow hair getting a bit worn and maybe a tiny bit smoother from having been played for a few months?
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
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I know the humidity is jackin with my stuff too! Although it's not the humidity of the East coast, for CA 60% is pretty unusual. My violin is going out of tune almost as I'm playing it and my bow seems to be acting differently too. Who knows,,, but the only thing different has been the humididity!
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I started practicing and playing back in January of this year, the wetest months usually and of course humidity was high and temps were low. I used the dark rosin then and now that summer is here and lately the humidity has been down to >20%, I use a lighter colored rosin, harder... that seems to play better and last longer.
I suspect the info is true that dark is for winter and light is for summer.
"If you practice with your hands you must practice all day. Practice with your mind and you can accomplish the same amount in minutes." Nathan Milstein
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Hahaha Fred, I love it!
"my violin is going out of tune as I play it"...
So all my bum notes are a direct result of the humidity. Therefore if I lived in Iceland I'd be as best 
as the bestest!
I am amazed at how old people of my age are.....
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I was just waiting for that wise-ass crack from you Terry, HAAAAAAAAAA! Yes, that's what I've been using as my excuse this week, lmao!
Hey, how've you been buddy,,, staying dry and missing the "black cab lockout" I hope.
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ftufc said
I was just waiting for that wise-ass crack from you Terry, HAAAAAAAAAA! Yes, that's what I've been using as my excuse this week, lmao!
Hey, how've you been buddy,,, staying dry and missing the "black cab lockout" I hope.
Hey Fred, being Semi-dry!
What's this about the black cabs? Not gone on strike have they?
We have the Jamaican and Chinese teams heading to Birmingham, we are going to 'look after them' whilst they are here!
I am amazed at how old people of my age are.....
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Well, the lighter colored rosin I have around is the crap stuff that came with my violins, so i usually figure I'm better off staying with the Hill dark I usually use.
But yeah, I like the theory.. Any off notes are just because of the humidity. Yeah! That's the ticket..
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
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Yeah Terry, the jackasses are blocking as many thoroughfares as possible in London, striking because they're not allowed to use the "mass transit" lanes, claiming they won't make as much money as they thought they would, wtf!
You're town is hosting the Jamaicans man? Nice!
This actually is in exact (well kinda) alignment with a thread I was wanting to start last night..... I've been a HUGE fan of Reggae music most of my life, and on my way home last night, while listening to "The Joint" (Satellite Reggae station,,, yeah, joint as in doobie), the thought came to my head,,, is there a Reggae bow stroke, you know like the fiddle shuffle stroke, that is used to play Reggae violin.
ANYONE KNOW?
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Can't say as I know for sure, Fred. But you might like this bit that I ran across the other night.. I had to fave this.
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
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Thanks Daniel, that is awesome. But the fiddle doesn't incorporate any Reggae type rhythm or bow stroke; they've just turned a great Reggae song into a Bluegrass song. It just seems strange to me that other instruments clearly incorporate a distinct Reggae technique, but apparently not so for the violin/fiddle.
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Thanks Kevin, Ziggy's definitely the Kingston Star, but I don't see no violin in this vid,,, I'm now on a quest,,, help!
You're absolutely right Kevin,,,, so sorry to sidetrack,,,, back to rosin and temp!
Dennis,, I have to agree with you about the summer and winter rosin's. I just switched back to the light rosin today. The dark seems to stick to the strings much more than the light. I still get rosin build-up but it's not so severe with light rosin.
If ya wipe off the rosin with a dry cloth, as many do, you think you have all the rosin removed from the strings, but when you run your finger down the strings between the fingerboard and the bridge you can feel resistance and stickyness still on the strings. It's much more noticeable with the dark rosin. Now I'm wiping my strings with alcohol at least once a day in the hot weather, sometimes more than that. If I keep playing it's not so bad as if I stop for awhile and start again, the rosin tend's to harden which creates a lot of resistance and causes the sratchyness of the sound. I'm having to tune more frequently now with the high humidity than I do in winter months.
How much does it really effect the sound with rosin building up on the strings? Should we be crazzy about cleaning the strings or just wipe off the clumps?
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A trick I leaned recently from an old acquaintance who plays upright bass and cello is that you can take off the rosin that builds up on the strings by rubbing them with a cork. The rosin seems to like sticking to cork better than strings. I've been doing that the past couple weeks and it actually does seem to take it off well. You might get a few crumbs of cork on the instrument, but you can just blow or brush those off.
I don't want to contradict experienced advice here, so I will mention that he plays gut strings and maybe there is a difference. But he felt it isn't the best idea to use alcohol to get rosin off the strings because some of the rosin that dissolves could soak down into the core and harden which would change the sound of the strings. He might be wrong on that as well, just putting the idea up for whatever it is worth.
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
My thoughts exactly. When I do clean my strings I use and alcohol prep pad which has so little alcohol in it. I have heard of others soaking their strings in alcohol but I am afraid of what it might do to the perlon core. Alcohol has a tendency to dry every out.
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I use 170-180 proof alcohol, (dont ask me where I get it.) on a paper towel, which I just hold at the mouth of the jar and tip it over to wet the cloth. Then folding it a couple of times I'm able to slip the towel between the strings and using my fingers kinda wrap it around each string and take a pass up and back on the string. All clean.
It happens so fast I doubt that there is a significant, if any at, amount of rosin that is dissolved and soaked into the string. Mine are the Zyex on the German and Dominants on the K500. Neither one shows any problems.
Cleaning does improve the sound. The bowhair is able to easily grab the string in a more consistent manner than if there's a buildup of rosin on there.
I should probably do a short vid with a lot of rosin buildup on the strings, do a sound analysis chart and then clean it really well and duplicate the test so it can be see.
Ahh, if I only had more time... just not enough hours in the day...
"If you practice with your hands you must practice all day. Practice with your mind and you can accomplish the same amount in minutes." Nathan Milstein
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When I first got my violin I was so overwhelmed with all the info on how to care for it... I sort of wipe the strings... every few times I play.... I don't clean them. On my first lesson my teacher cleaned them with alcohol and cleaned my violin with some cleaner she got from Shar..... When I am in doubt I tend to do nothing.... hummmmmmm
Vibrato Desperato.... Desperately seeking vibrato
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cdennyb said
I use 170-180 proof alcohol, (dont ask me where I get it.) on a paper towel, which I just hold at the mouth of the jar and tip it over to wet the cloth. Then folding it a couple of times I'm able to slip the towel between the strings and using my fingers kinda wrap it around each string and take a pass up and back on the string. All clean.
It happens so fast I doubt that there is a significant, if any at, amount of rosin that is dissolved and soaked into the string. Mine are the Zyex on the German and Dominants on the K500. Neither one shows any problems.
Cleaning does improve the sound. The bowhair is able to easily grab the string in a more consistent manner than if there's a buildup of rosin on there.
I should probably do a short vid with a lot of rosin buildup on the strings, do a sound analysis chart and then clean it really well and duplicate the test so it can be see.
Ahh, if I only had more time... just not enough hours in the day...
You would have plenty of time if you didn't use it all up drinking 180proof!
I am amazed at how old people of my age are.....
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