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Bows and Rosin [DB] Bass bows and rosin issues, makers, brands, choices, recommendations...


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  #1  
Old 12-09-2006, 12:38 AM
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Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Bethlehem, PA
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Cool Kolstein Soft + Nyman's

I currently have Kolstein Varicores on my bass, but I recently replaced the nasaly G-string with a Pirastro Flexocor medium G-string, courtesy of TBer tnaturner.

Huge improvement in sound and feel. This string definitely matches the rest of the set well.

However, the Flexocor string tends to grab bowhair a lot more than the Varicores do. Rosining with the Kolstein Soft, my bow grabs the Varicores just right, but is a lot grabbier on the Pirastro string. Perhaps this was the intent of Kolstein when formulating the string: just right for their own rosin.

The difference in bowhair grip was somewhat distracting. So I went back to a version of my old winter rosin: a few swipes of Pops, and then a few swipes of Nymans. This time, I replaced the Pops with the Kolstein Soft.

I try this out at rehearsal on Beethoven's 4th Symphony: not very grabby and uneven along the length of bowhair (grippier towards the frog). Not good for winter playing.

So I use a couple of swipes of Kolstein Soft on top of that: Bingo! Just the right amount of grab so that the individual notes can be heard clearly. Just the right feel with the bow also. I can feel every note that I play (that is that I intend to play).

Too much of just Kolstein Soft means too much grab, which leads to a sort of crunch of notes at higher passages. Nymans during winter leads to the same problem, but with a more slippery feel.

But using a few swipes of Kolstein soft, then a few swipes of Nyman's, and finally a couple of swipes of Kolstein soft again gets just the right tone and feel for me. (maybe I can even skip the first step and use Nymans first, but I don't want to ruin a good thing.)
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  #2  
Old 12-09-2006, 03:34 AM
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Cool Grabbing Flex?

I don't think it's a matter of the rosin grabbing the Flex more as much as the other string skipping in comparison when bowed. Flexocors are just about the smoothest and easiets bowing G string on the market.
  #3  
Old 12-09-2006, 10:49 AM
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Flexocors are definitely very smooth bowing strings.

It's just that I have been bowing on Varicores for almost a year, so I'm used to its bowing feel. This familiarity, plus the fact I've never bowed Flexocors for an extended period of time before now, contributes to the different bow feel from the two different strings.

That said, the Flexocors are probably the best strings that I have encountered so far.
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