Cello rosin for Violin rosin?

December 23, 2016 at 09:02 PM · It will not hurt violin bow hair to use cello rosin. It may gunk it up a little faster, but if you clean your strings every time you put your fiddle away you should be OK.

Also, keep an eye on your bow hair to be sure it is not gunning up too much, but you should be able to tell just by whether your sound departs from what you want.

I don't know what "green" cello rosin is. I have used many cello rosins (and violin rosins) - dozens and a couple have been green, but without a brand name I just don;t know.

The rosin friction between hair and string varies with a lot of factors including bow "pressure." bow speed, temperature and humidity and the amount of rosin used and the length of time since last rosining. Basically (grossly stated) there ares two friction types: "static friction" while the hair is gripping the string toward its maximum displacement, and "sliding friction" while the string moves under its elastic restoring force in the direction opposite to that the bow pulled it - and then when it stops the bow grabs it again. The greater the static friction force, the further the bow will pull the string and the greater the potential volume of sound produced. The lower the sliding friction, the further the string will rebound in the opposite direction to produce that potentially large volume of sound. Higher sliding friction will retard the rebounding string, reducing the volume of sound produced. I think the ideal rosin for maximum sound would have the greatest difference between the static and sliding friction coefficients, but the playability of an instrument might be negatively affected if such a rosin required extra human forces to play in those realms. For non-subtle music genres, rosins in those realms might not be a problem, but for sweeter music types it might be more difficult to properly taper one's sound.

This is all conjecture on my part; I've done the thinking but not the math.

December 23, 2016 at 10:01 PM · Until recently I've been using on my violins a dark cello rosin I bought in the early '90s, when my cello playing was busy. The cake has now been retired because it's getting too thin for comfort; I've replaced it with a dark violin rosin, Pirastro Schwartz, which is fairly close in most respects to that old cello rosin.

December 24, 2016 at 12:15 AM · A question for our two famous cellists Trevor and Andrew, what would your opinion be of Pop's Bass Rosin for a violin. This brand has attracted me for quite some time but I didn't want to waste my money on another cake of rosin to sit with the rest of the colleftion of them, unless one of you guys said maybe it would work.

December 24, 2016 at 12:22 AM · It's the pirastro cello rosin I believe it had a green sticker in it referring to the "green" cello rosin

December 24, 2016 at 12:22 AM · It's the pirastro cello rosin I believe it had a green sticker in it referring to the "green" cello rosin

December 24, 2016 at 01:53 AM · It may be Jade, a green, "hypoallergenic" rosin. If so, here is a thread on Jade rosin:

http://www.maestronet.com/forum/index.php?/topic/100789-anyone-familiar-with-jade-rosin/

December 24, 2016 at 04:56 AM · I would not use bass rosin on a violin or cello. I never have but I imagine it's like walking through slush.

December 26, 2016 at 11:34 PM · I tried bass rosin on my violin: it was just as Trevor said!

December 27, 2016 at 12:30 AM · Thank you guys. At least I am not the only one to think of a weird notion.

December 27, 2016 at 12:47 AM · joshua,--

I sometimes use Hidersine cello rosin on my violin or viola bows for both orchestra and Mariachi. It's stickier, and gives a bass coating and can extend the life of the hair. Cheap violin rosin is frequently too hard. Also; for Mariachi; try the Helicore strings.

--Joel Quivey, (ex-M. los Camperos,Uclatlan, Sol de Mexico.)