I'm not really new to the double bass, but some of the folks I know play with, in my opinion, kinda loose bows.
I play with a fairly tight french bow.
Am I doing something wrong?
Or is the tightness of the bow a totally independant thing (i.e. everyone does what they feel like)?
Thanks for your help.
Sean -aroo

If the hair's so tight that the camber is gone, that's definitely too tight.

I myself prefer relatively tight hair. Too loose and I become king of double stops.

"Just tight enough" is my answer. If it's too tight the bow will tend to "skip" and not really grip the string, if too loose, it will tend to grip the string (and any neighbouring string) too much.

Have you ever read "Goldilocks & The Three Beers?

"This one's too cold - must be from the USA :) ... this one's too warm - must be from "Blighty" ... ah! this one (slurp), this one's just right... Yum! ...braaaaapppp! - oooh! 'scuze meee! "

- Wil

Every bow has an optimum tension. Tighten the hair to that.

If you don't tighten the hair enough the weight of your arm will cause the wood to come in contact with the back of the hair and string limiting the strings vibrations. If the hair is too there is too much tension on the stick and the bow will not dig into the string (you might get those skips), and the bow will not vibrate as much as if it was looser producing a less desirable sound.