Rosin-pressure balance
Oscar
in general:
Do you prefer "less rosin-more pressure" or "more pressure-less
rosin"?
I have had some intonation problems lately, and after wiping well the
wheel with alcohol, re-rosining softly again, changing cotton and
adding a bit of pressure, the clean and precise sound came back. I
think I had too much rosin and not the adequate pressure.
Thinking about bowed instruments it seems you get a good sound with
soft pressure, good speed and a well rosined bow.
What is your experience?
Cheers,
Oscar.
Geoff Turner
I'm sure that there are probably as many opinions on this as there are variable factors involved, but here's my way of doing things.
Without cotton, adjust the string pressure so that they are just touching the wheel and just sound when the crank is turned.
Then apply the thinnest coating of cotton possible.
Then adjust the rosin so that the sound is good.
I personally think that correct cottoning and string pressure are the two most importnat factors here.
Regards
Geoff Turner
Oscar
periodically do that, to start adjusting from zero point again as you
mention, that's what I did. With time, rosin and dirt build up,
soundboard and bridge move, etc.
Regarding the higher octave, apart from pressure and rosin, it is
important to have the string touching the whole surface of the wheel.
Usually the string touches more on the bridge side and the upper
octave is squeaky. Then you try to make it clean lifting the wheel but
lose the full sound in the low keys... this also happened to me, and
lowering a bit the nut worked like a charm.
Ulrich Joosten
Augusto de Ornellas Abreu
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Geoff Turner
Geoff Turner
Arle Lommel
I've seen far too many players—including good ones—applying rosin with broken little chunks that they stick on the wheel and leave in one place. As a result I personally think that inadequate rosin is likely to be a bigger problem than most people realize: they are so scared of putting too much on that they end up using too little. The amounts of rosin I put on my wheel would startle many players, but I *never* have problems with too much because of the way I apply it.
Leading back to the original question, I think "less rosin-more pressure" vs. "more pressure-less rosin" is a false dichotomy if you know how to apply the rosin. You shouldn't ever need more pressure to accommodate a lack of rosin. Similarly, if your pressure is high enough that a good coat of rosin leads to too much “bite” from the wheel and a bad tone, you have too much pressure, period. All the rosin is doing is revealing that the pressure was too high. If the pressure is right, you should be able to add as much rosin as you want—provided you do it properly—and not have problems. If you keep the pressure low because your rosining tends to cause problems, it's probably the way the rosin is applied.
In other words, my opinion is that you set the pressure right and properly-applied rosin won't impact it. I know others on the list whom I respect greatly may disagree with my opinion, so take what I write as just an expression of my experience and opinion. Even if you disagree with me about whether too much rosin can be a problem, I do think it's worth looking at your rosining technique if you are having trouble with too much rosin: applying rosin evenly and neatly can only help.
Incidentally, if you have a rosin cake that has been good but gets chipped or broken, an easy fix is to take a kitchen torch (like you use to caramelize the top of creme brûlée) and heat the rosin. It will melt the surface and smooth out the chipped/broken area. You don't want it so hot that it burns the rosin, but rather just enough to liquify it and allow it to flow into a smooth surface, so go slowly. I've saved a number of cakes of rosin this way.
-Arle
Arle Lommel
JULIE BARKER
Firstly, thank you for the tip about smoothing the rosin with a blowtorch, I will get myself a torch and give it a try, then I'll celebrate with a well-earned creme brulee.
I think that the differences of opinion re amount of rosin could be down to the differences in wheel construction. When I played Chris Eaton gurdies with laminated wheels I needed to use a lot more rosin than I need on my Boudet, where the rim of the wheel is cut from solid wood; however, I do agree that some of us, myself included, do allow our rosin to deteriorate beyond what is good for the sound; not too much of a problem when an edgy rock and roll sound is required but less than ideal when you want a sweet controlable sound.
Philip G Martin aka Drohne www.drohne.co.uk --- On Fri, 25/11/11, Arle Lommel <arle....@gmail.com> wrote: |
|
|
Billy Horne
Very interesting,what about the use of strings that have different "tensions" ie. low ,medium, high. How does this effect /affect the situation.
Billy Horne
Oscar
viola 3rd for low G has allowed me to use less string pressure,
without losing much punch.
On the other hand, I remember I read somewhere in the old mailing
list, the importance of having an even pressure of the string on the
wheel, and how often the upper octave sounds scratchy / out of tune
due to the string pressing more on the bridge side; thus the need for
filing or sanding down a bit the nut. I have been experimenting with
that lately with good results.
On 28 nov, 21:00, Billy Horne <horne.bi...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
> Very interesting,what about the use of strings that have different
> "tensions" ie. low ,medium, high. How does this effect /affect the
> situation.
> Billy Horne
>
> On 26 November 2011 15:58, JULIE BARKER <dro...@btinternet.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > Firstly, thank you for the tip about smoothing the rosin with a blowtorch,
> > I will get myself a torch and give it a try, then I'll celebrate with a
> > well-earned creme brulee.
> > I think that the differences of opinion re amount of rosin could be down
> > to the differences in wheel construction. When I played Chris Eaton gurdies
> > with laminated wheels I needed to use a lot more rosin than I need on my
> > Boudet, where the rim of the wheel is cut from solid wood; however, I do
> > agree that some of us, myself included, do allow our rosin to deteriorate
> > beyond what is good for the sound; not too much of a problem when an edgy
> > rock and roll sound is required but less than ideal when you want a sweet
> > controlable sound.
>
> > Philip G Martin aka Drohne
> >www.drohne.co.uk
>
> > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to