Melos—maker of all-natural, hand-made rosins—has launched several new products of late, including Melos Viola Rosin in light and dark, and a new line of rosins especially for Baroque instruments: Baroque Violin and Treble Viol, Baroque Viola and Tenor Viol, and Baroque Cello and Bass Viol. Melos founder Christos Sykiotis, a cellist, explains that different strings and sizes of instruments require more- or less-sticky rosin. “For example,” he says, “the violin rosin must be less sticky than the cello rosin. So we have a big palette of rosins from the violin rosin to bass.” The dark rosin for each instrument is stickier than the light version. Different ingredients, proportions of ingredients, and cooking techniques are used to create the desired stickiness for each instrument. Musicians can mix and match for a custom blend. The Baroque versions for each instrument are more sticky than rosin for their modern counterparts. “The gut string sounds not easy as a metallic string,” Sykiotis says. “We shouldn’t press the bow in order to play. So we need a stickier rosin to play easy. On the other hand, the Baroque violin rosin is less sticky than viola ‘light’ rosin.” Melos rosins are made in small batches from Greek pine resin and other natural ingredients.

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