Gaston Brohan's Oak rosin

futurebass77 · #1 06-21-2008, 03:43 PM

Hello fellow bassists,

I recently ordered Oak rosin online, and I heard just now that Oak rosin was made for gut users. Will it have the same quality on normal strings as gut, or will it not be as good?

Mr.Phil · #2 06-21-2008, 03:47 PM

I believe that is preferred by some gut players because of its nice grip, but is not made exclusively for them. I use a cake of medium with bel cantos (steel string) and love the stuff. I think you'll be just fine. Edit: On a side note, you may want this moved to the bows and rosin section in the DB forum.

futurebass77 · #3 06-21-2008, 03:55 PM

thanks a lot!

**Joshua** · #4 06-21-2008, 07:58 PM

They say that there's no party like a "Bows & Rosin" party!

anonymous12251111 · #5 06-21-2008, 10:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by futurebass77

Hello fellow bassists,

I recently ordered Oak rosin online, and I heard just now that Oak rosin was made for gut users. Will it have the same quality on normal strings as gut, or will it not be as good?

Hey, I was once under the notion that Oak was the best to use for gut, I was wrong. I've been doing a lot of period playing recently, and most bassists use POPS and say it works best with gut strings, I completely agree. Gut strings are very thick and Oak did NOT work at all with them, the strings just got caked up whereas POPS provided the right amount of stickiness to attack the strings. I would avoid OAK if I were you, it's a very nice sounding Rosin but POPS works much better. Just be sure to coat your steel strings with POPS, and do not coat the gut strings with pops. put a bit of pops in on your bow and then warm up the gut strings with the bow, after about 2 minutes, vigorously rub off all of the rosin from the gut strings, this WILL work!! Also make sure you get rid of all the pops that builds up on the bow hair.

futurebass77 · #6 06-22-2008, 01:48 PM

do you mean to coat the strings with pop's before applying the oak?

anonymous12251111 · #7 06-22-2008, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by futurebass77

do you mean to coat the strings with pop's before applying the oak?

Coat the Steel or wound gut with a bit of pops, then apply it to your bow. No Oak at all. Don't apply any rosin of any kind directly to a plain gut string. Once you warm up the plain guts with your bow (play really fast double stops on the G and D string) then quickly wipe off any rosin that got on the plain gut. You'll need a bit of rosin directly on the wound-guts to get them going. Also, I used to use Oak Soft on steel strings and my modern bow...then I just switched to POPS, much better attack and better grab, you just have to make sure not to put too much on your bow, and always wipe off the rosin from the strings. Also...make sure you get a fresh cake of pops from bassrosin.com ...seriously I have a soft and medium cake of oak, anyone can buy it from me.

JayR · #8 06-22-2008, 02:11 PM

I think he was asking about whether Brohan Oak worked well on steel strings, not about how to use it on guts. At least that's what I think the question was.

If that is indeed the case, yes. It works amazing on steel strings. I have my bass strung with flexocores and I've been a pretty dedicated pops user for years, but once I tried Oak I haven't had any desire to go back. It's wonderful, it lets you pull lots of sound, has plenty of tack, but doesn't make a mess, doesn't make much in the way of rosin noise, never gets scratchy. I'd say it actually does a great deal to darken up one's tone. It's pretty much amazing.

If that was indeed your question.

anonymous12251111 · #9 06-22-2008, 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JayR

I think he was asking about whether Brohan Oak worked well on steel strings, not about how to use it on guts. At least that's what I think the question was.

If that is indeed the case, yes. It works amazing on steel strings. I have my bass strung with flexocores and I've been a pretty dedicated pops user for years, but once I tried Oak I haven't had any desire to go back. It's wonderful, it lets you pull lots of sound, has plenty of tack, but doesn't make a mess, doesn't make much in the way of rosin noise, never gets scratchy. I'd say it actually does a great deal to darken up one's tone. It's pretty much amazing.

If that was indeed your question.

