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Hello! I recently took a swing at making/refining my own rosin as I enjoy projects that involve science and produce something quite beautiful in the process. A few days ago I went to a small area where there were Pine trees growing near a creek and collected some resin deposits. It was a very small amount but I came back days later fully prepared with better gear to collect more. The resin used in this one is from the first harvest I did. I’ll provide images and videos from start to finish of everything. Please let me know how I can improve and if it’s an alright first go! I do know it needs beeswax to be actual playable rosin but I’m storing it until I get my cloth and mold in to pour the rosin/beeswax mix into and I do know there’s small dirt particles in there, I’ll see if a coffee strainer works for most of the small particles. IMG_2629.mov IMG_2631.mov IMG_2632.mov IMG_2634.mov IMG_2635.mov
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Hey all, New to the forum but I have a unique old piece that I wa looking for more info on. It's a small box of rosin with a label on top that has a French sentence followed by the name Vuillaume. I know it's old, but I've only been able to find one image online and was trying to dig up a little more info about its history, collectibility, rarity, value any and all info would be great.. Thanks alot! I will post a picture when I figure out how haha
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While I would prefer to stick with (hahaha! Get it? ) a "real rosin"...I am also trying to minimize as much dust as I can. Are the clear rosins as good? I was just looking at the D'Addario Clarity, which seems to be a one-rosin-fits all formulation. I have been using the low dust D'addario Light Kaplan rosin for my violin (after experimenting with all kinds of rosins) and have no complaints. I don't want to experiment with cello rosins...just want to get one a little better than the one that came with the cello outfit.
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I found a few things that caught my eye at NAMM (National Association of Muisic Merchants), in Anaheim, this last week. I'll begin with the few violin pieces of interest. Cecilia is the new name for Andrea - I just realized this(!) as it is one of my go to rosins. The owner, Peter, Cecilia Rosin by Cremona in America, had a great chart at his booth that showed which humidity and temperature conditions dictated what rosin one should use - he has 4 types, one of them being a combination of two others. Note that this last one is not a mixture, but concentric rings of two types of rosin. That is a cool way to blend rosins, maybe like we used to do with X-country skiing. I think that analogy works... I do find in challenging or varying humidity conditions using 2 different rosins works better. (I found this by accident, when I switched rosins, and had a base of another). What was new - to me, anyway - was the rosin spreader. This is a plastic circle of little teeth that fits on the bottom of any of the Cecilia rosins, and after rosining the bow, you run the hairs through the spreader to insure even application. I think it does make quite a difference, especially on bows with older hair. Of course, it fits his rosin, but you really don't need to have it mounted on the rosin to use it; at the show it was $5.00. He also had a student grade rosin with LEDs that are motion sensitive - to encourage little kids to rosin their bows...I liked that, but the LEDs wouldn't show up in my pictures. The second item I found interesting was a self rehairing bow by Stentor. (they bought the rights from a another compant) I'll try to post some pictures - the better bow is a CF student grade, about $119.00 or so US street price, and the replacement hanks are expected to be about $15.00. The frog slide comes apart upon bow screw removal, and is used as a tool to dissasemble the bow. I suppose that the prepared hank may not be spread perfectly, but for students this could be a great idea. What might be a nearly throw away bow upon hair age - rehairs in the LA market are usually from $60 - $75. or more - can be rendered almost as good as new, or as new for very little. In the demo, it took the sales person/representative less than 5 minutes to do the rehair. If a student's parents can do it in 15 minutes or so, it's a big win. The last item really caught my and everyone else's attention, though it's not strictly a violin product. It's Fender Audio's RIFF, a shoe box sized portable Bluetooth speaker, at $469.99 list. https://www.fender.com/en-US/audio/bluetooth-speakers/fender-audio-riff-bluetooth-speaker/9190021015.html I think it could be useful to a gigging amplified violinist, who now doesn't have to carry a heavy amplifier with them: it's ~ 5.2 lbs. Here's what "sounds" so promising: it's 60 watts, up to 30 hr battery life (w/o BT, and not "cranked"), 6 "speakers" w/i: 2 tweeters, 2 mid, 2 bass radiators, a touch sensitive wood top panel for adjusting volume and eq, 1/8" and 1/4" jack inputs, water resistant, and somewhat stylish. I listened to it several times, but at NAMM, it's almost impossible to tell anything about the sound unless you are in the very back, or in an isolation booth. I could only tell that it sounded at least somewhat like a guitar - they had no violins at the booth. Fender was in a very busy area. In general, NAMM was much smaller this year, and a day shorter. That's at least partly because of COVID: to catch up, there was a show in the second half of last year, and NAMM wants to get back to their normal January schedule, so this show was in between last year and the one planne for next year. I hope the larger vendors return this next January, as many large vendors pulled out for this show. One intelligent wag I spoke with opined that larger vendors are finding influencers more cost effective, and their NAMM ROI minimal. This could be close to earth shattering - most influencers can be anything, but are not objective. Most never do comparative reviews, and will not be supported by companies if they even rarely slam a product. I really hope this idea is falacious. Vendors, especially large ones, are NAMM's life blood, and having a robust music industry - to my mind - depends on dealers. We all have our opinions on the $200. special from Amazon, but the way to fight this is through education: of the buying public, through distributors, dealers, etc. That and I am sick of reading Amazon reviews ad nauseum. Another wag talked about supply chain issues. I know this to be true, because I also interviewed a very fine maker of extremely high end audiophile amplifiers, pre-amplifiers, and phono stages. The audio maker verified everything the second NAMM wag told me. This second wag from NAMM works at a guitar/violin/voice amplifier company - one of the very respected ones, actually - and he detailed the problems any manufacturer of electronic equipment had during COVID. This was synonymous with what my audio designer/maker told me. During initial COVID, for a year or more, home entertainment products sold, much more than before and more than expected. Inventory was therefore very hard to maintain, both because of lack thereof, and because of shipping difficulties. In phase two, companies hired and tried to adjust to increased demand. Simultaneously, a factory in Japan - one of only two worldwide that makes audiophile DAC chips burned down. It turns out they also made chips that are used in cars, regular amplifiers, and many other smart products. So now "small" music companies - in comparison to Ford and GM - are being relegated to back of the line when it comes to parts allotment, and are having waits of almost a year. Additionally, large music companies have so much of certain products that they are literally overflowing, and/or have many half built components, as they overcompensated trying to meet the initial COVID demand. New products are likely to be in short supply - because of the electronic parts issue, and dealers can't move enough of the old equipment. This means large layoffs, and some - even many - large music manufacturers are really struggling. Much of this also explains their NAMM absence, not just shifting buying habits. I haven't mentioned the FED, inflation, and a possible recession, with which my wag gleefully filled my head, but I do not wish to promulgate a political discourse in these august pages. I just hope rosier times will soon come.
