white powder on bow

[Les Fret]

On one of my bows there is this white powder. You can see the marks on the strings and when applying rosin.

But with my other bow there are no white markings on the string or rosin at all. It seems there is no white powder on the bow at all.

Why is this difference? and do you need the white powder at all? and what is it for?

To be sure. I am not talking about the stuff some people put in their nose

[tom once dead]

White powder is normal when you rosin your bow. Just make sure you clean it off the strings every once in a while, or it builds up and "cakes" onto the string making it sound horrible.

[FallenAbom]

Is it a Colombian bow? *wink*

[Les Fret]

But why does one of my bows has the white powder and the other one not?

and what is the function of it?

and is it bad if the bow doesn't have the white powder?

[barend]

Yes, this are the things I also want to know.
Hope someone has the answer.

[longfinger]

Are you using the same rosin for both bows?
Pops rosin leaves a lot of powder residue, while Carlsson rosin leaves much less.
If one bow has more rosin on it than the other, then you'll also see a difference.
Also, when a bow is rehaired, the person doing it often will put crushed powdered violin rosin on the hairs so that the bass rosin will catch those first few weeks.

[DaZombieWoof]

One wonders if the hair qualities for the bow make any difference.

[Les Fret]

Originally Posted by longfinger

Are you using the same rosin for both bows?
Pops rosin leaves a lot of powder residue, while Carlsson rosin leaves much less.
If one bow has more rosin on it than the other, then you'll also see a difference.

yes I use the same rosin for both bows.

Originally Posted by longfinger

Also, when a bow is rehaired, the person doing it often will put crushed powdered violin rosin on the hairs so that the bass rosin will catch those first few weeks.

what do you mean by the last sentence?
is it bad if there is no white powder on the bow at all?

[CPike]

Originally Posted by Les Fret

is it bad if there is no white powder on the bow at all?

Not at all, just a preference - all my rehairs over the past 20 yrs have been clean hair, no powder. Don't sweat it...

Chris

[Les Fret]

Then what is it for?

[CPike]

Supposedly it helps the bass rosin stick to the new hair better, but I've never noticed any difference either way.

[Square Bear]

what kind of rosin do you use? do you use one bow more than the other? i've noticed with pops rosin that if you leave your bow unused for a period of time the rosin gets powdery. just play it out and apply fresh rosin.

[Les Fret]

Originally Posted by CPike

Supposedly it helps the bass rosin stick to the new hair better, but I've never noticed any difference either way.

thanks, that is what I wanted to know.

I use Pops rosin and use both bows equally so I don't think the powder is coming from the rosin (in my case).

[CPike]

Ah, I see now some of the confusion in this thread after re-reading it from the top. The powder you are noticing is probably not the stuff that may or may not have been applied to the hair when it was new. Rosin is persnickety in many ways and can be affected by humidity, temperature, playing style inconsistencies, quality of hair, etc. I've been using the same type of rosin for years - sometimes I get powder and sometimes I don't. It's normal and I wouldn't worry about it unless it begins to seriously impact your ability to perform.