The violin bow can only make the strings sound, when there is enough friction between the string and the bow hair. In order to achieve this, the bow is rubbed with rosin. Rosin is an amber-coloured tree resin, which is usually obtained from pine, spruce pine, spruce or larch. By noble additives then an optimized rosin is created.
The violin bow is stringed with horse hair. The hair has little barbs. When rubbing the bow rosin is caught on the barbed hooks and barbs are set up. This creates the necessary friction resistance and the bow can make the strings sound.
How to apply rosin to a bow?
The method of applying rosin always remains the same, regardless of whether the bow is played much, the bow hair was cleaned, the bow was newly strung or was recently purchased. The bow is tightened and taken into one hand. With the other hand, the rosin is taken and calmly spread over the hair back and forth from the frog to the top of the bow and back to the frog. For a new bow or a newly strung bow, this should be done properly. This is very easy, if the piece of rosin has been used very often. For a new rosin, which has a very smooth surface, you can roughen the surface of the rosin gently with a piece of sandpaper. Thereby the surface of the rosin is opened and it is then found dust on the surface.
How can you tell if there is sufficient rosin on the violin bow?
Here are two possibilities:
The strings also have to be cleaned regularly. After each play, you may remove the rosin from the strings and the table of the instrument with a soft cloth. More stubborn impurities can be solved with a good string cleaner.
Can you apply too much rosin? Generally speaking, it is better to apply a little more than less rosin. If there is not enough rosin on the bow, lacking the necessary friction the musician plays with increased pressure used to compensate this.
As a general rule:
At Paganino there is a wide selection of rosin.