Sorry! I misinterpreted. I thought you wanted info about rosin to use on gut strings.

futurebass77 · #10 06-23-2008, 02:28 PM

I finally recieved my Oak rosin today, and it is amazing!! It has such a great feel, and i dont think i will go back to pop's.

bassist14 · #11 09-22-2008, 03:37 AM

i am interested in buying a gaston brohan oak rosin.
can please somebody who knows the different grades of oak (hard/medium/soft)
explain me the differences in softness (?)
by comparing them to pops/nymans/carlsson?

thank you!

JimGullen · #12 09-22-2008, 05:53 AM

Greetings!

I was a Nyman's user before switching to Oak so that comparison is "fresher" in my mind. I found Nyman's to be between Oak soft and medium.....perhaps a little closer to medium.

I use soft most of the time. If the temperature gets above about 85 degrees I start thinking about changinig over to medium.

I also found that Nyman's "dusts" more than Oak...either grade.

It's been a long time since I've used Pops, but my recollection is that it's just slightly softer than Oak soft....but it's been many years so take that with a grain of salt.

Hope that helps a little...

Best regards!

Jim

bassist14 · #13 09-22-2008, 06:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimGullen

Hope that helps a little...

that helps a lot!
thank you Jim!

Eric Swanson · #14 09-22-2008, 06:52 AM

I have a cake of the Medium and I find it harder than Pop's or Carlsson's (NOTE: my cake of Pop's is ancient!). Counter-intuitively, I also find it both gripping and releasing better than either, somehow.

I am going to try the Soft next and think that this will be "the ticket."

I keep going back to the Kolstein Soft or All-Weather instead of the Oak Medium, though, so I will order the Oak Soft, next.

The Oak is really nice rosin, but I find the Medium just a bit hard for orchestral type playing, for me, with my light bow (130 gr). The medium works nicely for Solo stuff on the upper registers and was good in the middle of the summer's hottest days.

I would try the Soft first, if I had it to do again. I have no experience with Nyman's - sorry.

bassist14 · #15 09-22-2008, 07:18 AM

that helps a lot too!
thank you Eric!

considering the northern german weather i think i will try soft first

damonsmith · #16 09-22-2008, 08:47 AM

I love Oak rosin, I use a combination of soft and med., I have found it works a lot better with some Pops on the hair. I started using it in the middle of a rehair that had Pops on it before and it was great. When I used the Oak with a fresh rehair it did not really work well until I hit it with some Pops.
Every once and a while the weather just demands Pops as well, so as much as I love it I still keep Pops around.

Uncletoad · #17 09-22-2008, 09:50 AM

I have both the Medium and Soft. I started with the Medium after using Carlsons and Pops. The Medium is between those two and the Soft seems very much like pops or maybe even a tad more grip. I really like the Soft unless its really hot then the Med is good for me.

I don't feel like getting anything else at the moment.

bribass · #18 09-22-2008, 09:54 AM

I've been a Carlsson guy for years, but I think I'll finally have to try some of this Oak stuff.

Eric Swanson · #19 09-22-2008, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by damonsmith

I love Oak rosin, I use a combination of soft and med., I have found it works a lot better with some Pops on the hair. I started using it in the middle of a rehair that had Pops on it before and it was great. When I used the Oak with a fresh rehair it did not really work well until I hit it with some Pops.
Every once and a while the weather just demands Pops as well, so as much as I love it I still keep Pops around.

I am doing something similar, practically speaking, although I am blending with Kolstein rather than with my Pops. When the Oak doesn't seem to be quite doing it, I put on a swipe or two of Kolstein Soft. When the Kolstein feels too "gluey" I go back to the Oak Medium for a little bit. Haven't tried this voodoo with Pops yet, but it would probably be similar, per Damon's comments...

So, I am hoping that the Oak Soft will cool out the impromptu, alchemical rosin-mixing...per Uncletoad's comments...

futurebass77 · #20 09-23-2008, 12:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric Swanson

The Oak is really nice rosin, but I find the Medium just a bit hard for orchestral type playing, for me, with my light bow (130 gr). The medium works nicely for Solo stuff on the upper registers and was good in the middle of the summer's hottest days.

+1

Oak rosin is the best thing i have played with, im in dallas, so im using medium. It is excellent and its much better than pop's. Think of pops without the sticky mess. I bought it in june, and it seems like it will last me years.