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Double Bass first time rosin-er: what's up with this stuff?

chuck3

chuck3

Jun 19, 2009
4,469
1,063
Brooklyn & Rhinebeck NY
#1
I'm a long-time pizz (and BG) player but only recently decided to try bowing. So I get an Upton Workshop bow (not the finest, but should be servicable, I figure) and a new container of Pop's rosin. But the hair on the bow just doesn't seem to want to take the Pop's, even after quite a bit of work at it. :confused: Suggestions? Someone suggested scratching up the surface of the rosin. Any other tips? Thanks.
 
#3
i had a similar issue when my bow was re-haired from white to black recently. it took a few days before the hair started to grab. i posted here about it and got some good suggestions, one in particular about using powdered violin rosin on the hair, working it in really well by kind of massaging it in. then use your regular rosin as usual and pretty soon it catches. i didn't actually do the powdered violin rosin thing, but just kept applying rosin each day, albeit a bit more liberally than i would normally. so yeah, after about a week it was all good.
addendum: regarding the powdered violin rosin, you have to make the powder yourself by putting a chunk of rosin in a plastic baggy and going over it with a rolling pin until it's a fine powder, according to the advice i received.
 
#4
Thanks for the advice. I am probably going to try the powdered rosin thing, as I spent about an hour on this tonight, including scratching up the rosin surface, and made almost no progress. I've e-mailed Upton too to see what they say, but if they don't have better ideas it sounds like the powder is the way to go. :hmm:
 
#9
so I turn to the "black hair has no grip" thread and the first thing I see is this:

imgad?id=CM26oYDb5a3P8gEQeBjCBDIIATBQYjLwDW4.jpg


Only on TB ... ;)
 
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#13
i have heard from a few different very reputable bassists in the GTA that Pops rosin is absolutely hopeless. i find that when it comes to DB, you get what you pay for. I'd hate to tell you to toss the Pops, but maybe ask a friend with a different rosin to try theirs and see if it works better. I bought some Nyman rosin (for about$12) when I got my bow and have been really pleased with it.
 
#17
eucalyptus said:
i had a similar issue when my bow was re-haired from white to black recently. it took a few days before the hair started to grab...
Click to expand...

chuck3 said:
funny you bring up the black bowhair because that's what this is. Do different colors of bowhair have different gripping properties? Do blondes have more fun? (Or at least more rosin?) :eyebrow:
Click to expand...

I had my bow re-haired to black too, and while it worked fine on my old strings, when I re-strung the bass to Spiro Mittels, the black hair just doesn't grab consistently. It slides and kind of makes a shrieking sound fairly often. I know it's not the Spiros per se, because I tried my older white-haired bow and it works fine. What gives? I really rosined up the new black hair liberally... Is there any risk that I put too much on?
 
#20
Dave, I thought black hair was going to grab better, too. That's why I wondered what I might've done wrong here. The bow grabs but not consistently. It slides across the strings pretty often and the sound isn't pleasant at all, Eric, not the normal grab but slipping. Btw, I am using Oak soft, occasionally medium. Maybe it will improve over time. I am not at all sure the luthier mixed in the powdered rosin.
 

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