How hard should rosin be?

[aonindy]

Hey Guys,

received my YitaMusic carbon bow today (damn good, only ordered on Tue!).
KNowing I needed rosin I purchased the only box the music store had
"Hidersine de luxe all weather bass rosin". I expected it to be somewhat
pliable(ish) or even ever so slightly chalkey .. but this baby is *rock solid*.
I can only describe it like hard hard hard hard candy!! .... I googled it up
and advice seemed to be to sand it down (which I did), and then stroke the bow
about 50+++ times, which I did, and .... nothing ... nothing coming off, no little bits
on the bow, nada ... have I a dud or am I making some very stupid newb
mistake here?

Comments (and spankings if deserved) welcome!

Allen.

[NDH]

The Hidersine all weather was the first rosin I bought - back in November - becaused it was cheap! I too was a bit taken aback at its bonefire toffee nature, as the stuff I had borrowed from my teacher was quite gloopy.

However, rub it on and it works fine, just a bit dusty. My teacher said it was OK and I used it until a couple of weeks ago when I got some Nymans, on recommendation from this forum. This has a satisfyingly giving nature and I will use it rather than the Hidershine, but I was most annoyed to find that it didn't make me play any better.

Nigel

[aonindy]

Thanks Nigel - I shall persist and try another 150+ rubbings! ...

update - ok, sandpaper wasn't really doing it for me so took out the cheese grater
and THEN after 150+ strokes the thing started to bite!

Now the bow is gripping and I'm happily killing multiple cats

(eh hello! ... this bowing lark is not easy at all!!!)

Edited February 18, 2011 by aonindy

[jdstrings]

If you want something a bit stickier and soft try POPS. The other thing is that rosin becomes softer as it warms up so you could try keeping it in your trouser pocket before use!!!

[JoshJ]

That's the rosin I got with my cheapo bass. Haven't tried any others to compare but it seems to work fine for me, you might just be tickling about with it too much.

I could be wrong, but I think the idea is to rub a short section of the bow back and forth fairly hard and fast () and let the heat from the friction melt the rosin onto the bowstrings (think Ray Mears rubbing sticks to make fire). Then you do this all the way down the strings. If you're doing it right (or my way, at least) you will soon see scratches on the rosin cake where some has rubbed off, and the strings will have a bit of a sheen where they're coated.

I guess the sandpaper trick is to get the cake warmed up, so you'd have to switch immediately from sandpaper to bow. I don't think it will be to do with scuffing up the surface, because I just rub straight on the shiny side and it seems to work fine.

Josh

[i]Disclaimer: I take no responsibility if this ruins your nice bow... mine is rubbish so I could afford to experiment!![/i]

Also, be very careful with the sharp corners of the frog near the cutaway of your bass. I've always been careful but my brother and my girlfriend have both taken small chunks out of the veneer when having a go Luckily the bass itself pretty rubbish aswell!

Edited February 19, 2011 by JoshJ

[aonindy]

thanks peeps - have been killing the cat for quite some time today ....
just when I had got used to and strengthened up my left hand
and right Pizz hand, along comes the bow and throws everything back
to square one ... fun fun fun ... see what teacher says on Monday about said bow and rosin!