How often to rehair a bow?

[accutone]

I know that rehairing will depend mostly on how much one plays, but how do you know when to rehair a bow?
Thanks in advance.

[Cory Palmer]

Hairs breaking constantly is usually a good sign that you need a rehair. Basically it's when the hair isn't gripping the string as well as it should.

I think the time of year can have a lot to do with how long hair lasts. My last rehair only lasted a little over two months and I'm pretty sure it's because the humidity has been so low in Baltimore.

[toman]

If you play every day, I'd say at least once a year if not more often. I know most people go longer (or much longer) than that, but ideally...

[Bob Branstetter]

Originally Posted by Cory Palmer

I think the time of year can have a lot to do with how long hair lasts. My last rehair only lasted a little over two months and I'm pretty sure it's because the humidity has been so low in Baltimore.

Although bow hair will get slightly shorter when it is "dry" and get a bit longer when it is "wet", assuming that you keep the tension the same I can't think of any reason for excessive bow hair breakage caused by dryness (low humidity) in a period of time as short as two months. I have friends (customers) who have moved from the high humidity Midwest to the low humidity desert Southwest and I've never heard them complain about bow hair breakage related to low humidity. I think you need to look for another cause for the excess breakage. If your last rehair was not done by a shop of known quality, it could be that they used bleached hair or "old" hair if the shop doesn't do a lot of bow rehairing. I see a lot of new, lower priced bows come in to my shop with excessive breakage and it can almost always be traced to the bleached bow hair that was installed at the factory. Bleached bow hair looks good, but unfortunately doesn't hold up as well in use as the more expensive unbleached variety.

[Cory Palmer]

Originally Posted by Bob Branstetter

Although bow hair will get slightly shorter when it is "dry" and get a bit longer when it is "wet", assuming that you keep the tension the same I can't think of any reason for excessive bow hair breakage caused by dryness (low humidity) in a period of time as short as two months. I have friends (customers) who have moved from the high humidity Midwest to the low humidity desert Southwest and I've never heard them complain about bow hair breakage related to low humidity. I think you need to look for another cause for the excess breakage. If your last rehair was not done by a shop of known quality, it could be that they used bleached hair or "old" hair if the shop doesn't do a lot of bow rehairing. I see a lot of new, lower priced bows come in to my shop with excessive breakage and it can almost always be traced to the bleached bow hair that was installed at the factory. Bleached bow hair looks good, but unfortunately doesn't hold up as well in use as the more expensive unbleached variety.

The hair was good hair. Definitely not bleached. The hair breaking wasn't happening whenever I played. It was mainly during heavy orchestral passages that the hair was breaking. I had been preparing for a recital and doing a lot of heavy playing in general.

It seems like the combination of the amount of playing I was doing and the constant change in humidity lead to my hair needing to be rehaired sooner than usual. Also, I tend to get my bow rehaired a lot sooner than a lot of people that I know. Pretty much as soon as the hair starts playing less than ideal I try to get it changed. I could have played for a couple more months on that hair but it would have been harder for me to get the sound that I know I can get. I have auditions coming up and this was the only time that I would be able to get my bow rehaired before all the auditions came up.

About the humidity thing. I don't think that making one big move between different climates is going to make that big of a deal. The change in length of the hair isn't much of a concern. It's how brittle the hair gets. It's more when the climate is changing dramaticly ever couple days. I'm not sure if there are many places that change as much as Baltimore.

[Bob Branstetter]

Originally Posted by Cory Palmer

About the humidity thing. I don't think that making one big move between different climates is going to make that big of a deal. The change in length of the hair isn't much of a concern. It's how brittle the hair gets. It's more when the climate is changing dramaticly ever couple days. I'm not sure if there are many places that change as much as Baltimore.

Brittle? I would be more inclined to believe this theory if every other string player in Baltimore experiences the same hair breakage at the same time you do.

[Cory Palmer]

Originally Posted by Bob Branstetter

Brittle? I would be more inclined to believe this theory if every other string player in Baltimore experiences the same hair breakage at the same time you do.

I'll have to ask around to see if other people have had similar problems.

I know for me it wasn't just that the climate was changing. It was a combination of the climate and how much heavy repertoire I was playing.

