no more tartini rosin...
http://www.absss.com/
No explanation given, just that Tartini rosin will no longer be produced and a count of the remaining inventory at the bottom of the page.
Replies (66)
Ok, so how long does rosin last? If I buy some to horde, does it ever "go bad", or can I save it in a drawer until I'm 95 years old and then expect it to be as effective as it is today?
Rosin lasts like 5 years... I had the same cake of rosin for about 3 years but then one day I lost it... if you use it evenly (don't only go along one groove), then it lasts for a long long time. The thing is, there's more than one premium rosin out there, it's just that Tartini is the best known.
Motrya is cheaper and better.
How is it better? I haven't tried many rosins but I like(d) the tartini stuff because I only had to put some on about once every 5 or 6 practice sessions and even then it doesn't take much. Plus there's very little dust that gets on the instrument with the tartinis stuff.
I like the Royal Oak. It also does not make much dust and doesn't need to be used much.
The new chunk of it is dark instead of light, but I haven't needed enough of it to tell a difference!
P.S.
Is that a violinchix I see on the ABSSS.com site?:)
maybe if we ambush them with emails, they'll bring it back?
this is terrible! the stuff was really good!
on a side note, rosin lasts a long time if you keep it in a truly air-tight container. rosin loses its 'stickiness' by drying out. if you can stop it from drying out, you've got yourself a long-lasting solution~
I had tartini and it made some dust with me and was ok but my teacher suggested motrya and I think it makes less dust and has a better grip while not choking. I don't use it that much and only put a little and it does a nice job. With tartini I found myself sometimes either slipping or choking but whatever it's just rosin.
Come now, it's not 'just rosin'. It's another thing for us to hyper-analyze and discuss in nauseating detail! Get with the program!
Details:
It has pixie dust in it. I was told that the reason Tartini rosin is so good is due to the Pixie dust, and that a galaxy-wide strike by Pixies is to blame.
Apparently there has been trouble brewing with the Pixies ever since the Fairies began serving as consultants to the petrochemical industry. The result is an artificial synthetic rosin which outperforms the natural stuff and causes no alergic reactions (but which is nonethemess known by the state of California to cause cancer).
So it is a feud among cousins--Pixies and Fairies.
Apparently the Pixies are looking for major concessions from the rosin producers--the main one being that all petrochemically derived rosins produce a dividend, payable to the Pixies International equivalent to 100% of pre-tax benefits and 30% of salary at the rate of 1 Pixie-day for each 5 metric tonnes of rosin produced.
The Fairies have objected strongly saying that this would in effect bew a form of extortion.
Apparently the Tartini company has major invlovement in the prodcution of specialized artists resin blends in which a blend of Fairy Dust (not Pixie Dust) and petrochemicals are blended with natural resins. The revenue from this operation is reputedly 10 times greater than that of the Tartini rosin...
I've seen this on other web sites, but I still can't believe it. Are you sure it isn't a scam?
It's real. Customers found out it was made from bunny rabbits.
Being of a somewhat paranoid frame of mind, my first (baseless) fear was that the Tartini folks were discovered to have been putting some incredibly toxic substance in the rosin -- lead perhaps -- and were shutting down ahead of legal action.
Not lead, rabbits. Scroll up.
Doesnt rosin with gold dust (ie. moytra) leave a behind extra abrasive dust?
have you tried it? Is it as smoother and dusts less than tartini? Ive never tried rosins with metallic dust in it, Ive always steered clear of those.
The "gold dust" is a ploy to get yo to spend. It is fool's gold.
The real stuff is the pixie dust.
Hi,
Rosin with metallic dusts can actually harm the varnish if left on for too long. Some swear by them, some don't.
For me, I have a preference for the rosin by William Salchow from NYC. It is excellent and has three qualities that I look for: Tracks well, doesn't build up on the fiddle, doesn't build up on the strings (so little dust).
I have heard that Tartini was very good. It's too bad. I wonder what happened...
Cheers!
I second about Salchow. I only use that.
I did order some of the Tartini rosin to put away and open it up 20 years from now.... just to say I got some of the last.
Salchow is better than Tartini.
If you clean it off then it should be fine... I just know motrya is very good.
I use Hill rosin, and I won't go back to anything else.
