Double Bass Effectiveness of rosin

[Andy Mopley]

Hi all

I use Neyman Rosyn and/or Pops. I know one of the two bows I use has natural horse hair. When I apply rosin, at first the grip is excellent and bowing is effortless. Yet within 1-2 hours of practice (sometime on consecutive days) there is a noticeable decline in grip and sound when using both bows. So my question is, what are the possible reasons for this? Could it be the age of the rosin (at least a few years old..)? And if so, would a new cake help or should I alse be looking at other causes?

Thanks for reading!

 

[Jhansbass]

There is no problem at all, it's actually quite natural. When you are bowing with most Rosins the friction between the string and the bow creates dust which means that the Rosin is constantly coming off of your bow. So really all you have to do is reapply some rosin and it will be good as new. One thing that might help it last a little longer is breathing hot air on the rosin, it warms it up and makes it easier to apply. I don't do that because I don't use pops or neymans. Hope this helps

 

[Phil Rowan]

I buy a new cake of Pops about once every month and a half (sometimes once a month, depending on how much bowing I'm doing), but I have bowed using Pops that was past its prime and it resulted in poor grip, a whole mess of powder, thin sound, etc. So yeah, it might have something to do with the rosin being old (for me there's nothing like a fresh cake of Pops.. obligatory bassrosin.com plug). Also, when was the last time you had your bows re-haired?

 

[Andy Mopley]

Phil, it would have been at least 18 months ago for the re-hair..Time for a new one, perhaps? or is there a shelf life on hair as well?? (no pun intended...)

Jhansbass - thanks, I was actually looking more for a response like Phil's, but appreciate you taking the time to reply...

 

[Phil Rowan]

Yeah, I'd say it's time for a re-hair. There's definitely a period after which bow hair loses its natural grip and when all the strands get stretched out after having been tightened and loosened repeatedly over time. I had my bow re-haired back in February of this year and it might be time to take her in for a re-hair this month or next.

 

[Jhansbass]

I have a question for both of you, how many bows do you keep in your rotation of good bows (assuming you have more than one) because I know some people that carry around 5-6 bows on them and they are all different.

 

[Phil Rowan]

I have only two bows I consider my main, good bows. I have two more on top of these but they're my beater bows I take with me more often, for regular old gigs and what not.

 

[Andy Mopley]

I have 4 bows, 3 French (main ones) and 1 German - of these though, much like Phil, two are "good" bows, the others back up. The German is just there so I can develop the technique, though..