[GriffithLea]

Originally Posted by Bob Branstetter

I think you need to look for another cause for the excess breakage. If your last rehair was not done by a shop of known quality, it could be that they used bleached hair or "old" hair if the shop doesn't do a lot of bow rehairing. I see a lot of new, lower priced bows come in to my shop with excessive breakage and it can almost always be traced to the bleached bow hair that was installed at the factory. Bleached bow hair looks good, but unfortunately doesn't hold up as well in use as the more expensive unbleached variety.

+1 on quality hair making a difference. I have the use of an Arco Nouveau bow, to try out and have around as a spare should anything happen (crossing myself) to my good pernambuco bow. The hair that the Arco Nouveau came with is just awful. It's "white", but it's a sickly-looking white compared to the white hair on my good bow. The rates of hair breakage between the two bows is like day and night. The cheap hair on the Arco Nouveau just comes off like mad - play for a few minutes and you're just about guaranteed to have 1 or 2 hanging off (at least). By comparison, the hair on my good bow is excellent. I can literally count on one hand the number of hairs that have broken since Philip Gold expertly rehaired it 6 months ago, and most if not all of those were caused by me catching the hair on something.

I like to rehair every 6-12 months. I think (luthiers, correct me if I'm wrong) that the age of the hair needs to be considered as well as the amount of play it gets.

[Bob Branstetter]

Originally Posted by GriffithLea

The cheap hair on the Arco Nouveau just comes off like mad - play for a few minutes and you're just about guaranteed to have 1 or 2 hanging off (at least). By comparison, the hair on my good bow is excellent. I can literally count on one hand the number of hairs that have broken since Philip Gold expertly rehaired it 6 months ago, and most if not all of those were caused by me catching the hair on something.

Excellent point. Bass players need to be especially careful about where they get their bow rehaired. The better shops use the same high quality white hair on bass bows as they do on violin bows. Unfortunately, economics comes in to play. It takes over twice as much hair to rehair a bass bow as it does a violin or viola bow. In order to keep prices down, some shops use cheaper, often bleached hair for bass bows. I would bet that not 1 bass player out of 20 (if that many) could spot bleached hair. If installed properly, about the only visible difference is that the bleached hair is more likely to be uniformly white from end to end. Unbleached white hair tends to be more yellowish at one end. Black hair of course is never bleached. It's faults relate to the hairs not being uniform diameter. Shops like to use black hair because it is relatively cheap compared to top quality white. I can buy black hair in bulk for about 1/10 of what I pay for top quality white hair. If you like black hair, don't go to a place that charges the same price for black rehairs as for white rehairs.

Anyone who is experiencing more hair breakage than normal may wish to consider trying a different shop for their next bow rehairing. In addition to differences in the hair, some guys (or gals) are just better at it than others.

[Tbeers]

I have no idea when to have my bow rehaired, so I just do it once a year. It always feels and plays better after a rehair, I know that much. But the problem is, I can never tell when it has gone bad again. Oh well... the same thing happens to me with strings. I just keep myself on a 1-year rotation to simplify things.

[Don Higdon]

Originally Posted by GriffithLea

I think (luthiers, correct me if I'm wrong) that the age of the hair needs to be considered as well as the amount of play it gets.

Precisely. Sue Lipkins told me that very thing.

[Bob Branstetter]

Originally Posted by GriffithLea

I like to rehair every 6-12 months. I think (luthiers, correct me if I'm wrong) that the age of the hair needs to be considered as well as the amount of play it gets.

And... it's not just how long the hair has been on your bow. I've talked to people who run small violin shops and I heard one say that "a pound of ??? hair lasts me about 10 years". I wouldn't want to be the guy who comes in to get his bow rehaired in year ten. At the other extreme, I've been in shops that keep a climate controlled closet just to keep the hair at a constant moisture content. I heard of another guy who keeps his bulk hair in his home freezer until he is ready to use the hair. To me, that is over kill, but these guys are doing their best to keep the hair "fresh".

[GriffithLea]

Originally Posted by Bob Branstetter

Excellent point. Bass players need to be especially careful about where they get their bow rehaired. The better shops use the same high quality white hair on bass bows as they do on violin bows.

Now I understand why Philip refers to the hair he uses for my rehairs as "violin white".