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 <[email protected]> wrote: From: Arle Lommel <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [HG-new] Rosin-pressure balance To: [email protected] Date: Friday, 25 November, 2011, 20:24 This topic always gets me on my soapbox, but I'd like to point out one critical aspect of rosining that I've seen forgotten by many good players: You need a very smooth surface on your rosin block. Most problems with “too much rosin” arise because the rosin has built up unevenly on the surface of the wheel and made ridges that break and leave jagged chunks on the surface. The result is the dreaded scratchy too-much-rosin sound. By contrast, if you use a block with a smooth surface and apply it by moving the block back and forth across the face of the wheel while turning it, you can apply tremendous amounts of rosin because these ridges do not build up and you won't end up with this problem. 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 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "hurdygurdy" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/hurdygurdy The rules of posting, courtesy, and other list information may be found at http://hurdygurdy.com/mailinglist/index.htm. To reduce spam, posts from new subscribers are held pending approval by the webmaster. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "hurdygurdy" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/hurdygurdy The rules of posting, courtesy, and other list information may be found at http://hurdygurdy.com/mailinglist/index.htm. To reduce spam, posts from new subscribers are held pending approval by the webmaster.
