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Double Bass Rosin recommendation

B

badgrandad

Sep 1, 2004
510
142
68
Corsicana, Texas
#1
Complete newcomer to the Bass Bowing and Rosin adventure.

I bought an Ibanez upright and bought a bow (Glasser) to start my journey. I don’t intend on moving to double bass but very much want to play fretless electric and be able to bow as well as pizz.

I ordered rosin from the place I bought my bass ( Sweetwater) and was sent a cake of Petz (Vienna Petz) Colophane rosin Bass No 3 medium.

This is all I know about it other than after 3 weeks of using it I still have to bow pretty firmly to coax a full sound out of my strings and would like something that I could play a little more “delicately” .

Do I need something softer/stickier?
I live in East Texas.

I grew up playing Viola so I’m not a complete beginner but obviously Bass is different and Electric upright more so.

What say Ye ?
 
#3
Pops IMO is the standard - made right in Houston. My favorite right now is Wiedoeft.

Some lessons with a teacher will go a long way to help with getting a good sound with the bow. Trying to compensate for a tense bow hold/arm with sticky rosin is a recipe for trouble.
 
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#6
Glasser Carbon or Glasser fiberglass bow? Real hair or synthetic-hair substitute? Based on some experience with a Fiberglass Glasser Bass Bow, it might not be the fault of the rosin...

I'm the oddball that learned to bow with hard rosin (Sherman's) and other than the part you presumably went through on viola of managing to learn to bow at all without screeches, etcetera, (a few months now 9 years back, roughly) it works quite well, to the point that I'm not at all interested in gumming up my hair with sticky soft rosin ala Pops (that "everyone" or at least "lots of bass payers" like.)

But there's plenty of folks that hate hard rosin, so no idea if it would work for you.
 
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#10
badgrandad said:
I ordered some Pop’s. I may use my hard(er) rosin and just add a touch of Pop’s to see if it works and adjust until I like it.
The bow is a fiberglass bow AFAIK.
I assume it has real hair. I bought it from Sweetwater and didn’t see anything about synthetic hair
Click to expand...

When using Pop's, I suggest wiping down the strings & the bass pretty regularly with a soft cloth to avoid hard-to-remove buildup. You don't need anything fancy, just something that won't mar the finish or leave lint glued to the top.
 
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#11
jj.833 said:
Buy Pops. It's a kind of standard and it is forgiving to the beginners.
New hair usually wants about a week of daily rosin applying and playing to settle. If there's too much rosin on the hair, use old toothbrush to clean it.
Click to expand...

I've heard that the Pop's formula has been changed recently. Is that true? Some hardcore Pop's users I know have changed to other rosins because of it.
 
#13
Well, I received my order of Pop’s rosin today and even though I read and listened to reviews of it, I was still surprised at how soft it was (after dealing with violin and viola rosin in my early years and the medium Petz rosin I bought when I bought the bass.

I am really pleased with the tone and grip I get. I knew that bowing electric bass flat wound strings might see some challenges but this new rosin gives me hope to play what I hear in my mind on the contemporary church music I have been playing.

Tomorrow I play my first 2 services with this bass
 
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#14
Congratulations @badgrandad on starting your DB bowing journey and for finding some Pops—that's a very common rosin that works well in most circumstances. You're right—it's soft and sticky (probably more so in Texas!)

For all the rosin nerds out there, I'll share with you something I tried recently: 050 Rosin is made in Groningen, NL but they seem to have distributors in the US and other countries. I've used lots of various rosin brands (Pops, Carlsson, Nyman, Kolstein, Leatherwood, etc). The 050 seems to also be good. I wouldn't go out of your way if you're happy with what you're using, but if you like to experiment, 050 is a contender ;)
 
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#16
The only downside in the 050 rosin is the packaging. I'm using the Supersoft. The paper cup is useless (the first cake melted on the music stand in the studio during an LA heatwave). I've got the second cake in a Gollihiur silicon cup and humidfier (looks like a cold cream jar) and it's still temperamental.
 
#18
I had a student several years ago who was using Pop's. He was a big, strong kid playing German bow and was getting a really scratchy sound. I picked up his bow and tried to play his bass. The bow hair was literally stuck to the string and I could hardly move it without major effort. I've tried many different rosins including Pop's but that episode showed me how sticky it can be.
 
#19
Bruce Calin said:
I had a student several years ago who was using Pop's. He was a big, strong kid playing German bow and was getting a really scratchy sound. I picked up his bow and tried to play his bass. The bow hair was literally stuck to the string and I could hardly move it without major effort. I've tried many different rosins including Pop's but that episode showed me how sticky it can be.
Click to expand...
You definitely need to apply Pop's sparingly. Two strokes, then try it. Only take that 3rd stroke if you need it.
 
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#20
LouisF said:
The only downside in the 050 rosin is the packaging. I'm using the Supersoft. The paper cup is useless (the first cake melted on the music stand in the studio during an LA heatwave). I've got the second cake in a Gollihiur silicon cup and humidfier (looks like a cold cream jar) and it's still temperamental.
Click to expand...
I noticed this also with the 050. I’m still looking for an appropriate container to keep it in… It’s bigger than a cake of Pops rosin, but it tends to melt very fast. The paper wrapping and cardboard box seems environmentally designed, but there has to be a practical solution to the rosin melting all over everything.
 

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