Rosins
What kinds of rosin does everyone like to use? Please comment about the following: Bernadel Colophane, Colophane Jade Rosin, Moytra Gold, Andrea Bang Paganini Solo, Dominant, and Hidersine.
Replies (47)
I too use Goldflex, but looking for something a little more sticky. Going to try Jade or Andrea Bang's rosin.
I've found the Tartini rosins (precursors to the Bang) to be good stuff; goes a long way, produces little dust, pulls a good tone. I suspect formulation of the Bang rosins to be similar to the Tartini.
I use Bernadel Colophane. It is a great rosin that has worked on every bow I have ever tried it on.
I lean towards the dark rosins. I'm going to be trying out a set of Eudoxa strings and may give the Olive/Evah or Eudoxa (if they make a Eudoxa rosin) a try. I have been useing AB dark/cello rosin and it really draws out a great tone from the set of Passione strings I have on my violin now.
My apologies, but what are you looking for, Sean? Did you want the responses to be limited to the brands you listed, what rosin we enjoy using, or which rosin we enjoy most (if we use those brands of rosin you listed)?
I have only ever used two different kinds of rosin. Hill Dark, and the Paganini Solo. (Aside from cheap mini rosin.)
I did a comparison test with my bow and violin to really feel the difference between them.
Before trying each rosin, I wiped the strings down and cleaned the bow hair so that when I tried to play, the only thing I heard was the whispy glide of the hairs on the strings. (Using medium dominants with a Jargar Forte steel E)
The Hill Dark is a great rosin and I like to use it on my secondary bows for practice. However, the Paganini really has a pull to it and it brings out a big sound in comparison to Hill Dark. The only issue is that you really have to find just the right amount of it to put on. It powders like crazy if you put on too much (which is not hard to do with this particular rosin) and if you don't use enough, you're missing out on gripping power. I also found that I have to wipe the strings much more often while playing with Andrea Bang rosin because it quickly deadens the strings. This is especially true if you put too much.
After a bit of experimentation, I've found the perfect amount to put on the bow. Generally I put just a little bit too much, then lightly wipe off the excess. This leaves just the right amount of it on the bow hair, without stripping too much of it off during the wipe. This is especially useful for exdended play. If I ever want the security of extra grip for a short amount of time, I tend to leave more of the excess rosin. (I never put on so much that it impairs my bowing, so I don't mean excess in that sense.)
I really like grip and power, so even though I've only tried two rosins I'm going to guess that I prefer dark rosins. I wish I could try Tartini. : / I also would like to get Super-Sensitive Clarity Rosin. A friend let me try it once and it produced a nice sweet tone.
How would you compare cello rosin to violin rosin on violin strings? I'm guessing they're essentially the same stuff.
I use Andrea Bang Paganini Solo for about half a year now and it works nice, to bad it's like 24 bucks where I buy it but I prefer it more then my Salchow rosin which I enjoy more on my wooden bow. I have 2 violin cakes of tartini that I also bought because I heard they were discontinued so I bought some to later compare to Bang's rosin.
Vincent,
How would you compare the two, Tartini Solo vs Paganini?
Gold & Silver Colophane 2000. Very well-rounded.
I currently use Hill dark
My preferred rosins are the Tartini or Andrea SYMPHONY (not solo). I use the different ones for violin and cello (actualy for viola too). I o not like the feel of the Solo rosins (nor did I like Tartini Green, for the long haul), but my SF Bay Area climate may account for some of the difference and my preferences.
I had troubles with Pirastro GoldFlex, when I used it some years ago. I liked the sound and feel, but my eyes were very sensitive to the dust of that particular rosin (from violin bows - no troulbe on my cello bows). This was before I upgraded myself to the Liebenzeller (metalized) rosins - no sensitivity to them. But after the Tartini rosins came to the US, there was no going back for me.
Andy
Just FYI I also have Eudoxa rosin, but for the feel and sound I prefer the Goldflex. Eudoxa produce less clarity but also less noise, and less grip than the Goldflex (on my Del Gesu model violin on Dominant strings, same to both wooden/Arcus bow).
However, as mentioned by other members, you'll see it snowing a little sometime - it's either snowing, or not enough rosin.