Hill rosin has that nice little bag with the drawstring. It makes me feel like I am prince Hal, pulling out my purse to get 2s-3d to pay for dinner with Falstaff &c.
Greetings,
what you need to do is find some real stinky old violin case and stick a cake of Tartinin rosin in the sands of Malibu. Then in about two hundred years some rather eccentric Asian character will find it and start selling it in Strad magazine as the secret of the Heifetz sound (with 27 new ingredients added). The advertisements will, of course, be very silly...
Cheers,
Buri
...At which point 50 violinists, communicating via the telepathic implants that replaced "the Internet" in the early 22nd century, will begin arguing heatedly over Heifitz vs Oistrakh (sp?) !! ;)
I've found that JADE rosin is absolutely wonderful! I've tried most of the rosins that are out there. Rosin is a very individual sort of thing though. What works well for one doesn't neccessarily work for another, same with violins!
I think jade is the worst rosin.
Let the rosin wars begin! Oh dear. Well I ordered a few of the Tartini "mini" rosins, which have been a lot better than the big ones. For some reason, the normal size rosin was not as good, I think it got too much rosin on the bow. And the mini is cute, it comes in a plastic case, which, after reading this thread, may mean that it will keep longer.
i use guillaume. excellent rosin
I mix my rosins (not all at once of course...). I use mostly a very dark (it varies, but lately it has been Pirastro, but I'll be buying the dark Salchow next) and every now and then I'll use some Gold spec rosin (again lately it's been Pirastro...but there are some better ones).
I never have a problem with dust as I use an old technique after every rosining: I loosen the hairs and give the bow a vigorous downward shake through the air, and then tighten back up and play. All the loose dust will come off this way and none of the rosin that has properly bound (temporarily) to the hairs.
Discussing rosin, it is amazing how much I've been told and read that rosining is one of the most over-done practices in the violin world. I never used to believe this and would rosin up all the time and my bow hairs would always be a bright white. I've since learned that much less rosining has given me much better control of my tone w/o diminishing the quality in any way.
Wait...is it seriously made from rabbits.
I heard that it was made with rabbis...or maybe that was a typo
R.I.P. Tartini rosin? Never used it, although I'm sure it was of fine consistency...
You'll be doing fine to just suppress your tourette's during orchestra, young lady.
@#$%! What the *&^% are you talking about?
that's funny, stephen doesn't sound like a feminine name, young @#^$#@in' lady
The Olympic committee banned Tartini rosin because it was found to contain performance enhancing substances.
Greetings,
on the subject of rosin rather than expletives I recenlty and rather reluctantly bought the French stuff `Collophone` which purportedly has bits of silver and gold in (couldn`t see anything...) On Dominant strings it produced an increase in sound of about 10 percent. Absolutely astonsihing and the grip on the string is superb. I have switched from my much loved Guillaume to this brand without hesitation even though the former has a nice wooden box and the latter is in a nasty bit of plastic. Probably ran out of money after sticking all that gold and silver in...
Cheers,
Buri
Interesting, I went to the ABSS site, and of course as reported, they aren't producing the rosin anymore. Went to the Tartini rosin website www.tartinirosin.com, and no word about a halt in production. Same at the Quinn Violins site, a distributor. So either they have made so much that they can supply the string playing world for a century, or another producer has been found to make the rosin. For grins, I sent an email to ABSS inquiring about this, but I'm not hopeful for a response.
BTW, I poohed-poohed the idea of paying so much for rosin initially, and then I found a chunk on eBay cheap. To my chagrin, I like the stuff.
On the increda(something like that) bows site it says the rosin won't be produced any more.
The name Tartini rosin is actually being discontinued. I work for a music store in Florida and I called our supplier. Other companies are currently bidding over the recipe for the tartini rosin. You will see this same rosin out on store shelves again in about 6 months to a year but under a different name. It is possible that it could still have the Tartini name just manufactured from a different company.
I agree with the opinion expressed earlier that there is no one objecitvely best rosin for everyone, any more than a best string - or violin, for that matter. That said I've also been firmly in the Tartini camp since I discovered it a year or so ago. I do like the stickier and less subtle Salchow rosin for outdoor Summer orchestra playing.
I was also distressed to learn of the Tartini being discontinued, and tried in vain to get hold of some to hord for the future. (I disagree with the notion that rosin only keeps its best chemical properties for a few years or less. I've had pieces of rosin for many years that worked just fine - though they may temporarily change a bit in response to fluctuations in temperature and humidity.)
