Baker's Rosin Testimonials
"I have to say that once I opened them (delightedly), I didn't want to use them. They look like beautiful little drops of caramel! Good enough to eat! It was all I could do to convince myself that they were cakes of rosin to be "spoiled" on my bows. So, I rosined up my bow with Baker's and loved it immediately. I could "feel" how it was going to sound as I applied it to my bow. It has tremendous grip and what a wonderful sound. I could tell the difference right away. I applied the Baker's to one of my older students who tends to let her fingers get as loose as spaghetti and had a giggle when she couldn't pull the bow at all without suddenly using some strength. So, all that is to say that the rosin has great grip on the string. Then I got some friends together who all have great ears and we had a play-off. We took four fresh, never-rosined bows and rosined them up with Baker's, A.B. dark (which I have used almost 40 years), and Salchow's (very popular here - don't ask me why). Then I played various passages of music on my Testore with all four bows for about an hour trying to get my listeners confused. They didn't once. The hands down winner? Your Citron! Everyone thought it had the most clarity, depth, and complexity of all four rosins. We did some really careful listening against the AB rosin because I explained to my friends about people's prejudice against "noise" and "dust." Frankly, the AB had the most string noise, but it was minimal. Both of your rosins had very little string noise at all. What is a factor is the quality of sound and the cleanness of articulation, for which one needs a good amount of grip from a rosin. Both of your rosins have that in abundance and they are really nice to use. You made a convert out of me, Tom! And doing that with a 40 year user of AB dark is pretty hard to do!" - Lisa Marsnik
"I got your rosin yesterday. I couldn't believe my ears and I had to ask my wife about her opinion, so I would be sure it wasn't me just wanting to be optimistic... She was equally impressed! I just put a new set of Evah on my violin (for several years I neglected them, because I was trying to match strings to my violin) and with your rosin the sound is just unbelievable. This is the best rosin I have ever played on, and I don't think I can go back. I hope you will teach your family the secret of the recipe, so this awesome rosin can be used for many artists. I feel honored to use it." I personally would pay more for this quality rosin. I payed $25 for the Paganini cake (which I happily threw out in the garbage, after trying yours), and yours is defenitely better!.
-Edward Pulgar
"I got my Baker's rosin early last week, and my opinion before I got it was that I expected it to be very good, but I could really not imagine that it could possibly be anything beyond normal high end rosin. I mean, how much better can a rosin be than any other rosin?
Well, after trying it, I got my answer. The 'grippyness' and the quietness are the two qualities that struck me the most. I am tempted to just put all the other rosins I have gotten over the years in a box and post it on ebay, because I won't be putting any of that on any of my bows anymore. "
-Gordon Kersten
"The best I've ever used. With synthetic strings, it also
softened their hard edged sound. Indeed I intend to
continue using this rosin from now on. Heifetz used clear Hill's rosin, and very sparingly. Good stuff, but he would have preferred Baker's"
-Stephen Redrobe
I got your rosin a few days back. I have not yet tried the Citron rosin - I'm too obsessed with the original right now. First thing I noticed was that Baker's original immediately solved my issues with adhesion of rosin. I've been trying for about a year now to find a rosin that would stick well to both the bow and the string and well, this is it. I have a rather heavy hand and rosin has a hard time staying on my bow for more than 10 minutes of continuous playing. After that time my violin is caked with rosin dust and I have to reapply rosin to my bow. But with this stuff, I only applied the rosin once and ran on that one application for several fiddle-playing sessions. You've got something really amazing here. When I was in orchestra it was not uncommon for me to have to reapply rosin in the middle of the conductor's instructions. I wish I had this stuff back then. Not only does it stick but it has a balance of sound I am happy with. I don't think I'll be using my Jade rosin again.
-David Segovia
If you’re like me, you probably haven’t given much thought to the rosin you use. The conventiuonal wisdom has been that folks who play on steel strings tend to gravitate to darker, softer, rosins, while synthetic-core string users seem to like lighter-colored rosin. We probably all have a favorite type, but I had kind of assumed that “rosin is rosin” until I was recently sent samples of two remarkable hand-made rosins from T.C. Baker.
This gentleman has been hand-tapping colophony (resin) from living trees in Florida. He taps his trees only during the hottest months of the year, when the resin particles are smaller. He then adds barks, sugars, element metals and beeswax to the colophony in accordance with old recipes dating back to the days of Vuillaume and Paganini. Brewed in either copper kettles (Original Rosin) or distilled in earthen vessels (Vuillaume Rosin), the rosin is then sun-dried.
Mr. Baker’s research has shown him that rosin, an organic substance,
deteriorates with time. Therefore, rather than wholesaling it to stores where it may sit on a shelf for months or years, he sells his rosin by mail-order directly to his
customers to ensure freshness. He also seals each cake in a metal tin to protect it from air. To quote Mr. Baker, “To make rosin this old-world way has to be a labor of love rather than a quest for profit. Like art, that's just the way it is.”
My wife Claudia Anastasio has been using the Baker's Vuillaume Citron rosin. Here’s her review:
Like the finest old-recipe distilled liquor, this artisan-made rosin has
layers of quality ‘tastes’ that you discover joyfully with every bowstroke.
What I love most is that it has incredible grip without being sticky or
scratchy—great for articulating fast, bouncy, rhythm-centric old-time tunes.
I use Prims, and this rosin draws a really big sound over and over, warming
up the edginess of the steel strings, while you rosin your bow less and
less. Highly recommended!
After a few days with the Vuillaume rosin, I switched over to the Original
formulation. Mr. Baker says that this formula is a little darker than the Vuillaume,
and indeed it seemed more similar to the dark rosins I had been using previously.
I use Jargar forte-gauge steel strings, and the Original rosin really grabbed the strings without being scratchy. The more I played with the rosin, the more I liked it.
I could play for hours, then wipe off just a dusting of rosin from the top of the fiddle. As Mr. Baker says, “You hear the violin, not the rosin.”
Baker’s rosins currently sell for $14.95, a real bargain considering the
labor-intensive methods with which they are made. I ordered several of each style,
as both Claudia and I are convinced that these are the best rosins we’ve ever tried.
Baker’s Rosin’s Web page is: www.bakersrosin.com. There you can find
fascinating information about the rosin-making process, testimonials and information on ordering the rosin.
An interesting footnote: Mr. Baker has recently been experimenting with some new formulations, and has kindly sent me some samples. I have just begun to test them, but they are excellent as well.
-Paul Anastasio - Fiddler Magazine
|