humidity and bass string performance

[ldekoning]

Hi all

I've been noticing that humidity affects the sound of my evah pirazzi regular strings with the bow. Above 40%, they sound very warm and powerful with absolutely no scratches. Below 40 - say 30%, they scratch and howl like crazy - especially the G string.

Has anyone else noticed this? Is this a specific humidity effect on evah pirazzis, or a general effect on synthetic/gut strings? It might also have to do with the horsehair and rosin (Pop's), but I have no idea.

Thoughts?

[Andrew McGregor]

It's probably the rosin more than the strings, and I bet you're using too much.

[ldekoning]

Well it's kind of a catch 22. The Evah's demand a fair amount of rosin to speak, and when the humidity changes I either have too much or too little. Can you recommend a better rosin over Pop's?

[Hector Wolff]

I've been bowing Evahs (regulars) for almost three years (two sets) and have never noticed that kind of humidity related performance difference.

I suggest that it could well be the bow hair, as I have certainly noticed that the humidity has a great effect on my bow hair (in low humidity my hair shrinks very noticeably, and so become tighter. That alone can effect your bow/string interaction, meaning your attack, the smoothness of your cross string slurs, the cleanliness of your tone at bow changes.

Also I use Kolsteins All Weather rosin. I found Pops too sticky and too sensitive to temperature.