Double Bass 20 year old cheap bow - rehair or replace?

[Martin Beer]

I'm a fairly casual player these days, absolutely no classical aspirations, I either dip into the local free improv scene or play in folky acoustic or singer/songwriter type situations. I do bow a certain amount though, either for more melodic parts, textural stuff in improv or to work on my intonation when practicing.

I play German bow and have had the same no-name wooden student bow for about 20 years now, a fairly generic Chinese one. I've had it rehaired in that time, but it's quite a bit overdue for another. Though I did some DIY repairs to it during lockdown in 2020 (when everything was shut) just to keep practicing- the tip facing has been reattached with CA glue and the wedge at the tip is a homemade replacement I whittled from a piece of maple scrap. I don't if those plus the low value of the bow might make it marginal for another rehair.

I could look at a new bow, but in my budget it would be a <£200 student bow (I'm in the UK). There are probably more options today than when I got this one, but that's still not getting me into nice bow territory by a long way. I'd probably be looking at things like the Vingobow from China, importer brands like Gewa, possibly the P&H carbon bow, or I've seen one shop with some Romanian-made student bows.

I know there's a rehairer just a couple of miles away from me, I could possibly drop in with my bow and see if they think it's viable for a rehair. But I'd be curious to hear the opinions of Talkbass.

 

[jallenbass]

I have no idea if your bow is worth rehairing, but VingoBow is quite nice for very little money.

 

[TheBassPreacher]

If you like your bow it might be worth ringing up your local shop to see how much they charge for a rehair. That will help you decide if it is worth it or not. That being said, I have a Carbon Fiber VingoBow that I purchased because my other bows got lost in a recent move. My musical playing is similar to yours, a lot of acoustic singer/songwriter type stuff. I don't play a ton of arco, so I didn't want to pay a ton of money to replace my bows. So I went with the VingoBow and I've been pretty happy with it. So, I would echo that VngoBow might be a good buy to look into to replace what you have already said is a fairly generic MIC bow.

 

[turf3]

It's not exactly your situation, but my first bow was one of those lovely Glasser fiberglass bows. When about half the hair was gone, I priced a rehair and it would cost more than an entire new bow of the same model. So I just went out and bought a good carbon fiber bow.

 

[Jeff Kissell]

If you like it, rehair it. No need to add to the global commerce paradigm to achieve what you already have.

Fwiw, the VingBow I got for traveling is obviously tip heavy compared to my wooden bow. I only got it because I couldn’t confirm the materials on the wooden bow which is old but not valuable.

 

[Martin Beer]

To be honest, I haven't played enough other bows to have a definite feeling as to whether I like or dislike this one. Most local bassists I meet play French so I don't have many points of comparison. I haven't had a teacher for a few years, but the last one played German too and thought mine was serviceable, if nothing special. It was bought lightly used in the mid 2000s without knowing the source, though I recall noticing it looked identical to Gollihur's $99 student bow at the time.
The other thing worth mentioning is that it's about an inch shorter than most German bows, probably the size that's commonly sold as 3/4. I didn't notice for years and I'm probably used to it by now.

 

[evanrunyon]

If you’d like to go for a replacement and aren’t looking to spend more than, say, £300 I implore you to get something synthetic. Cheap wooden bows are a disaster for the industry and environment.

That being said, if what you’ve got works for you then no need to change. I’ve only had a rehair in the UK once—it cost me £55 in Edinburgh in 2019—and unless you’re going to someone in London that caters primarily to professional orchestral musicians I’d be shocked to find it cost too much more than that.

 

[Lee Moses]

If I were in your shoes, I'd go ahead and rehair my bow. It's not like I'm going to throw it in the trash. And then in the next few months, I'd start getting my hands on other bows to see what might feel like an improvement.

 

[Martin Beer]

If you’d like to go for a replacement and aren’t looking to spend more than, say, £300 I implore you to get something synthetic. Cheap wooden bows are a disaster for the industry and environment.

That being said, if what you’ve got works for you then no need to change. I’ve only had a rehair in the UK once—it cost me £55 in Edinburgh in 2019—and unless you’re going to someone in London that caters primarily to professional orchestral musicians I’d be shocked to find it cost too much more than that.

Indeed, the environmental/ethical aspect had occurred to me. Without getting too far into politics, that can be less than transparent with some of the products coming from China. And I'm not wildly consumerist with the rest of my gear - I tend to use the same stuff for a long time and get it repaired as needed, choose strings for longevity, etc.
Though I was quite intrigued by the P&H carbon fibre bows which are made in India for a UK company, they have their own removable wedge system and sell pre-crimped hanks of hair with the intention of easy home rehairing. And it's not impossible that a reasonable older European student bow might pop up used in my budget some time.
The closest rehairer to me quotes £60-70 on their website for bass bows depending on hair type, that's on the outskirts of Glasgow so probably cheaper rates than London. If they'll work with my bow, that may be worth doing for now.

