To recamber or not to recamber

mheintz · #1 02-18-2005, 03:00 PM

My Lothar Seifert may be in need of recambering. I've had it for around ten years. Before that my teacher at the time owned it and before him, his former teacher owned it. I do not know whether it has ever been recambered. Even at the time that I bought it, the stick may have lost a bit of its springiness.

So my question is whether any of you have recambered your professional grade bow, and if so, what were the results? Would you do it again? I am tempted to buy another bow, but I probably would not sell this one.

godoze · #2 02-18-2005, 03:24 PM

Whenever i get a rehair my bow person (Elizabeth Van Der Veer Shaak) she looks at the camber. I have had several bows recambered.

KSB - Ken Smith · #3 02-19-2005, 05:50 AM

At my first lesson with Bill Blossom in NY around 1971-72 he looked at my bow (a Guiseppi Vitale) and asked if I minded him fixing it a little. I said 'Sure, go ahead".. He took it into his Kitchen, turned on the stove (as I waited patiently in the living room holding his Lorenzo Ventapane 7/8 Neapolitan 200 year old pedigree Bass) and he heated up the stick. He came back holding some pressure on it for a few minutes and then asked me to try it. It had a new Arc and played much easier than before.
I was off to the Caribbean on a Ship after a few lessons. In a storm, My Bass fell over and knocked the C ext. loose. The Bow was also broken down by the screw end. I took it to Fantoni and he put a ferrule on the end, expertly repaired and fully paid for by my Insurance. Stanley Clarke later bought that bow from me and that was before his Chick Corea RTF gig. It was a great bow even after the repair.

My current bow by Peter Eibert was bent by both me and Paul Biase. It is heavy and stiff and needed more bend. Fix it for as long as you can. You cannot replace the old vibrated musical woods easily so it is better to keep them in good repair and playing condition.

mheintz · #4 02-19-2005, 12:33 PM

Ken and DZ, thanks for the encouragement. I'll take my bow in soon. The bow has such a magic quality, both sentimental and musical, that it's easy to forget that it is a piece of wood that can be bent back into shape. (However, I'm certainly not brave enough to stick it over my stove!)