Weak hair?

[fdeck]

I have two bows. My favorite is an ancient klunker that is falling apart, but is easy to play despite a plywood bass with spiro's. It was rehaired within my lifetime.

I bought a second bow as a spare and possible successor. Its hair was clean of rosin when I got it. I have played it a fair amount, but I just can't get as much sound out of it.

Both have black hair. Is it possible that the second bow just has "weak" hair? I don't think it is an old bow or that it got a lot of playing on it.

I don't want to go through an endless cycle of fixing everything but the root cause, so I solicit advice. The new bow is heavy and uncomfortable, so I might want to simply replace it, but I want to understand this whole business more before I go bow shopping.

[Michael Eisenman]

You might not have enough rosin worked into the hair. When I rehair bows, I initially add some powdered rosin to the hair with a toothbrush. Up and down the length of the hair until you can see that there's some there. Then I take the bow inside, rosin it up with the regular stuff, and play it for a while. Add rosin until it works.

You can make your own powdered rosin by putting a chunk of the stuff into a baggie and taking a rolling pin to it on a hard surface until it reaches a fine consistency (like breaking up graham crackers for a cheesecake crust). Maybe stick it in the fridge for a while first to ensure that it's good and hard.