Rosin

The right rosin for your bowed stringed instrument

The bow resin, better known as rosin, ensures a sufficiently strong adhesion of the bow hair on the string of the instrument. It has to be applied regularly, so that the instrument can achieve its full sound spectrum. The raw material is purified resin. But there are very large differences, for example, in the dryness of the resin. Bass players use significantly stickier rosin with stronger adhesive force as a violin player. Therefore, the musician should only buy a rosin especially for violin, viola, cello or bass in the shop. In addition, many manufacturers add certain metals to their formulations. This in turn has an influence on the sound. The general rule is that each rosin dries out over time and therefore gets unusable. Therefore, as a hobby player, a rosin often can not completely be used up. Dry rosin dusts very strong and loses the adhesive force and thereby its beneficial properties. It is also important to clean the bow from dust.

Function of the rosin

The natural tail hair of stallions is used for the strings bow. But they are so smooth that they can not create a genuine sound, but emphasize practically inaudible over the strings in their surface. They are fixed between frog and tip of the bow stick and can be held by a little screw. In order to generate the necessary friction, the rosin is applied to the hair of the bow stick from frog to tip. Here, the shed put on and are fixed by the resin. Each hair is now much rougher than before and generates corresponding friction when it sweeps. The string „sticks“almost for a moment and moves with it. Once the tension in the string has become too large, it dissolves and is swinging back. This effect is also known as "stick-slip" effect.

Which is the „right“ rosin?

What rosin the "right", depends very much on the subjective perception of sound. Therefore, it is advisable to test different rosins and so to come to a personal favorite. The wide range of

rosin on the market makes this not necessarily easy. In between, violins have also to be cleaned. The string manufacturer Pirastro has gone its own way. In order to achieve an optimal result for the musician, Pirastro has developed specially tailored rosin to their strings. Of course, every good violins store carries the full selection of this standard accessories. PAGANINO offers rosin for bowed stringed instruments for better bowing on the strings: here you will find rosin for violinviolacello or double bass.

The name "colophonium" or rosin comes from the ancient Greek city of Colophon.

Rosin for violin, viola, cello and double bass

The rosin is distributed evenly on the hair of the bow (violin bow viola bow cello bow or bow bass) . The raw rosin today is mainly extracted from the resin of pine trees (Pinus).

You can choose from different qualities for violin, viola, cello and double bass. The individual qualities of rosin are usually available in different hardnesses or in lighter or darker version. Normally dark rosin is slightly harder as the light one and more preferable at higher ambient temperatures.

The necessary adhesive force of the rosin differs depending on the type of string and instrument. Steel strings require lower; plastic strings a medium; gut strings a higher adhesive force. For use of violin and viola bows, performance rosin is used with rather low adhesion. For medium-sized cellos and double basses a high adhesive force is necessary.