 

[Ed S]

You've gotten it rehaired in the past, so obviously is isn't so cheap that the wedges are glued in or anything.

So you've had 1 rehair in 25 years. I'd compare the cost of future rehairs to an inexpensive (likely CF) replacement. An inexpensive bow might only cost as much as 3 rehairs. Of course, you will then need to get THAT bow rehaired eventually...

You might want to compare other bows BEFORE having this one rehaired, as that rehair will represent $ (or L) you could've spent on the new bow. I've been shocked at how liberally bow makers are about sending bows out for trials.

Just saying - if you REALLY like your existing bow and a rehairer will work on it, then it is close to a no-brainer - stick with what you've got. But since you ask the question, it might be worth at least making SOME MINIMAL effort to see what L2-300 will get you in a new bow.

 

[Koshchei]

Why mess with something you like? A rehair is a separate equation from bow replacement, and if you like it and are used to it, then maintain it.

 

[james condino]

Who sez I can only have one?????

 

[jj.833]

My son plays carbon bow from Thomann (german hold), which is about 65EUR. It's quite a good bow, way lighter and better balanced than my old chinese wooden bow was. One of my students plays Carbondix bow ca 300EUR, she's happy with it and it sounds nice (but I never really tried it out).
I use ca 400EUR old wooden bow now. When I bought it, I had my old bow rehaired but never returned to it except for rare cases of emergency.

In your shoes, I would go for a cheap(er) carbon bow. If you can interchange two bows, you can start to learn about differences between bows, and move on with your technique.

For a music club player used to amplify his bass, I think that lighter bows are generally better, as most pickups tend to amplify the bowed sound more than plucked. Heavy bow makes heavy sound and that is what you don't want much, until you play in acoustic orchestra.

 

[Martin Beer]

My son plays carbon bow from Thomann (german hold), which is about 65EUR. It's quite a good bow, way lighter and better balanced than my old chinese wooden bow was.

I neglected to mention, I actually have the very cheapest model carbon bow from Thomann around too, and for some reason I don't like it at all, just can't get a sound I like with it. I don't know if it's exactly the same model as your son's or if they've changed over the years, but this one doesn't work for me.
I've relegated it to non bass use - there's this oddball instrument invented by Hans Reichel called the daxophone where you're bowing a hardwood tongue (like a ruler hanging over the edge of a desk), and I use it for that since it mostly needs a firm touch and a lot of rosin rather than being particularly sensitive to the properties of the bow.

 

[jj.833]

I use it for that since it mostly needs a firm touch and a lot of rosin rather than being particularly sensitive to the properties of the bow

In that case I would probably rehair, perhaps even with the black hair.

 

[Martin Beer]

In that case I would probably rehair, perhaps even with the black hair.

I mean, I keep the bow I use for the daxophone separate from my bass bow. It's rough on the hair and usually covered in more Pops than I would use. I was just mentioning it as experience of the Thomann carbon bow.

 

[jj.833]

I mean, I keep the bow I use for the daxophone separate from my bass bow. It's rough on the hair and usually covered in more Pops than I would use. I was just mentioning it as experience of the Thomann carbon bow.

Yes, of course. I was referring to the original question 'rehair or replace the 20yo wooden bow'. I don't think that nowadays you can buy much better bow in cheap enough price range (except for composite). So I would probably rehair the old wooden and use it onwards. If you want the bow to have a strong pull with less rosin, the black hair might be a better (and longer lasting) choice than the white.
If your bow maker is similar to mine, he'd seen all the bows and players and will tell you 'if you like the bow, rehair it'. But he will be able to advice you with the type of hair for strong sound.

 

[T_Bone_TL]

I'd encourage you (since you've already gone there a bit based on carving a new wedge) to think about doing the rehair yourself, which gets the cost (in money) down in a range where it absolutely makes sense, and the "cheap bow" means you don't have to tremble with fear or opt to hand it off to someone more qualified lest you should screw it up. There are threads here.

 

[Martin Beer]

I'd encourage you (since you've already gone there a bit based on carving a new wedge) to think about doing the rehair yourself, which gets the cost (in money) down in a range where it absolutely makes sense, and the "cheap bow" means you don't have to tremble with fear or opt to hand it off to someone more qualified lest you should screw it up. There are threads here.

I wonder if that's one more rabbit hole than I want to get into. Rightly or wrongly it always struck me as I one of those seemingly straightforward but nuanced tasks where you only get good through repetition.
I went up to see the local rehairer with my current bow, he's happy to rehair it and we're going with some chestnut hair he has. It should be ready next week.