HOW IT WORKS – Rosin is made from tree sap (resin) or synthetic ingredients and helps bow hair adhere to your strings. Different rosin formulas have different melting points and the friction created from bowing across your strings melts the rosin particles to better adhere the bow hair to the string.
HARD OR SOFT – Softer rosin has a lower melting point and is ideal for cello or double bass players because it melts more quickly and helps to ensure larger strings vibrate more immediately. Harder rosin has a higher melting point and is useful for violin and viola players since these strings don’t require a lot of stickiness in order to vibrate properly.
LIGHT OR DARK – It’s important to note you should never choose rosin solely on the basis of color since soft and hard rosin can come in all shapes and colors! At D’Addario, our light rosin is hard, and our dark rosin is soft.
APPLYING ROSIN – It’s important to add just the right amount of rosin to your bow. If playing your favorite music leaves a debris field of rosin dust, you might be applying too much rosin! Adding too much rosin can result in your bow feeling sticky against the strings and might cause your tone to sound harsh or scratchy.
Applying too little rosin will result in a thinner tone quality and you might notice that it’s difficult to bow across your strings.
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