Double Bass Arco for Zeta Crossover

[Jon Moody]

I spent some time rosining the bow, but I'm not sure if the rosin is taking to the hairs. Do I need to heat the rosin at all?

You really don't want to heat it up. You could hold it in your hands to heat it a bit, but that's as far as I'd go for getting it ready to put on the bow.

There are a LOT of factors here as to why the rosin may not be working (or why you think the rosin is the culprit). First, if the rosin is old, that has some bearing. Also, there are different rosins for the seasons; around this time, a softer rosin will work better than a harder rosin (that's usually left for summer months).

Then there is the bow hair. It could be old, or low quality hair. A bow I just had rehaired was awful until the new hair was put on; it practically bows itself. If it's new hair, it also may take a bit for you to get a nice base of rosin on the bow. The first couple of times you rosin a new bow will take a little more than normal.

And now, there are the strings. They WILL play a factor. I previously had Thomastik Spirocores on my NS EUB, which are known to be great pizz strings but not ideal for arco. IT was apparent, as I was working twice as hard even with a well-rosined bow. I just switched to Corelli 370s, and they literally bow themselves. It's amazing how responsive they are to the bow over the Spiros.