is stentor rosin any good?
hello!so this stentor rosin is one i've probably been using since i started playing violin like, 10 years ago.
Ofc it was good then and for a while was working for me good too, but recently i've been curious if this rosin expires and now, whether this brand of rosin is worth keeping or if i should invest in a higher quality one since I'm at a more advanced playing level now.
In terms of its quality now: it was doing pretty good but in the last few months I've notice my sound quality go down and the bow almost slipping more despite putting much rosin on it. i mean it could be a me problem, but I considering I've tried new techniques to fix this problem I'm starting to suspect it's the rosin.
any thoughts?
(also heres what it looks like: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XjygcPyrNyrEp9fbSXYD2QiIYlq1hLvV/view?usp=drivesdk)
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Replies (8)
Stentor rosin certainly looks very nice (some was supplied with my Stentor violin), but it's quite pale. I prefer amber or dark.
The brand MAGIC ROSIN certainly puts the lie to this. Their three grades that I am familiar with: original, "ultra" and "X" range from normal friction to higher to highest and all are colorless and glass-clear until scratched by use. So clear in fact that the manufacturer backs each cake with with a colorful picture (often of the buyer's choice).
I have read that the light and dark rosin colors are added by manufacturers as a guide, and perhaps to perpetuate the myth.
How and how often do you clean your strings?
How do you care for your bow hair (cleaning, rehairing, etc.)?
Seriously though, It's was ok but nothing any better. I'm not convinced the same rosin from the same company is always the same. Maybe its a mental thing, but I tend to like the dark and semi dark rosins over the light ones. Could be the placebo effect.Like some people think red cars are faster. Darker rosin "seems" to be better to me.
When I bought my Stentor 2 as a first violin 3 years ago I reasoned that the manufacturer determined they needed something cheap to put in the case to pacify young beginners. Something to just get by.Same logic applied to the bow. I still see it that way which may not be correct.Just good enough for basic work, no better.Who knows? If it had been packaged in a nice container and marketed as high end I might have known no better. Your talking about someone who, when he bought his first nice cake of rosin he peeled the cloth off of it thinking it had stuck to the cloth from the heat.
I have heard fiddlers say they have played for 10 years and they still use the same bow with the same hair and it sounds fine. Not sure if this is true.