Anyway I'm glad to report and share with my colleagues that I've just discovered a new (to me) rosin that I like even better than the Tartini! A little goes a long way even more than the Tartini; it's even more dust free; it produces a cleaner bite and a purer, more transparent tone!
So who makes this great rosin? That's not so obvious. My version comes from the shop of John Hsu in New York, and the violin-shaped wooden box that it comes in bears his name. But he didn't make it. Some googling revealed the probable origin - an outfit in Italy called Bogaro&Clementi. Like the Tartini, it's overpriced - I paid $18 for mine - and the cute casing probably contributes to the cost. But the actual rosin is no gimmic. Try it - you might like it. Apparrently Perlman and Midori do. But then again, they also favor, I believe, Dominant strings, which I don't like at all. So it's back to personal taste and playing style.
Post contact info for your guy in New York. I'd buy some to try, I'm sure others would.
I ordered Tartini rosin from Music123.com. The cake arrived damaged and their customer service was the worst I've ever encountered. Terrible, dreadful service; I was lied to three times, then was promised a refund. When it came it was only a partial refund. Dreadful place. Be careful from whence you order...
I just got the Tartini rosin last week at Bein and Fushi in Chicago, and as always, it's wonderful. However, B&F had about 9 cakes remaining, and I know that here in San Francisco they are out...:(
My guy in NY is John Hsu. Phone/fax 212/581-6499 hsuviolins@aol.com
I've had the rosin less than a week, and am still getting used to it, and experimenting with different amounts of rosin application. (Having tried many rosins over the years, I've found that even with initial 'key-ing' of the rosin cake, it takes a little while for the rosin to reach its full efficiency.) I generally prefer to use a moderate amount of rosin, and a little of this stuff does go a long way. But it has a different feel - almost as though there is even less rosin than I actually did put on the bow, and yet the bow is functioning really well, with good tracking and good sound.
I just bought(01/12/06) 3 from this place: http://www.johnson-inst.com/cgi-bin/accessorysearch/accessorysearch.cgi?select1=RNOS&file=sale_rosin
They have more, get them now before it's to late!
PF
Raphael,
Is this your Violin Box Rosin ...?
http://www.rosinmakers.com/product.html
If so, then it is the same company/stuff as the Collophane gold/silver stuff mentioned by Buri
It certainly looks like it. Whether the rosin itself is the same, I don't know. Thanks for the link.
I want to second Alan's diss of music123.com. Don't bother with them. They have no idea what they're doing, at any point in the process.
There's a lot of good premium rosins... Raffin (which I use), Millant, Liebenzeller or whatetever it's called...
I also like and use Tartini. When I first got it, I had all my students try it, because I thought maybe it was just my imagination that my tone got much better with its use. To my astonishment, the same thing happened to every student I had try it out, from beginners to advanced students. It was a really strange phenomenon to me because I had been told it was great rosin but I had thought rosin is rosin and doesn't make that huge of a difference.
I previously used Bernadel rosin which also was not produced for several years due to the recipe had been lost (is what I was told) but then found years later. A friend of mine has an interesting story about his teacher, the late and famous Joseph Gingold, who use to have a small fleck of original bernadel and would give a few swipes to his students saying "here's some magic rosin...now you will play like a virtuoso..." or something like that. (I never studied with him so in person, I'd do an awful third hand impression I learned from several other students of his). When he found out they were making it again, he wanted to check its validity and bought a cake, and to his enjoyment, confirmed it was the same stuff.
I think I'm going to call my source for Tartini rosin and see if I can hord up too. Sorry bunny lovers. I guess I'm a selfish violinist that likes my rosin too much...
Hi,
Actually "they" claimed that Andrea Rosin was ex-Tartini (scroll down to find Andrea Rosin):
http://www.quinnviolins.com/qv_rosin.shtml
I am hoping this Andrea Rosin is as good as Tartini Green if not better.
Yes,
The Andrea rosin page claims it is an "improved" Tartini...which seems to suggest that it is NOT the same.
On the other hand, I can't seem to get the Millant here, and the company refuses to tell me their dealer in Spain; so frustrating, how can they expect to sell more?
