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Double Bass Rosin in hot climate

S

SeattleBassist

Mar 7, 2009
45
0
#1
I'm moving to Singapore where it's 90 degrees year-round and is extremely humid. I've always used Pops and it seems to work well for me in the Northwest but I'm in Texas right now and its melting all over the place (even though it was created here?)

I want to check out Kolsteins rosin but am not sure what grade I should get. I know I shouldn't get "soft" for Tropical Rain forest climate but I'm not sure if I should get "all-weather" or "hard- or if it even matters.

Also, someone told me you can buy a "half-moon" pack of Kolsteins that has both "all-weather" and "hard" but I can't seem to find it anywhere specifically for bass rosin. Any ideas of what I should use for Orchestral playing in a very hot and humid climate would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 
#2
I recently started using Kolstein All-Weather for the summer here in Los Angeles. The Pops was just getting too sticky/melty.

I considered the hard grade, but it still gets quite cool here of an evening, and the all weather is already a big improvement over the Pops - I might well just continue with it into winter.

I seem to need to use the Kolstein a little more often, but it's definitely smoother and more predictable then Pops. (And the fold-down rubber tube it comes in is very convenient.)

Andy
 
#4
WyrdoBass said:
Hmm... I use Pop's in and here in SoCal it melts pretty often, but I haven't noticed any changes in it's effectiveness. I just use it in whatever new, strangely- formed lump it becomes.
Click to expand...

:D

After two years (or so) my Pops had become this:

4486966321_b8fc75cc58.jpg


It was time for a change :p .

Andy
 
#5
Here in London, Ontario it gets very hot and humid in the summer. I found Kolstein's soft would get all gummed up and would saturate the hairs. This also happens if the hall is warm and I'm playing a very notey and loud work.

I've started to use Oak soft during the warmer months and am quite satisfied. It is not as good as Kolstein's but it is better than Carlson's or Nyman's. While both are quite good, they do produce an aggressive zing when the bow changes direction. At least, with my setup and playing style.

I'll be going back Kolstein's around late October.
 
#6
I live in Houston and use Kolstein all weather and Pops, usually depending on what I'm playing or the feel I'm going for. I definitley favor the Kolstein AW year round, especially this time of year. Another thing with the Pops is that theres a bit more rosin dust/residue that leaves behind compared to Kolstein, which leaves almost none. If you keep your bass clean and wipe it down regularly, this isn't a problem, but if you don't, with this heat, all the rosin will just melt right onto the bass and strings pretty quickly and is a pain to clean off.
 
#7
I had been using Pops and just switched back to Clarity summer rosin again. It seems to be behaving nicely. It's been in my house with humidity around 50% and temp at about 75 degrees.

The Clarity seems to retain its softness without melting.
 
#8
I live in Pennsylvania - we have cold winters and summers can get into the 80's and 90's frequently. I use Carlsson or Pirastro Mittle in the summer, and Carlsson or Pops in the winter. If I had to go with one year round, it would be Carlsson.

I have an antique cake of Thomastik III (hard) rosin. I'm considering crushing it to a fine powder to use as new bow hair primer.
 
#9
Disclaimer: I'm an utter newb.

While Hong Kong's humidity swings widely, compared to Singapore's relatively constant high humidity, the two cities share a similar temp/humidity level for much of the year.

Without any knowledge/experience or guidance (apart from the sales person), I didn't want to contend with melting rosin, so with the sales person's 'help', I went home with a cake of Carlsson. I struggled to get a good tone from my cheap bow/bass combo, but I chalked it up (rosined it up?) to my inexperience.

I actually stopped bowing in the middle of a gig and switched to pizz because my bowing was utterly horrible.

At the next gig, our fiddler handed my bow to me "Here, try this"; holding up his own cake he'd just rosined it with: Pirastro Oliv Rosin Evah.

:hyper:

A universe of difference! I thought it was me who utterly sucked at bowing, but now I knew I just simply sucked. However, the notes weren't (as) screechy, I could initiate a note quickly and it's attack was like a Cheetah pouncing compared to the slothful woeful slowpoking Carlsson, which didn't even know the definition of attack let alone initiating it. He picked some up for me and I haven't touched the Carlsson since. I'd throw it out, but it may prove useful sometime somewhere under different conditions.

At the beginning of this summer the fiddler picked up some new rosin for both of us to try: Tartini, made in Korea. It's very dry, a fair amount of dust, but I've not used it enough to comment further upon it.

Good luck in Singapore! YMMUV
 
#14
it's way harder than bass rosin. oliv evah is a violin rosin. if it works, use it. it's just surprising that you can get a violin rosin to work better than carlsson. i personally don't like carlsson rosin very much anyways, maybe you could try some kolstein all weather or medium grade?
 
#15
SeattleBassist said:
I'm moving to Singapore where it's 90 degrees year-round and is extremely humid. I've always used Pops and it seems to work well for me in the Northwest but I'm in Texas right now and its melting all over the place (even though it was created here?)
Click to expand...

I lived in Singapore for a while. I suggest waiting until you get there and hit a couple of music stores to get connected to local bass players. Find out what they use. The Singapore Symphony Orchestra shows 7 players on their roster:

Invalid Link Removed

Kuala Lumpur is not "that" far away and they have a symphony orchestra they've pumped a lot of money into, and hired a lot of players from Europe and America to get it started. Somebody there should be able to help.

http://www.mpo.com.my/Home.aspx

Their roster shows that 5 of their 7 bassists are probably German.
 
#16
I live in Penang, Malaysia & am using Pops. So far no problems except that I have to be careful of leaving the pops container in an upright position as the rosin would melt & mold itself. You could store the pops in your fridge when you're not using it which I do. Temperature here is usually between 31 to 33 degrees Celcius.
 

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