BOW HAIR - white? black? salt/pepper?

MDEbass · #1 02-25-2009, 08:03 PM

OK so I'm going to get my bow rehaired soon. Right now I'm using white, and have never tried black or salt and pepper. I do a good balance between orchestral playing and solo playing. I heard black is more for orchestral and white is more for solo...is that right? If so, I don't want to give up a good orchestral tone for better solo tone or vice versa...Or is it just personal preference? Sorry about if these questions have been adressed before. Thanks.

tomshepp · #2 02-26-2009, 03:43 AM

I'm having my bow rehaired also. I understand that black hair is more course. So it may be better for orchestra. The person who is doing the rehair is not a fan of salt and pepper for that reason. He said it's harder to get "a good ribbon" when you mix white with black. As he recommends, I'm going with white hair.

bassdoubler · #3 02-26-2009, 03:56 AM

I played with white for a while, found black, loved the grip difference, but eventually found "unbleached white" and I've never gone back. I live in NYC so I'm not sure if that has anything to do with availability versus where you live, but you should look into it. The sound is really amazing and your bow feels like butter. For what it's worth, I use Kolstein rosin pretty much all year (I pull out the Pops when it's REALLY cold and dry in the winter) and I would put rosin on maybe 3-4 times a week....the bow just always felt great right out of the bag.

anonymous12251111 · #4 02-26-2009, 11:42 AM

Try rat hair, it has an unmistakeble tone!

brandonwong · #5 02-26-2009, 12:05 PM

Am i hearing correctly?

it must be a gigantic rat!

JtheJazzMan · #6 02-26-2009, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brandonwong

Am i hearing correctly?

it must be a gigantic rat!

yeh its an age old recipe

wonder how big the mouse traps are for those things

Eric Swanson · #7 02-26-2009, 05:46 PM

Also depends on what stick/strings/bass you are using; white, salt-pepper, or black, all sound/feel different with different setups.

The bad news; you probably have to do your own experimentation.

thedbassist · #8 02-26-2009, 06:15 PM

Well, that's what a lot of people say about bow hair but it really has to do with the coarseness of the hair. For a loose rule of thumb, black is more coarse than white but there are definitely exceptions. Why not try a different type of hair out? Variety is the spice of life.

If you want to get a really great bow rehair, you should go to Lynn Hannings: http://www.lahbows.com/productList.aspx?_categoryID=7 . She's really well known and one of the finest bowmakers out there. Also, Robertson's is great at rehairing bows too. I've only mentioned these two because a lot of luthiers/bowmakers do not have fresh hair because they get so little bass bow rehairs so their bass bow hair becomes somewhat old.

anonymous12251111 · #9 02-26-2009, 09:49 PM

I personally like white hair. I find the hair a bit more smooth sounding. Black is a bit course for my taste, but if you're on a limited budget, black hair will last you much longer.

I still think Portuguese rat hair is the finest.

kurtsnyder · #10 02-28-2009, 09:41 PM

When you mention salt and pepper, do you mean brown hair? I switched to brown hair a couple of years ago and really like it. It's a great balance between orchestral playing and solo stuff.

All the bass players in the Nashville Symphony use the brown hair. And when I say brown, it's not black and white hair mixed... it's actually brown.

MDEbass · #11 02-28-2009, 09:50 PM

yeah salt and pepper is black and white mixed....anyone else have any experience with brown? I'm curious if that might be the one to experiment with. How coarse is it compared to white and black hair (not mixed)

kurtsnyder · #12 02-28-2009, 10:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MDEbass

yeah salt and pepper is black and white mixed....anyone else have any experience with brown? I'm curious if that might be the one to experiment with. How coarse is it compared to white and black hair (not mixed)

Ah, OK... thanks for the clarification! I think brown is a nice middle ground between black and white. It's not nearly as course as black, but it does give a very nice sound and you can hear it grab the string much more than the smoother white. At the same time, it is smooth enough to use for solo stuff. Of course, I wouldn't use it for solo work at Carnegie Hall.

Like I said, I've been using it for a couple of years playing in a community orchestra and doing an occasional recital and I wouldn't go back to white.

Dr Rod · #13 03-01-2009, 07:29 AM

unbleached white

Basskimo · #14 03-11-2009, 09:31 PM

Don't forget the rosin/bow combination. I enjoy finer rosins as they tend to have a better sound for orchestra but aren't grippy enough. So I use a salt & pepper with Oak rosin (medium). Good grip, great sound.

jacofan12609 · #15 03-22-2009, 08:06 PM

The salt and pepper that I use has black white and brown hair. Is that common?

anonymous12251111 · #16 03-23-2009, 03:02 PM

Unbleached White.

**Matthew Tucker** · #17 03-24-2009, 06:00 AM

Today I received a bundle of salt 'n' pepper hair from Lyn Hanning. It appears to be a mixture of mostly chestnut brown and black, with a few lighter hairs in there, they seem to be lighter towards the tip of the hair. I wouldn't say its just a mix of black and white.

Eric Rene Roy · #18 03-24-2009, 05:16 PM

Salt & pepper is used as a term often, but not really what you are getting.

We buy what is sold as Silver hair. Silver and Salt & Pepper are VERY different. TRUE Salt & Pepper is a 50/50 mix of COARSE BLACK hair and FINE WHITE hair. True Salt & Pepper is mixed by hand and takes a lot of skill to be performed correctly and ensure an even ribbon. True Salt & Pepper is also at a premium due to the hair preparation.

Silver is a natural hair color and contains White, Black, Brown & Grey hairs...but all of the same relative coarseness.

I've also been playing with Chestnut...which is a fun hair as the texture is medium but the hair is very elastic. Its like the Obligatos of hair (descriptive reference for anyone who has brought new Ob's up to pitch!).

nightspDr · #19 03-29-2009, 07:59 PM

I think you can try to used black. I think that it's very well. And you can used a hair accessories . I think that it's very beautiful.

kamakiriad7 · #20 04-10-2009, 03:25 PM

At my music school there are 5 bassists; 3 of us use white, and 2 use black. (Interestingly, the white players are all from NL and the black players from Toronto. Figure that one out.) In any event, I use white, and in trying the others' bows, there's a considerable difference in output. I found I had to work less to let the bass project, and as many have said above, black is likely better suited to orchestral playing.

That said, I'm still very happy with white hair on my Alfred Knoll french bow; it really sings. Especially playing solo, where pianissimo passages are easy to navigate. (This also involves Pirastro Evah Pirazzis on my Upton Hybrid [thanks Eric!])