Another Bow Hair Question (sorry)-Horse Hair!

[Kat_Mia]

This may sound like an odd question but...is it better to have a bow haired with horse hair that the bow fixer man provides or real horse hair? I have my own horse so could easitly chop a bit off and use that. What's better?

[davegr8house]

Luthier`s also always need Glue... ...let your Luthier pick the Hair.

[Wil Davis]

Is your horse a boy or a girl? Bow makers tend to prefer hair from the tail of a stallion, as it tends to be less polluted with horse wee-wee than that from the mare…

- Wil

[Kat_Mia]

My horse is a mare but I can take from either.

[Silversorcerer]

Neigh, Neigh, Neigh, what's this? I thought you were bowing with imaginary horse hair and liking it fine!

Uhm, my guess is that real horse hair is probably what the bow fixer man uses when he sells it as such. I'm not sure that cutting your mare's tail would personally enhance that relationship. Maybe have the horse groomer do this for you. I've heard it's dangerous to mess around that end of a horse without a goalie mask and pads. If the bow fixer man didn't sell horse hair or was in another country or state, maybe this would be a good idea. It's good to have a horse handy anyway, for those bad-bow-hair-days.

Keep it real Kat.

[Bob Branstetter]

Horsehair for string instrument bows is not just any old horse's tail. Horses from Russia and Canada seem to be the favorites for raw bow hair. What really makes bow hair different is that the hair is washed and hand graded for uniform diameter, texture and color. Because of the high labor costs, most hair processing today is done in China. Bow rehairers usual buy their bow hair by the pound (in string bound kilogram bundles) that is 30"-36" long. The current cost per pound of high quality bow hair is around $200.00. Unprocessed hair of the same length can be bought for about $40.00 per pound. However, the unprocessed hair is not suitable for bow rehairing.