This may be a completely different discussion, but here's another question:
When trying differnt rosins, how do you clean the bow hair so the next rosin you try is not affected by the old rosin in the hair?
I have always had bad results when trying to change rosin, primarily because the bow did not get clean enough, so each successive rosin seemed worse than the one before it. Maybe it was, but I think my process was the primary culprit.
When I can't get Baker's rosin the Melos rosins are superb.
Roland - Unless the bow hair has got other stuffs on it like a spill or pick up dirts and dusts, I don't clean my bow just to try out different rosins. Personally I don't think it's much of a problem, but I won't put on other rosins until the current rosins on the bow become less a harder to produce sound.
Kaplan Light Rosin is great!
i no that hidersine has kind of gotten a bad rep, but the new formula is great and I've been using it for 2 years.
Just for kicks & giggles I bought a cake of Sherman's Dark Rosin, what the elementry kids use. I gave it a decent try, but there is a definitly better sound with higher quality rosins! I had Andrea's Tartini (the old stuff) and it wasn't bad but it didn't live up to my expectations, however the other side of the coin is the violin that I have and how much the instrument affects the rosin and vise versa!
Melos and Bakers are the real McCoy
Interesting. I've been using Kolstein rosin for years. I appear to be the onliest one! (I've used bernadel, hill, and oliv - but I like Kolstein.)
I experimented for the last decade using various rosins, alternating and switching back and forth to find the perfect rosin tone. As it is recommended to alternate shampoos to cleanse the palette I do the same for my strings.
I had tried expensive European named rosins, with all the hype I too had Tartini and experimented with all the Andrea spinoffs I was satisfied with most if the products but started to hear people stocking up on Tartini because they discontinued the name I was told under same Korean manufacture (Andrea Bang umbrella) and thought it was a very good marketing hype (get it before it’s gone) Its a good product but by no means superior when comparing apples to apples its not necessarily the price tag or name that makes it better. A couple years ago I stumbled on to few quality American made rosins, I asked the store clerk to suggest some quality rosins and he said his preference was Motrya Gold he said it was high in performance but alot cheaper, I found it to be a great find, when applied it has a deep, smooth, rich sound. I agreed, (under-rated) outstanding product. During the search I also discovered Supersensitive Pro&Clarity, hypoallergenic, minimal dust, sweet sound, these products have become my favorite staples and in the lower price range Sherman rosins. All just as good if not better products made in our own home-front.
I support wholesome American products rather than cut corner asian products with fancy european names. That not only goes for rosin but in general- violins & accessories too. I would never choose to buy Chinese mass produced violin. Just not the investment I want to make.
1. Royal Oak "Profil."
2. Unknown rich dark rosin in a green plastic cylindrical container. Very sticky.
Salchow makes an unbelievable cake of rosin. Motrya Gold is my first runner-up.
Eric
Hill Light, on both violin and viola. Works well, and not too expensive. :)
I use Pirastro Oliv/Evah, and I had previously used Salchow and Paganini rosin.
The Salchow rosin was very good, but didn't give me enough bite. The Paganini had a good feel, but produced way too much dust, and decreased the overall sensitivity of my bow hair. The Oliv rosin I currently use is currently the best I've ever tried.
I'm partial to Hill Dark. It pulls more sound than light rosins. Salchow is even better, though it does make a lot of dust.
For about the last 9 years or so, I've been using Jade L'Opera rosin and I just love it. It produces a minimum amount of dust, has a great grip, but also gives a lovely smooth sound. I'm very happy with the product and see/hear no reason to change at the moment.
Anyone know what rosin Hilary Hahn and James Ehnes use?
http://vimeo.com/artistled/videos/sort:newest
David Finkel, cellist, proposes using much more rosin than I've ever heard proposed before and very frequent cleaning of the strings with a "scouring pad" to compensate for the negative effects of it. His short "lesson videos" filmed all over the world during his recital tour with his wife, pianost Wu Han, have useful insights for violinists as well.
Andy
I've used Motrya gold, Salchow, Libenzeller gold, Andrea bang's Paganini solo and Melos dark and light .. id recomend MELOS since they recomend you can blend the the dark and light versions to customize your own grip and the sound is pretty lush.. Although there is some fine rosin dust that builds its easily removed with and dosent attatch
Thought I should just post this question here since its about rosins.
