I've always unthinkingly re-haired all violin bows with best quality Mongolian hair. But having read several recent threads regarding what fiddlers want from their bows, it strikes me that a coarser hair might be more appropriate for many traditional fiddlers. Has anyone any thoughts or experience?
Personally, and knowing bugger all about it really, I'd say the rosin makes a bigger difference. As long as the hair has some "scales" to grip it, of course.
I don't think the texture makes a great deal of difference as, I believe, the hair gets worn relatively smooth where it is in contact with the strings. I might be interested in trying thicker hair, but I am more concerned with uniformity and strength than coarseness. I have an Incredibow that I sometimes use, which has quite smooth fibres, and it seems to grip just as well despite feeling sort of rubbery.
I requested coarse hair in a bow once, as an experiment, but it made very little tonal or mechanical difference. Being slightly thicker, though, the wedge in the bowtip had to be made correspondingly smaller: it didn't hold for more than a few nights' enthusiastic playing, and I lost the whole hank out of the tip mid-tune. Personally, I'd stick with the best hair, and leave the coarse stuff for the'cellos and basses.
Mark, yes, I'm sure the rosin is as important as the hair. But there is a huge range of hair grades available, and only the finest ones are normally used on violin bows. If you try a cello or bass bow (which are normally haired with much coarser hair) on your fiddle, you'll soon realise how much of a difference the hair makes.
From what I can gather from the distributors blurb, the coarser hair does have a coarser scale structure, which means it holds the rosin better and requires less pressure/speed, but at the expense of increased hiss. It struck me that a lot of fiddlers like to use short bow strokes, will little pressure, and aren't too concerned about hiss - in fact a raunchy, rasping sound is often desirable.
The other difference is that the coarser the hair is, the more elastic it is. What effect does that have?
I've noticed in the past several trad fiddlers have mentioned that they use a viola bow - I'd always assumed it was just the weight that made the difference, but I'm now wondering if it is actually the hair quality they prefer.
I'm not sure that the Incredibow is a useful comparison, because it has synthetic hair, and the manufacturers can control diameter, surface finish and elasticity separately. With real horsehair those properties are linked, and you can't change one without changing the others.
I often use a viola bow - it's for the weight and balance, though it's only a couple of grammes over the violin bow "weight limit". It works best (for me) with quality violin bow hair.
For me, when I want a grittier sound, I just lean slightly (with the index finger) on the bow. There are times when I want as smooth a sound as possible, too. In other words, give me the best hair, and let my technique determine the range of tone/grittiness for expression's sake.
Every time I've inquired about it before having a re-hair, I've been told, "Oh, we use only the finest hair," so I have no idea what difference I might notice.
I have heard that black or grey hair is generally coarser than white. I tried black a few years ago and it did seem raspier. But sometimes I like to switch to playing clean and pure so I went back to white Mongolian.
Bow hair
Bow hair
I've always unthinkingly re-haired all violin bows with best quality Mongolian hair. But having read several recent threads regarding what fiddlers want from their bows, it strikes me that a coarser hair might be more appropriate for many traditional fiddlers. Has anyone any thoughts or experience?
# Posted on February 16th 2011 by skreech
Re: Bow hair
Personally, and knowing bugger all about it really, I'd say the rosin makes a bigger difference. As long as the hair has some "scales" to grip it, of course.
# Posted on February 16th 2011 by Mark Harmer
Re: Bow hair
Dunno, but with state of my horse's tail at the moment, you'd get plenty of coarse hairs.
# Posted on February 16th 2011 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Bow hair
I don't think the texture makes a great deal of difference as, I believe, the hair gets worn relatively smooth where it is in contact with the strings. I might be interested in trying thicker hair, but I am more concerned with uniformity and strength than coarseness. I have an Incredibow that I sometimes use, which has quite smooth fibres, and it seems to grip just as well despite feeling sort of rubbery.
# Posted on February 16th 2011 by gam
Re: Bow hair
I requested coarse hair in a bow once, as an experiment, but it made very little tonal or mechanical difference. Being slightly thicker, though, the wedge in the bowtip had to be made correspondingly smaller: it didn't hold for more than a few nights' enthusiastic playing, and I lost the whole hank out of the tip mid-tune. Personally, I'd stick with the best hair, and leave the coarse stuff for the'cellos and basses.
# Posted on February 16th 2011 by Jerry O'Donnell
Re: Bow hair
Mark, yes, I'm sure the rosin is as important as the hair. But there is a huge range of hair grades available, and only the finest ones are normally used on violin bows. If you try a cello or bass bow (which are normally haired with much coarser hair) on your fiddle, you'll soon realise how much of a difference the hair makes.
From what I can gather from the distributors blurb, the coarser hair does have a coarser scale structure, which means it holds the rosin better and requires less pressure/speed, but at the expense of increased hiss. It struck me that a lot of fiddlers like to use short bow strokes, will little pressure, and aren't too concerned about hiss - in fact a raunchy, rasping sound is often desirable.
The other difference is that the coarser the hair is, the more elastic it is. What effect does that have?
I've noticed in the past several trad fiddlers have mentioned that they use a viola bow - I'd always assumed it was just the weight that made the difference, but I'm now wondering if it is actually the hair quality they prefer.
I'm not sure that the Incredibow is a useful comparison, because it has synthetic hair, and the manufacturers can control diameter, surface finish and elasticity separately. With real horsehair those properties are linked, and you can't change one without changing the others.
# Posted on February 16th 2011 by skreech
Re: Bow hair
I often use a viola bow - it's for the weight and balance, though it's only a couple of grammes over the violin bow "weight limit". It works best (for me) with quality violin bow hair.
# Posted on February 16th 2011 by Jerry O'Donnell
Re: Bow hair
For me, when I want a grittier sound, I just lean slightly (with the index finger) on the bow. There are times when I want as smooth a sound as possible, too. In other words, give me the best hair, and let my technique determine the range of tone/grittiness for expression's sake.
# Posted on February 16th 2011 by Will Harmon
Re: Bow hair
Every time I've inquired about it before having a re-hair, I've been told, "Oh, we use only the finest hair," so I have no idea what difference I might notice.
# Posted on February 17th 2011 by Bob himself
Re: Bow hair
I have heard that black or grey hair is generally coarser than white. I tried black a few years ago and it did seem raspier. But sometimes I like to switch to playing clean and pure so I went back to white Mongolian.
# Posted on February 18th 2011 by Moondyne Fiddler