On the other hand, Tuerner Violins (UK) have this notice on their website
http://f25.parsimony.net/forum63847/messages/357.htm
Has anyone used Andrea rosin? It's supposed to be the same stuff as Tartini, since it's the same dude who made Tartini.
Wow, I didn't know that Tartini rosin was made by dudes!! :P
It's not like any ordinary man could make Tartini rosin... only a dude can do something as amazing as make a cake of rosin.
Good thing that I kept a few boxes of Tartini rosin.
Well, now it is down to half dozen cakes...
EOM
Greetings,
I moaned about the price of Tartini rosin on this list many years ago and the reuslt was a whingeing letter from the `team` who developed the rosin. I was brohken hearted by this consequence. All this time I had thought that looney Andreas had discovered some genuine Tartini rosin and that wa s more or less what we were getting (aside from the 27 new ingredients the small print notes have been added). S0 there you have it - a team of `dudes` which henceforth can be referred to as the `dudettes.`
I am going back to believing in the tooth fairy.
Cheers,
Buri
Stephen,
And when exactly did you stop believing in the tooth fairy?
Sometimes you think you know people...
PS. I'm going to try Mr. Bang's new recipe.
Greetings,
>And when exactly did you stop believing in the tooth fairy?
When I found that sexual preference was irrelevent to the art of dentistry.
Oh well, there is always Santa Claus and that check still in the post,
Cheers,
Buri
Hi all - and especially Parmeeta. I think I've now solved the mystery of who makes the violin-shaped rosin. I politely cofronted both the Bogaro&Clemente firm as well as Millant with the claim that 'the other company is taking credit for what looks to be your rosin.'
It turns out that Bogaro makes the box, and Millant makes the actual rosin. In any case, it's great stuff!
Oooh oooh me me! I just got a new block of it sent over from the U.S! Absolutely perfect quality, I'm so happy :) now I have backup stock :D
You must have heard of the Tartini rosin before, but this rosin has stopped being manufactured as the raw material was cut off by the supplier. The manufacturer of the Tartini rosin has developed the New tartini rosin independently with a completely different recipe from the Tartini rosin, but exhibiting the same high quality corresponding to it The manufacturer is introducing the new rosins to the market under a brand name, New TARTINI.
The New Tartini rosin is made by the same manufacturer of the Tartini rosin and it has proven very good after testing by a first violinist here with a violin made by me and with a bow made by a bow maker who is my friend.
There are 3 kinds of New tartini rosins:
* Con Brio Light and graceful tone. The property of sticking together of G and D string is so excellent that it will be able to bring a charming and graceful resonant sound echoing back to us, especially in high-pitched tones or a note in the high key. In its entirety, it shall help performers display their dazzling artistic flair and elegance with brilliant timbre exhibiting bright yet flowing passionate tone. Maybe it will go along well with Mazart’s Divertimento or Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.
* Maestoso It creates a hefty sound deep in tone. Resonance is smooth and well-rounded and mellow producing a full, rich sound. With its elegant and gracious sound gaining depth, it will get well harmonized with such pieces as Vitali’s Chaconne or Bach’s solo violin sonatas or Sarasate’s Zegeunerweisen, and the likes.
* Con Amore It generates a serious tone of thick quality, yet presenting us much tender and mild feeling. It sounds so pleasant and bowing becomes much silkier. This will be well matched with Beethoven’s violin romance or pieces of ballet music by Tchaikovsky.
However, you may accept it differently according to your instrument or your preference.
I am proud to be a distributor of the New Tartini rosin. I am recommending the New Tartini rosin to you. Please let me know if you are interested in it.
You'll need the original Tartini Rosin Web-page:
http://i1.tinypic.com/208floz.jpg
[quote]
on the subject of rosin rather than expletives I recenlty and rather reluctantly bought the French stuff `Collophone`
[/quote]
Buri,
Is the French stuff you bought called "Collophone"? The result you described sounds appealing since I have quite a few violins with Dominant strings...Maybe this stuff can help me pass my jury next semester with the rosin-improved tone... :-)
Greetings,
yes. It helped but I would certainly get more than one opinion. At the moment I am finding that whatever rosin I use the rainy season is screwing it up. But I think thta is a good one.
Cheers,
Buri
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November 15, 2005 at 04:58 AM · NO! I love that stuff! It can't be!