I'm not sure if this has been mentioned before, but has anyone tried playing with as little rosin as possible? I thought I read about it somewhere on this forum. I had to try and find a way to make the Paganini Solo's grip and warmth useful without it biting into the strings and caking all over the place. (I'll be ordering the Symphony version next to see what it's all about.)
Recently I've tried putting on some rosin and then wiping off as much of it as possible. The bow hair almost has the transparancy of fresh bow hair but with some streaks of rosin in it. It's just enough so that a clear tone can be drawn from lightly pulling the bow across any string, only there is no bite at the begining of the note, it just seems to smoothly appear out of nothingness. (Bite should be possible if needed though.) If it produces whispy sounds it probably needs just a tiny bit more rosin. I've found transitions from up to down bows to be much cleaner and the overal tone is smooth and rich. It seems like with just enough rosin, it allows the strings to vibrate more freely as well.
Maybe I've just been rosining all wrong.
Any advice on this?
I'm certainly no expert on the subject, but I've found that the type and amount of rosin used can make a huge difference in tone production. When I used Tartini solo (known for its strong bite) I noticed that frequent very light applications worked better for me than less frequent heavier applications in terms of avoiding a too gritty sound, especially on gut stings (for which Tartini may not be the best choice). I'm assuming Tartini solo and Paganini solo are similar in properties but have never tried the latter. I recently switched to Baker's original and am truly in love.
ab
Brian,
the same with me. I used Salchow, but I didn't like the squeaking sound it made when freshly applied. Now I use Evah and it's great.
I've tried a lot of the ones listed. I liked Paganini rosin best.
Now I use Melos. It's all-natural and it rocks. :)
hi guys,
I use synthetic (on Blondie) and wrapped gut (on Schweitzer) and have tried several rosins. I just got my first order of Bakers. Great draw and my mild mannered fiddles got loud, got colorful, and no dust! I tossed the others.
C
Shhhhhh,
Keep that Bakers quiet, I have an order on its way as well
Here's another vote for the Andrea Symphony Rosin for violin. Just got my block and it's the loudest, clearest, low dust, longest lasting rosin I've ever used.
My rosin preference depends on which violin I'm playing. I prefer Hidersine with my Bellafina -- she's a fairly quiet violin, and the Hidersine rosin tends to bring out more depth and volume. I like Clarity better with my old German conservatory violin. He'll never be accused of being quiet, and Clarity seems to mellow/sweeten his tone. I haven't tried any of the other rosins that were mentioned.
I've changed rosins since my last post... I switched to Bernardel for about half a year, then I used Andrea Bang's Violin Solo rosin for another half year. Now I use Baker's rosin, and can't really use anything else. I prefer Baker's Original, but I only have the Citron formulation right now.
I received from someone a lightly used 12-year-old cake of Hidersine Dark. At the rate I play it will take another 12 years to put a dent in it. But the fiddle & bow seem to respond favorably, so I'll keep using until it no longer makes sense. :)
It's Baker's for me.
gc
I've been using the same cake of rosin for my cello for well over 10 years, and another cake for my violins for the last 10 years. I think they may be Pirastro and/or Kaplan, but I'm not absolutely sure. Anyway, one is dark and the other is lighter. I expect they'll last another 10 years, at least. I gave an older cake of cello rosin to my daughter about 20 years ago; I believe she's still using it.
Baker's is magical.
DB
Guillaume in the past three years. Loud, but still qualitative. Now I am experimenting with the Stradivari one (the case the shape of a Strad). So far, so good. Andrea Bang and Motrya were a bit harsh for my violin.
I sound the same whatever rosin I use. I've even used cello rosin in orchestra when I've been stuck without any. I think they are roughly the same and all over priced and over rated.
Peter, I'm on the same wave-length. I've swapped my rosins round so often over the years that I don't know now which is the cello one. Not that it matters, because I'm sparing in my use of the stuff (once a week, perhaps?)
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June 20, 2009 at 05:32 PM ·
I use the 'Goldflex' rosin, from Pirastro. I love it - some dust, but I wipe down my instrument after every practice session. I've also used Pirastro 'Oliv - Evah' that worked nicely though, as well as 'Melos' (didn't enjoy it as much).