Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: GUEST Date: 03 Oct 08 - 01:23 PM Hi, I googled on this very interresting discussion about DIY bow rehairing because I'm in the process of making myself a cello-bass. It should be inspired by, but certainly not a copy-cat of the fantastic NS products. So far so good, we are in the process of fitting an ebony cello fingerboard onto an electric bass neck. The body will be just fun to make and the electronics too. But in the meantime, I got hold of a bare (no hair) double-bass bow (fiberglass)and I ordered some mogolian horse hair on ebay. I'll try my luck at rehairing on my own too. But the point I wanted to bring-out is just a little trick used in the textile industry that has to do with hair direction. How do you diferenciate natural wool from, say, Orlon or Acrylic? Take a single hair and rub it, lenght-wise, between your thumb and finger. If it's natural, it'll quickly run out of your fingers in one direction or the other. Turn it around and it'll walk the other way. Man made fibers will stay in your fingers without moving. Try it with one of your own hair, it'll work just the same because natural hair grows in one direction and has an outer shell structure similar to fish scale. This was just my bit about hair direction having an effect on string grab. Yes, rosin does most of the job, but... |
Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: open mike Date: 12 Apr 06 - 01:11 AM In Swedish bows, for nyckelharpa, there is an arch that is larger than most fiddle bows. Before they added the feature of a turning mechanism to tighten the hairs, the tension was determined by grasping the hair with the thumb and applying pressure at the frog. |
Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: GUEST,stan Date: 11 Apr 06 - 01:53 AM WOULD SOMEONE TELL ME WHERE I CAN GO TO A SITE AND SEE A VIDIO OF A REHAIR BEING DONE...MY ADDRESS IS CHERNOFF.S@GMAIL.COM |
Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: JohnInKansas Date: 19 Feb 03 - 06:59 PM I'm familiar with the older styles of bows. I did think it a little of a stretch when Mr. Menuhin noted the "ease" of playing all four strings at the same time. The quote comes from his "coffee table" book The Violin, Yehudi Menuhin, Flammarion (Paris), 1996, ISBN 2-08013-623-2. I picked it up off a Borders "discount" table some time ago. It's a "nice" book, but rather little about the violin. Some biographical stuff, but mostly a lot of "pseudo-philosophical" rambling. Needed a better ghost, perhaps. Mr. Menuhin does make the interesting observation that an accomplished "fellow violinist" used synthetic "hair" in his bow with satisfactory results, although his rather sneering observation about the "great billowing clouds of rosin dust surrounding him when he played" give one the impression he didn't really approve. He states elsewhere: "I have to admit something of an aversion to rosin, and the way it leaves a sticky white residue on the velvety smoothness of one's violin." John |
Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: NicoleC Date: 19 Feb 03 - 06:19 PM I doubt it John -- tighter hair actually helps to a certain extent. Otherwise you'll bottom and an scrape the wood along the strings. Yikes! Fortunately I'm not terribly insterested in playing chords, since I like a flexible bow. I doubt any technique will help play all 4 strings on a bow like mine. The baroque bows I am refering to had a convex arch instead. Photos here More stuff |
Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: Larkin Date: 19 Feb 03 - 05:17 PM Did you know that Mare's hair is quite different to Stallions Hair as Mares piss on their tails- this raises the filament on the hair and makes resin stick more to the hair. The mares hair is always placed so that the hair furthest away fron the horse is at the frog end of the bow and so you get more grip - I've never subscribed to the school of arranging hair towards and away from the nag. As to the Araldite for fixing the knot - Super Glue is by far the quickest and easiest. It is NEVER used to glue the wedges in - thay are purely there by fitting perfectly into the boxes in tip and frog. |
Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: JohnInKansas Date: 19 Feb 03 - 04:48 PM NicoleC - Yehudi Menuhin says that the advantage of the Tourte bow is that you can play all 4 strings at the same time. Maybe your hair's too tight. John |
Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: Sorcha Date: 19 Feb 03 - 04:43 PM I have done that on a vielle with a leather patch for a chin rest. Bugger to play! |
Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: NicoleC Date: 19 Feb 03 - 04:34 PM Aren't they elegant, Sorcha? (The pretty snakewood helps, too.) One of these days I want to play with one of the old arched baroque bows where the hair tension is controlled by the player's hand -- who said the violin can't play chords? :) The lutes, on the other hand, kinda scare me... and I thought there were too manystrings to tune on a madnolin! |
Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: Kim C Date: 19 Feb 03 - 03:56 PM Just remember, though, Uncle, there are reasons why some bows cost thousands of dollars. They ain't just sticks with hair on em. ;-) |
Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: Sorcha Date: 19 Feb 03 - 03:00 PM Too many choices! Wow! I want one of those bows!!!! |
Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: GUEST,ballpienhammer Date: 19 Feb 03 - 02:35 PM and who's the best fiddler right now? in performed music, that is... |
Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: Larkin Date: 19 Feb 03 - 01:40 PM I've spent 30 years reharing bows and I've had quite a lot of business from people who were "learning ' to rehair bows. It's not that hard and takes me 20 minutes - that's cutting new wedges- But there are a lot of pitfalls and ways you can completely f**kup( tech term) a bow. $40 ain't so much when you consider that a hank of hair for a bow cost around £5 for best white unbleached- and if there are problems ( should'nt be with someone who knows their job) you can take it back . I charge £22.50 over in England( and I live in SW London ) Massive plug!!) Martin |
Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: NicoleC Date: 18 Feb 03 - 05:51 PM I use the full length of the bow all the time. If you want to play a slower tune or say a dotted half note, it helps to have more hair. otherwise you gotta slow the bow motion waa-aay down. A slow bow stroke sounds different than a fast bow stroke, and sometimes you don't way to change bow direction with every note. And the bow sounds different at each end, so sometimes you want to avoid the ends. Kinda hard with a 10" bow! Bows have been made differently at various times, so I'd say you were perfectly within tradition by experimenting. :) But shaping, camber, weight and balance plus wood quality, flexibility, cut, density and graining (and more!) all contribute to how a bow plays and how the violin sounds. A well-made bow makes a violin sound much better and is MUCH easier to play. So if you are serious about learning the fiddle, (as opposed to just having fun hacking around) I suggest reserving at least one of the bows for rehairing the common way. It's not entirely specious why the modern bow is shaped and made the way it is. If you want to see some examples of reproductions of old bow styles, check this guy out. He also makes lutes. David van Edwards |
Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: Uncle Jaque Date: 18 Feb 03 - 05:18 PM "I would suggest learning some new curse words and oaths, since you're going to need 'em! " Thanks, Wilco48; I think I remember a few choice ones that I picked up over in Korea. They are usually reserved for a balky lawn-mower or other such special occasions - only trouble is, the good Lord understands Korean just as well as anybody! And thanks again for all of the tips, encouragement, and links, everybody! I actually got a nearly recognizable "Frog In The Well" ("Keemo-Kimo") out of the old fiddle by ear with the 10" Psaltry bow! I suspect that the long bows are a requisite for those long, sustained notes in Classical Music but the shorter ones would probably work for most of your Minstrel tunes and Celtic Hornpipes, Reels etc.. Is that a reasonable speculation? Having disected that old busted bow and examining all of those teenie-tiny little blocks, wedges, shims etc. that are used to hold the hair in place, I had sort of a brilliant revelation; "There's gotta be a simpler way to do this!" I exclaimed, to no one in particular. That little Psaltry bow is jigsawed out of 1/4" plywood, with a little hole up through each end; the "hair" (I think it's really some kind of thread) is run up through the front one and tied in a knot on top. In the rear, the hole runs up into a perpendicular tapered hole where the "hair" stuff is wound around a tuning peg a turn or two and through the string hole.... and you guessed it; tied in a knot! The tension is cranked on with the peg and it is jammed down into the hole to stick it; voila!; a simple yet effective bow! I stopped at the Town Library this Afternoon and perused a few books on making simple instruments out of gourds, tin cans, and bric-a-brac (some pretty neat stuff in there!). In one they show a bow made by gluing a couple of blocks on each end of a wooden stick. Eye-bolts are run through a hole through each block, and secured with washer and wing-nuts on the outside. You open up the loops on the eye-bolts just enough to pass a thread through, then wind cotton-covered nylon thread around between them about 50 times, then tie the end off to one of the bolts. Crank up one of the wing-nuts to the desired tension, rosin her up, and away you go! When one side of the loop wears thin, just let the tension off, run the "hair" through to swap sides, and repeat. Looks like a job a non-Rocket Scientist might be able to pull off. So I'm re-designing the bow to sort of a hybred between my psaltry bow and a "proper" bow, using a shaft from one of these relics and whittling a new peg-wound frog and modified tip from scrap black walnut. It will be a cinch to "re-hair", and who knows; it might just work - at least well enough for a reprobate old hillbilly Fiddler! At the very least, it will surely annoy proper Classical Violinists to no end! |
Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: GUEST,sorefingers Date: 17 Feb 03 - 06:44 PM Bows here are 30 bucks new, rehair 15 bucks. About learning, do yourself and everyone you love a favor, get a teacher... lol Best book today would Suzuki, cost 8 bucks, and tape I think around 10 bucks. |
Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: Sorcha Date: 17 Feb 03 - 05:56 PM Move to Wyoming. Only $25 here. |
Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: Kim C Date: 17 Feb 03 - 05:33 PM I thought about learning to rehair bows, and then figured I would rather spend the $35, which is what it costs here in Nashville. ;-) |
Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: wilco Date: 17 Feb 03 - 05:27 PM It sounds as if you have almost all of the necessary equipment to attempt to do re-hairing. However, I would suggest learning some new curse words and oaths, since you're going to need 'em! |
Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: Geoff the Duck Date: 17 Feb 03 - 01:26 PM I did a quick web search and found a few sites which seem to contain useful information on violin construction or bow rehairing, plus some warnings. http://www.donleysmithviolins.com/bow%20rehairs/pages/rehair_index.htm http://www.johnson-inst.com/repair2.htm http://www.graffiti.it/stradivari/photostory/storybrd.html http://www.centrum.is/hansi/intro.html http://www.cauer.com/violincare/ They are worth a look! Quack! GtD. |
Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: JohnInKansas Date: 17 Feb 03 - 12:17 PM Nicole - I believe the hair direction does probably make a difference for natural hair. Several of my fragmented references emphasize the point, although a very few "mavericks" contend that you should use enough rosin so that it doesn't matter. At very high magnification, there is a definite "scale" to most animal hair, which theoretically would make it "grab" better in one direction. The structure is not generally visible at the 20x to 30x magnification one can get from cheap optics, implying that the structure is much smaller than the "typical" grains of rosin which are readily visible at that magnification. This lends some credibility to those who dismiss the need for "alternating lay" of the hairs. The common concept that "all hairs are tapered" is one of those "half-truths" that probably contributes to the tradition of alternating the hairs. The follicles that produce hair or fur continually die and are replaced. It is the "average" lifetime of these follicles that produces a natural limit to how long one can grow hair. When a new follicle begins to grow, the initial growth may be much finer than the average hair, but the follicle - in most animals - matures quite quickly, and after it matures the shaft of the hair it produces does not vary by much. The "first growth tips" of the hair are often strongly tapered - the reason why the finest artists' brushes are made only from the "outer hair" of the ermine. The inner two-thirds of the hair is used to make the cheaper brushes, with an "artificial taper" sometimes produced by "hammering" the tips after assembly. Ideally, the hair to be used for a bow would come from the end "closest to the horse" and should be quite uniform in thickness. This is not necessarily to get rid of the taper produced on the other end by the "young follicles" as the hair begins to grow, but because a horse uses its tail for very practical functions which can result in quite a lot of "split ends" at the other extreme. If your bow hair hank has many detectably tapered hairs, it's probably a "second" stock from the other end of the tail. Based on "technical analysis" alone, there is little reason to "alternate" the hair direction - but then bumblebees can't fly either. There is a strong and prevailing tradition that the hairs should be "half each way," and particularly when learning an art it is probably well to go with tradition. John |
Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: Sorcha Date: 17 Feb 03 - 10:45 AM Answer--Very Carefully! The average bow holds about 100 hairs, more or less. |
Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: mooman Date: 17 Feb 03 - 10:33 AM I've done a few and, once you get the hang of it, it isn't too difficult. As your bows are relatively inexpensive I'd say give it a go! I'd also second the advice above from Geoff and JohninKansas. moo |
Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: Doug Chadwick Date: 17 Feb 03 - 01:59 AM Even the professionals had to start somewhere. You'll never know how unless you try. Who knows, in a few years you could be giving other people advice. |
Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: John in Brisbane Date: 17 Feb 03 - 01:11 AM Go for it Uncle Jaque - by the time you've done 4 or 5 you'll surely be a lot better at it than you are right now. I don't know whether Denis Havlena ever answers email - I suspect not - but his site has all sorts of interesting DIY musical things. You'll find him easily with Google. Regards, John |
Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: NicoleC Date: 16 Feb 03 - 10:38 PM It would probably be of great assistance to be able to look at some well done examples to get an idea of the final product. If they aren't great bows, then by all means have fun with 'em. My nice bow was poorly haired, but it worked fine until we tried to rehair it and had to dig out the old, bad job. It looked like someone had superglued the cork wedge in there! Chipped a piece of the ivory tip getting it out, too. Watching the whole process was daunting, to me, and I'm generally willing to tackle about anything crafty :) You are probably in much less danger of your new hair being contaminated than the old bow hair and case. I'm guessing that if the luthier looked at them without mentioning any warning signs, they are probably okay. John, I think the hair direction matters because of the way the hair holds the rosin, and also the thinkness of the hair shaft. |
Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: JohnInKansas Date: 16 Feb 03 - 09:56 PM Uncle J It sounds as though you have all the parts; and especially if you're not trying to please anyone but yourself, it should be a fun project. There is sufficient information about bow construction in any number of reference books - but in the case of my own references, the problem is that it's in any number of books. I don't find anything on my shelf that gives a very complete story in any one book; although all the parts seem to be there if I consult enough books. Your best source of information would certainly be to watch someone do a couple of bows, but that may be hard to arrange. I've spent a little time observing one of the luthiers/bow-specialists shops at one of our local festivals, and didn't see any "magic," although it was obvious that it takes quite a bit of practice to proceed with confidence. (With enough confidence to charge money for it?) The most important thing I observed was that a few "special purpose" tools are essential. You may, if you proceed deliberately, spend as much time assembling/arranging a suitable work space as in completing a bow. You really do need an appropriate way of holding the bow in the various needed positions while you work on it - and a "jury-rig" can only make things more difficult than necessary. The "artisans" I've watched also had a couple of "attachments" for holding the hair in separate bunches before, during, and after combing and straightening. One fellow, in particular, spent most of an hour just getting the hairs sorted so that an equal number pointed "toward and away from the horse," and that "hairs going both ways" were evenly distributed across the width of the bundle. Another said this doesn't matter(?) but I'm not positive he wasn't trained on synthetic "hair." The tricky part is probably getting just the right amount of hair on the bow, since the wedges won't work if you've got too many or too few. Should be fun. John |
Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: Geoff the Duck Date: 16 Feb 03 - 08:43 PM Horse Hair like banjo vellum has to be wetted before it can be worked. One end is tied, In these days with thin wire and then set in a ball of resin. Originally probably melted Rosin, These days probably Araldite. Once it is secure the fixed end is fitted to the far end of the bow. The hair (wetted) is combed or brushed so that the individual hairs run parallel. Once again they are tied off and fitted into the FROG on the bow. The skill of a professional lies in getting everything to lie straight, flat and even. The finer points of fitting are avalable in at least one book - which was where I read up about 18 years back before making a simpler bow for a Psaltery. Quack! GtD. |
Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: Uncle Jaque Date: 16 Feb 03 - 08:32 PM Oh lovely! I guess my earlier sense that this would be rather like hooping the calfskin head onto my Minstrel Banjo (which I never would have managed without the Drum Major of our Corps helping) may have been fairly on after all. The Luthier I took the 2 fiddles and small collection of bows to (who specializes in violins) assured me that with my experience in instrument repair and restoration I should be able to handle it all right. Besides, I do enjoy learning new things, and the $45 I spent already on parts, strings etc. about put my Wife into apoplectic shock. Another $40 would really stretch the envelope, and it's going to be about 20 below again tonight up here in Maine, and the furnace in the RV out in the driveway hasn't been working all that well. None of the bows, we are told, are any great shakes; a couple "Made in Japan" and others "L. BAUCH"/Made in Germany". One had snapped off about 3" from the tip and someone had splinted it with a nail and some baling wire. I don't think we'll be using that one! Others are for a 3/4 or 1/2 sized violin, and only a couple of them appear to be useable. The guy at the Music store looked at them and pronounced that they had good "camber" and would probably work well enough. You really get hair sets with bugs? That's pretty nasty! I would think that they would treat it with something to discourage the little rascals... but thanks for the warning; I'll give mine a good looking over before pulling them out of the packet and keep an eye out for any signs of infestation. OOOoh; this is going to be so much FUN! {8^{D~ (Something tells me that I shouldda stuck with the Banjo!) Thanks, all! |
Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: Joe Offer Date: 16 Feb 03 - 08:29 PM When I first saw the thread title, all I could think of was The Twa Sisters. Oh, the wind and rain... -Joe Offer- |
Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: bigdarve Date: 16 Feb 03 - 08:16 PM yeah,go to a bow rehairer.i've seen the results of the 'DIY' school and it's rarely a pretty sight |
Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 16 Feb 03 - 06:31 PM Oh yes, go to a pro. If you can find one who will let you watch the process, you'll find out why! It's perfectly possible to do it yourself (I have, once, but only because it was an emergency) but you'll have the very devil getting the hairs tensioned evenly and arranged right, and will probably lose quite a lot of them very quickly. Without experience, you'll probably wind up putting excess stress on the stick, too, one way or another. Not worth it in the end. |
Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: Murray MacLeod Date: 16 Feb 03 - 06:31 PM Just pay the $40.00. Seriously, it isn't worth the hassle. Murray |
Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: NicoleC Date: 16 Feb 03 - 06:18 PM I would recommend a professional job -- you can quite easily ruin the bow by accident. I won't even take mine to a general shop that does them on the cheap, because they do a lousy job. It's a luthier or a bowmaker for me. The bow may also need other work, re-arching, for example, and you *definately* don't want to try that on your own. If you definately want to learn how, I'd start with a cheapie Brazilwood bow and a copy of VIOLIN BOW REHAIR AND REPAIR by H.S. Wake-- but by the time you do that, you might as well have paid a pro. |
Subject: RE: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: open mike Date: 16 Feb 03 - 06:01 PM the reason it costs to get a bow re-haired is because they have the right equipment and glues and way to tension the bow. you need to wedge the hair in just right, and make sure it is absolute.,y clear of all oils and stuff... and if the hair seems to be broken off it may be due to bow hair bugs, or carpet beetle larvae. they chew it off, and you will find little skins like caterpillar "coats" in the case..if this happens you need to eradicate them or they will just chew the hair again...they like natural fibers, wool, fur, leather, hair, you need to get the hairs all distributed evenly along the width of the bow, and only certain adhesives will work to hold them... it is a very specific job....you may find you would rather have it donw by someone who knows what they are doing... |
Subject: Tech: How do you re-hair a fiddle bow? From: Uncle Jaque Date: 16 Feb 03 - 05:02 PM Rather than pay $40 for someone to hair one of these old bows for me (Re: "Fiddles in the Attic" Topic) I bought a bundle of "Siberian" hair at the Music Shop for around $9. Now all I need is some directions on how to perform this trick, so as to learn how to do it as well as get a playable bow (hopefully!). Could anyone kindly put a link up here where I might be properly edified? A set of D'Addario "Pro-Arte'" Perlon core strings were purchaced and put on - I'm not sure if I wound the strings right, but after tuning it to the piano as best as I could, it sounds pretty good when stroked with the little bow borrowed from Daughter's old bowed psaltry. I was able to coax several notes out of it after a little trial-and-error practice. Speaking of which - the Music Shop was all sold out of fiddle primers. Could anyone suggest any websites with the basic, elementary fundamentals of fiddling? I will playing mostly Celtic, Folk, and perhaps a little Bluegrass when & if I ever do get the hang of this old fiddle. Thanks in advance - Uncle Jaque from Maine |
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