Bow Hair, the good, the bad and the meh! Part 1

Ok, let's get into it. There are few things that piss off a musician more than a bad rehair. I've been on both sides of this issue. That is, as a player and as a 'rehairer'. I played professionally for many years before I started to learn how to do work on bows, including how to rehair.

I'd like to send out a quick "Don't try this at home." Bows are delicate and the rehair process is a skill that is learned over time. If you want to learn how to rehair bow, learn from a professional who will supervise you at every step of the process. The fact is the chances of something going wrong are very high, especially with older bows. No bow is the same except for carbon fibre bows and even they vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.

This week I will focus on the work itself and the main problems that arise.

1. Too much hair One of the biggest mistakes a bow technician makes is putting too much hair in the bow. Players often request lots of hair and technicians often put as much hair that can reasonably fit in the mortices.

This can lead to a few problems like over loading the bow. The bow has a stiffness, cambre and weight that, when under tension, alow it to perform the multitude of tasks asked of it. When there is too much hair the bow can become sluggish and not respond to rapid techniques such as spiccatto and sticcato. The sound can become grainy also, due to the large amount of rosin in contact with the string.

It's a problem that often rectifies itself as hairs are broken during the playing process or hairs can be cut out.

2. Too little hair This is not such a common problem but crops up from time to time. Depending on the strength of the stick the bow can become jumpy and the draw can be uneven and difficult.

3. Uneven ribbon When the hair is put in the bow the last step is to spread the hair along the width of the ferrul. The piece of wood that is fitted and pressed in is called the spreader wedge. Sometimes the hairs are bunched up on one side. This can lead to warpng the bow. This is, usually, very quickly corrected with a new wedge.

4. Uneven tension in the hair This is happens when the hair is not properly bunched before the knot is tied or it happens when the knot not inserted properly in the mortice. Warpage (temporary and not requiring recambering), uneven wear of the hair and the bow acting unusually are the possible effects.

5. Hair is too tight The hair is put in wet. This gives it more elasticity and facilitates an even tension in all the hairs. When the hair dries it contracts. It is a bow technician's job to anticipate the amount the hair will contract. Weather and humidity are the two prime factors in making that judgement.

If it contracts too much the bow will not loosen to the point of relaxation. If this happens it is not, in almost all cases, a threat to the integrity of the stick. Bows are made and designed to be under tension. The problems arise if the hair is extremely tight. In most cases the hair can be loosened relatively quickly.

6. Hair is too loose This can lead to premature wear as the hair continues to stretch as time goes on. The other concern is the looser hair leads to the stick contacting the string leading to broken hairs and stick wear. This is a rare problem since its quite obvious when the hair is too loose to play on.

These are the main problems that crop up from time to time. Next week I will talk about the horse hair itself. If you have any questions or you think I missed something please feel free to leave a message in the contact section or drop a note in the chat. I'm usually quite quick to respond.

At some point I hope that I can open up the discussion in the form of a forum as I get more comfortable with this blog. Hearing from you helps me and, ultimately, helps you!