Double Bass Horse Hair: Does it matter where it comes from?

[Bin Son of Bin]

I was talking with my wife about some horse hair that I had been looking at online at various sources. It seemed that hair from Mongolia is very popular, as well as Siberia.

But my question is this: Why not hair from local horses (Canadian in my case)? Why can't I go to my local horse ranch and get some hair from their horses? I'm assuming that there is cleaning that must be done but are there other reasons?

Why is Siberian horse hair $500.00 a pound?

I'd just love to get me some local Ottawa/Aylmer horse hair for my bow.

Jason

 

[Herbie 80's]

I know that Prochownik uses Canadian horse hair and it's fairly different.

 

[Bin Son of Bin]

I know that Prochownik uses Canadian horse hair and it's fairly different.

That's very interesting. Do you know how it is different?

 

[Rebop]

IIRC, the colder the climate, the better the hair is for bows. I believe this may only apply to white hair but I could be wrong.

Canada may produce decent hair if that's the case; but at the same time Mongoia and Siberia get pretty cold too.

 

[RSBBass]

I imagine that different breeds of horses have hair with different characteristics. That's not to say you couldn't find usable hair but it may be a bit hit or miss.

 

[ColonelZulu]

I wonder if Dragonetti had Mongolian horse hair on his bows.

 

[longfinger]

some links to read...

http://www.bowhair.ca/
(on that site, Canadian horse hair is the most expensive )

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(here and below it says the descriptions are only partially based on horses' country of habitat. "Canadian" horse hair could come from Siberia, and vice-versa.)

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[LowA]

Also very interesting - maybe you can get it translated with Google: Invalid Link Removed . Best, Tom

 

[Michael Eisenman]

Or go to the English page on the site:
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[Jon Stefaniak]

Reading only the title, the first thought in my head is - usually, hair from the tail works best.

 

[gerry grable]

I imagine that different breeds of horses have hair with different characteristics. That's not to say you couldn't find usable hair but it may be a bit hit or miss.

Very interesting.
I was thinking the same thing. Mongolian? but which breed?
Canadian? again. . .which breed? Horse? Pony, even Mule?

 

[kurt muroki]

Yes. Hair must come from cold climates for bass bows. It is a very time consuming and labor intensive process to clean and sort the individual hairs into grade piles. The Canadian hair from michael vann is very good. If you buy from him, the 31 or 32 inch white bass bow hair is great.