• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Double Bass POPS ROSIN

#4
I like Pops but the rosin described in this forum isn't the good stuff a bought a couple of years ago off the back of a dusty shelf in blighty. all the local players favoured a more gritty rosin and ignored it - it could have been there for some time. I was always intrigued why the label had a spelling mistake on it - why was it never corrected?
 
#5
Practice is the only cure I've found for bad rosin, especially rosin as bad as Pops'.

Still, to each his/her own. I get the sound with it, it doesn't cake up my strings with all this hard rosin that just makes everything sound worse until I wipe the strings off every hour, it doesn't crust up all over my bridge and bass...and so on. Lots of great players out there using whatever they want for rosin, cause they practice too.
 
#8
I used Pops for years, but I went through a cake every couple of months, especially in summer, because it would end up in a sticky pool on the seat of my car or inside the accessory pocket of my case. I would still use it as a winter rosin, that is, if I were still playing gigs that required the bow.

I've been using Kolstein all-weather lately and find it strikes a good middle ground between the Pops and the darker Swedish rosins.
 
#11
I'm far from being an expert, but I have learned from reading here that soft rosins like Pops work well in humid climates, harder ones work well in dry climates, and that a good player will vary the amount on the bow to meet local conditions anyway.

So what I suspect it all boils down to is that the rosin, like the bow and the bass itself, only makes a difference once the big variable- the player- has been fully optimized.

As for me, right now I'm using a chunk of resin I pulled off the pine tree in the neighbor's yard until my playing shows some improvement.

;-)
 
#12
Unfortunately, my school only can afford Pops, especially the way the other bassists throw it around, breaking it up... that's IF they don't lose it...

I keep a cake of Carlsson's hidden in the bottom of my backpack for such occasions. I let the 1st chair bassist use it and boy did he notice a difference. He asked me what it was and he's used Carlsson's ever since.
 
#13
I don't imagine you are doing yourself any favors with that tree rosin. Try an experiment: 'Over-rosin' your bow with the stickiest rosin you can find (Swedish, Pops, Kolstein soft - don't worry, it will dry into powder eventually). Then try to play it. If it sticks to the string, there is too much bow pressure, and you are probably too tense. IMO powdery rosin simply compensates for this tension, since it will forgive you for pressing on the string. In many symphony orchestras, players rosin up between movements, or even during rests within a movement, and they have to make huge sound without amplification. Granted, they have some of the best basses, but more importantly, some of the best bow arms. Give it a try, you have nothing to lose but your small sound (not that you have one...)
 
#14
I'd argue that if you want a real big arco sound use black hair on the bow, pops rosin and play close to the bridge...

Pops just hangs in there ... see how close to the bridge you can get with other rosins and then put on some pops, it just don't let go and thats what I like about it. Very good in solo situations where you realy got to project and make a huge sound.

Worked for me!

Steve
 
#15
SteveA said:
I'd argue that if you want a real big arco sound use black hair on the bow, pops rosin and play close to the bridge...

Pops just hangs in there ... see how close to the bridge you can get with other rosins and then put on some pops, it just don't let go and thats what I like about it. Very good in solo situations where you realy got to project and make a huge sound.

Worked for me!

Steve
Click to expand...

Steve you made my day :hyper: no messin'. I went and bought a nice new bow after trying lots in a shop in the know that makes and repairs these things and they had Nymans to hand. Having heard all the downers on Pops I asked about trying a 'better' rosin, though I did say it seemed to work for me. The recommendation I got was to carry on using what I know and love - POPs. And now your post tells me I'm not alone and perhaps BASSELF who appears to have disappeared wasn't being ironic after all :confused: .
 
#17
Imo, using a bunch of goopey rosin in order to pull a big sound out of the instrument is not the right way to go about it. Sure, rosin has it's uses, but some of the biggest sounds I've heard come from solo players are from those who simply have killer technique and use hardly any rosin at all. Gary Karr for example rosins his bow with cello rosin once a week, and I seriously doubt anyone here is getting close to that level of sound production. So not to bag on anyones habits, but I see a lot of players using rosin as a crutch when it should be an accessory.


Oh, and that nasty poops residue never comes off. :hmm:
 
#18
One day Pops is going to get endorsed by a really, really good bass player and everyone will realize they've been using the wrong rosin all this time, you know.

Just when you think you've got the secret recipe, you then get to find out that the endorser changes to fresh Pops on a daily basis to pull off his/her virtuosic bowings.

Might as well pay your dues and get on the bandwagon before it's too late.
 
#19
>>>toman I've heard come from solo players are from those who simply have killer technique and use hardly any rosin at all. Gary Karr for example rosins his bow with cello rosin once a week

>>>Oh, and that nasty poops residue never comes off.

Ok Gary is a great player no argument but I've heard him live on 2 ocasions (Sydney Opera house with the sso and at a master Class in a smaller space with Harmon lewis on piano) and I have herd people with a better bigger and richer sound espically in the lower register! (Bert Turetzkey to name one!)

from the strings residue comes off with rubbing alchole and a rag to get it off the bass I useed to use a very small amount of linseed oil on a rag then dry rag it all off...

Ducks following Flame war! :hiding:
 
#20
toman said:
Imo, using a bunch of goopey rosin in order to pull a big sound out of the instrument is not the right way to go about it. Sure, rosin has it's uses, but some of the biggest sounds I've heard come from solo players are from those who simply have killer technique and use hardly any rosin at all. Gary Karr for example rosins his bow with cello rosin once a week, and I seriously doubt anyone here is getting close to that level of sound production. So not to bag on anyones habits, but I see a lot of players using rosin as a crutch when it should be an accessory.


Oh, and that nasty poops residue never comes off. :hmm:
Click to expand...

I've tried that and I HATED it, my Spirocore strung, laminated bass is hard enough to bow as it is, pops makes bowing manageable without having to screw with my pizz sound.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back