Every time I rosin my bow, I seem to break hairs. Sometimes at the middle, sometimes at either end. The hair sometimes breaks while playing, but that's probably to be expected, given my amateur technique at this point in time. I do cut (as opposed to yank) the stray hairs, but the thing is starting to look kind of ghetto in my non-expert opinion. A bit of back story:
Having not done much arco since high school and college (and even then, I was basically self taught with help from a cello player), I recently decided to give it a whirl again. I only had experience with a German (all that was available at school), so a few months ago, a friend of mine gave me one that he had, which he has only barely used. He said he paid around $100 for it, it was something of a spare for students at the time he purchased it, but now he's got quite a few, all much nicer and much more expensive. I believe it's brazilwood, with an ebony frog and clear/white real horse hair.
I bought some Carlsson rosin. I previously recalled having used much "softer" rosin back in high school, but in all honesty maybe I'm recalling something else. Anyway, I tightened up the bow and went to town.
The first time, I immediately broke a few hairs. I took a look at the Carlsson, and notice the edges on the top of the cake seemed rather sharp (it's concave with the edges higher than the center). I took some 1000 grit wet sand paper and flattened them out. Washed the off the cake, let it dry and came back to it the next day.
From this point on, it's pretty much been the same routine, no matter how I attack it;
- try a small section, 3-4" at a time
- try end to end
- just start in the middle
I do actually end up with rosin on the bow, and it's making it to the strings as well. It doesn't last all that long, but I do recall you need to load up the bow over time. I tried some friends violin rosin, don't know the make, but the results were the same. I don't think I'm over or under tightening the bow, and I don't think I'm applying an abundance of pressure...
So my question (which I'd ask my friend, but he's out of the country for a while); does it just have bad hair? Like I said, it was basically new according to my friend, though it had been sitting around for years. I trust his opinion, he's a great player and is professionally/formally trained, unlike myself. Is it possible the hair is just dry and brittle?
I've been thinking of taking a trip to Upton (I'm in CT), but I don't want to show up with a half ass bow and have them look at me sideways like an idiot, e.g. perhaps it's not worth re-hairing, etc. Is that even possible...are $100 bows not worth the trouble? Likewise, once my friend returns, I don't want to end up at his place with this mangy looking bow and a dumb look on my face...
Thanks!