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Has anyone ever tried the small-batch Deja "Soloist" Rosin? What were your thoughts?
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Hello everyone, I am new to this forum and this is my first post. I have 2 Pirastro rosins, Schwarz and Oliv-Evah. I also have Tonica and Chromcor strings. I currently use Tonica and Oliv-Evah. However, I am a bit suspicious about those two, because there are some differences that are visible: My Oliv-Evah has a writing "Handcrafted Quality" instead of usual "Handmade in Germany" in the internet images. My Schwarz rosin has "Handmade in Germany" writing. My Tonica strings is fine in the outside packaging, but the strings holder (one made of paper with hole in the middle) has a very faint print and some typos. The color winding near the ball is correct, red and white. My Chromcor strings has a stronger print and no typos in the strings holder. Is there a chance that both of my rosin and strings are counterfeit? Or is it just an outdated genuine packaging? (especially for the rosin. There are no typos there) I do have plan to change my rosin in the future to Bernardel or Cecilia. How do I spot a counterfeit in those two?
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I use Andrea Solo and I'm looking for a Gold rosin to combine and apply like two strokes, after applying Andrea, to achieve a warmer tone. My Laubach Gold has only one small piece left. I'm looking at Pirastro Goldflex and Piratro Evah Pirazzi Gold rosins. I know that the Goldflex has actual gold powder, but I'm not sure about the Pirazzi Gold? Does it actually have gold powder or the "gold" is only present in the name because of the strings's name?
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I have long suspected (as well has other makers) that the cooked rosin is fugitive. Below is a photo of two samples of cooked rosin varnish. The control sample is labeled "AIR" because it was left in the air outside my UV drying cabinet. The test sample is labeled "UV" because it was placed for 12 hours in the UV cabinet. It is obvious that the varnish is fugitive. The test sample received less UV intensity than my violin gets because the sample was on the door ledge out of direct illumination from the UV lamps. I believe that perhaps the only way to use cooked rosin is to reduce UV drying and resort to siccatives as @Roger Hargrave did. Of course, I wonder why mess with something so unstable and difficult to control. I'll have more to say on this topic. Stay Tuned.
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Has anyone ever tried the small-batch Deja "Soloist" Rosin? What were your thoughts?
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Hello there, I'm a new member, but I've used threads from this forum as an information source many times before. I'm a Danish cellist with a lot of hobbies, one being restoration of old violins. I'm rather new to it, though, and have only repaired one violin yet with a nasty sound post crack, so I need to gain a lot of experience. I picked this violin up from a luthier's shop window in Schleswig, Germany. He told me it's a 200 or more years old violin from Mittenwald. I asked why the maker didn't use flamed wood for the neck when the body seems to be of rather nice wood and he said that it was probably made by another person than the body like some sort of production line, just like the trade instruments. After staring at it in admiration ever since I purchased it, I've formed a theory that the neck might actually be made later instead of a neck graft. I think there is lots of attention to detail in the body, but not so much in the neck, and the combination seems weird to me. However, I don't have much experience, so I would love if someone could help me identify it. I have taken pictures with my phone, and I've observed a few details: The fingerboard seems to have been too low on this neck and have been lifted with a thin, angled piece of maple. Is that normal? The fingerboard has grooves from the strings The upper right corner where the left hand might rest is weared down a lot so it has a curve down and is even cracked along the purfling. The back has marks after having a chin rest mounted for both a right- and left handed player. Maybe it's been a student violin and used by many people? However, it only has marks in the c-bout on the treble side. It has been repaired in five cracks in the top and one in the side. The stamp on the inside looks a lot like the one of Christian Wilhelm Seidel, but especially the d is not as swung. I can't find anything anywhere matching this font. Does anybody recognize this branding? I can't upload my photos from my phone, so they're on Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B0fyVNePhekSc2hsa2xxT3pTSWM My last question is one that I know has been asked too often: It's horribly firty with rosin buildup etc, how should I clean it? I've done my best with a damp cloth, but it's not really enough. I've heard turpentine should be safe on rosin varnishes (this should be dragon blood according to the seller), and it seems to work, but I don't really like how hard the turpentine itself is to get off the surface. I'm not asking how I should clean my instrument casually, but how I should do if I want to be the amateur luthier who enjoys making old stuff play again. Lastly, of course I won't do anything stupid to a really good instrument while I'm still learning, and it will under any circumstanced be taken to my luthier when I get home before I touch it. Sorry for the long post, but I hope someone out there can help me. - Tobias :-)
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