I had a fun little project this week and thought I would share with this group. Just last month I drove two basses back from San Diego, traded in my rental and started having gear of my own.
I recently bought three bows for $100 here on talkbass. They all worked but we’re in need of some work. 2 German bows and a fiberglass French bow. I play German so I had the choice from the two. One was heavier and looked like it had a rehair (chocolate salt and pepper hair) so I picked that one.
It’s the middle bow in the picture. It needed a new Parisian Eye, silver winding and thumb leather. It was clear this bow wore winding and leather in the past.
First I picked up some Abalone dots, removed the broken eye and replaced. Easy enough
Next was the silver winding. I watched a few videos on YouTube from some bow makers and while it was clear a lot of them had made jigs it wasn’t impossible to wind by hand. Which is what I did. I tried to hold the bow vertically as I did not remove the hair from the bow.
I think it came out pretty good. Two drops of solder to hold the ends.
Next up the thumb leather.
I picked up a box of exotic scrap leathers on eBay. Some croc, lots of lizard, and some shark leather. Not sure the exact species of the leather I chose but it’s a grey/green that I thought was subtle and a bit funky.
I then started prepping the bow with paper backing
Cut and wrapped the leather
The bow weighs at 141.8g and looks and feels great compared to my rental bow.
I am planning on keeping the bow until a large upgrade comes my way. I’m set for a couple years at least.
If any of you on TalkBass out there wants to attempt a repair/restoration like this themselves I would be happy to send over left over 10mm Abalone dots, silver winding, or a couple pieces of leather.
I recently bought three bows for $100 here on talkbass. They all worked but we’re in need of some work. 2 German bows and a fiberglass French bow. I play German so I had the choice from the two. One was heavier and looked like it had a rehair (chocolate salt and pepper hair) so I picked that one.
It’s the middle bow in the picture. It needed a new Parisian Eye, silver winding and thumb leather. It was clear this bow wore winding and leather in the past.
First I picked up some Abalone dots, removed the broken eye and replaced. Easy enough
Next was the silver winding. I watched a few videos on YouTube from some bow makers and while it was clear a lot of them had made jigs it wasn’t impossible to wind by hand. Which is what I did. I tried to hold the bow vertically as I did not remove the hair from the bow.
I think it came out pretty good. Two drops of solder to hold the ends.
Next up the thumb leather.
I picked up a box of exotic scrap leathers on eBay. Some croc, lots of lizard, and some shark leather. Not sure the exact species of the leather I chose but it’s a grey/green that I thought was subtle and a bit funky.
I then started prepping the bow with paper backing
Cut and wrapped the leather
The bow weighs at 141.8g and looks and feels great compared to my rental bow.
I am planning on keeping the bow until a large upgrade comes my way. I’m set for a couple years at least.
If any of you on TalkBass out there wants to attempt a repair/restoration like this themselves I would be happy to send over left over 10mm Abalone dots, silver winding, or a couple pieces of leather.
