Why do I need rosin?
Because rosin is sticky. When you apply rosin to the hairs of your bow and draw the bow across the strings of your violin (or viola, cello or bass) the rosin grips the string and tugs at it. The bow keeps moving and the string snaps back to its original position and is caught again by the rosin on the hair and the cycle is repeated. This happens very, very quickly. In the case of your A-string 440 times per second. If a bow’s hair has never been rosined it will not grip and the hair just slides over the string and you hear nothing. Continue reading →

String Instrument maintenance is necessary to keep your instrument in playing condition. It includes tasks that you can do yourself such as keeping the strings free of rosin, polishing the instrument, replacing strings, repositioning the bridge, lubricating pegs and fine tuners Continue reading →

What’s in a name? The ‘fiddle’ and the ‘violin’ are (physically speaking), exactly the same instrument. The difference is all to do with style. In fact, it says a lot about just how adaptable this instrument is that it’s equally at home in your local bluegrass venue as it is in Carnegie Hall. Continue reading →