how often and how much rosin do you apply on the bow? sometimes my teacher says i'm 'rubbing' too much on the bow and that's not good...

... i know it's quite difficult to describe 'how much'

My violin teacher said that too!!
Basically if you see white powder building up on the strings or the back of the bow, it's too much.

I tend to only rosin my bow when it feels like it's slipping because i don't like too much rosin. But as Pianist 1210 said you can tell if there's too much by the build up on the stings also when there's too much you tend to hear a gravelly sound. Hope this helps!

Hmmmm rosin, terrible stuff, gets all over your instrument and strings. Avoid it like the plague. I only use it if I really really have to. If the bow begins slipping then I might use a bit.

And I have a real downer on people who don't clean up their instruments after playing too. I have been known to offer a duster to people I see with "rosinned up" violins. Fiddlers are the worst they tend to wear it like a trophy. Yuk!!

Yeah that really bugs me too. There's a lady at orchestra who must never clean her violin because there is so much rosin build up underneath the strings, her violin is practically white!

Tch, it's only a bit of powder, if it doesn't bug them it shouldn't bug you

If their playing sounds like a cat being put through a mincer, on the other hand...

Only slight problem is.....rosin power appears to dmage the polish on the violin.

Yes, rosin build up can seriously damage your violin. But I guess they can just clean it off with surgical spirits and then touch up with ronseal from time to time.

Personally I care more about my violin than to let it get cacked up with rosin.

Hi, I'm very much a beginner here (only 2 lessions) and asked this question - my teacher used quite a lot of rossin - and recommends that I rossin my bow every day - but reading what you've said - I'm quite concerned now - however I do clean it off every time after practice

So what is the correct procedure ?

He also added that the darker rossin ? is better - I meant to ask him why
but forgot to - I must ask, why?

Cheers, Paul

I wouldn't call myself much more than a beginner. I rosin the bow each time I play. Just a couple of wipes each direction.

Afterward, I clean each string by rubbing carefully with a duster up and down the rosined area while pinching the duster to the string, then run the duster under the strings at the bridge - you have to change dusters fairly often or you defeat the object. I also run a duster up the stick of the bow then slacken the hair.

Does anyone else have a procedure?

Hi Paul
I certainly don't rosin every day, but I guess it depends how much you play. I used to put rosin on my bow whenever I got it out to play, but I started to get a horrible build up on the strings which soon dulls the sound. Now I don't rosin unless I feel I need to. I recently had a bow rehair and I needed to rosin a bit more frequently for a while, but its ok again now. Maybe twice a week I guess.

And I too always wipe down my violin, bow and strings with a duster before I put it all away, and I also wipe over my violin with a soft chamois from time to time. (and yes it is important to go under the fingerboard and under the strings if you can)

Good tip to get rosin off the strings is to rub them with a wine cork. They will clean up nicely with a bit of alcohol but it is tragic if you get any on the varnish so not worth the risk in my opinion.

Best to get the stuff off as soon as you get it on so to speak, before it builds up.

Type of rosin? I know there are softer and harder ones softer ones for use in cold climates or in winter, or for cellos etc. In this country I wouldn't worry about climate change. Not sure of the difference between dark vs light, and I would think the rosin you use depends on the bow and the strings you use as much as anything. Its not a very expensive commodity (unless you go for the Tartini) so you could experiment with different sorts a bit, and see which you like. And it lasts forever....unless you drop it!!

Also do use different angles to keep the top of the block flat and don't wear grooves into it.

Hey who would have though violin playing could be so complicated?

I use two dusters. One that I use to wipe the strings and another that only gets used to dust off the instrument itself. I have a third duster to wipe the stick of the bow.

Because my violin gets a lot of use I also clean the strings regularly with a little alcohol. Not the sort you drink, it's industrial alcohol. Pirastro supply it in little bottles. A cheaper and more easily obtained cleaner is methylated spirit. Just put a little of the meths or alcohol on a piece of cottonwool and wipe the strings. BE VERY CAREFUL NOT TO TOUCH THE VARNISH OF THE INSTRUMENT WITH IT!!!!

Rosin build up on the strings will cause a lack of response and will shorten the life span of the strings. Rosin dust all over the body of the instrument will eventually turn into a sticky glue that can only be removed professionally by a luthier. In addition it will change the acoustical properties and tone of the instrument.

You have been warned all you 'trophy rosin' hoarders.

After my teacher's recommendation I recently switched from Hidersine No 3 to Artcraft Dark rosin. The initial results were very encouraging - the bow really gripped the strings my the tone improved immeasurably, and it was generally easier to play.

"Brilliant", thunk I...

I was in the habit of "rosining-up" at the start of every session. After a few sessions with the new dark rosin I found the cello was making a nasty gritty sound, like you'd hear if you're bowing too heavily. I queried this at my next lesson... my teacher was horrified

She reckons that it's best to just rosin-up when you need to, and my experience seems to back that up. It took a week or so to get all the excess rosin out of the bow, but now it's back to playing like a dream. I only rosin-up when the bow starts to slip.

And yes, I do dust the instrument down after each session too.

But I've only got one duster

On my cello I'd say I put more on about once a week. On bass, every other session for powder, once a fortnight for sticky. But if there are any bass players here, I would recommend switching powder and sticky once in a while to see which you like best; listen to intonation, clarity of tone, and pay attention to how the strings feel. But make sure you clean all the old stuff off your bow b4, or itll go gunky. You can do this by half-filling a jar with mths, totally unscrewing the frog from the stick, then twisting it up and dunking the hair in the meths. Make sure you don't get any meths on the frog or the stick though, and let it dry completely after.
And I don't see any reason why other string instruments can't do the same.

I use the black stuff... Szigeti, I think the one I have at the mo is. I forget, I've had it a looooooooooooong time. I think I vaguely recall preferring it when I changed over but I don't remember why....

It was very weird getting my new viola, first time in my life I've ever played with absolutely new bows, and they were so slippy - very weird. I was surprised how much I had to rosin a couple of them up before I could get a decent note.

my previous teacher didn't tell me how the accumulated rosin powder affect the violin! but as soon as i know it, i think that's disgusting, like more and more mould living on a piece of bread!

The darker rosin is slightly finer in texture. It suits violin bows slightly better, while the lighter rosin provides a harder coarser grip for cello bows.

Are you sure? Dark rosin is stickier, and the stickier the rosin the better the grip - for the cello, at least - I'd imagine it's the same for the violin, but admittedly I'm on thin ice there.

Pirastro violin rosin tends to be dark. Most cellists I know use light rosin.

I guess it's really a case of finding what works best for you. String type ie. metal, wound gut etc. also affects the amount of grip your bow needs to produce the optimum response from the strings.

Wound gut and synthetic equivalents for example needs slightly stickier rosin to really pull the best resonance from the strings.

Additionally, rosin blocks of all kinds should be replaced once they look dry, start to shrink or begin to crack and break up. You might as well not bother with rosin at all if your rosin block is in that sort of condition. Renewing once a year should be sufficient, so it's not going to break the bank.