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Betsy
C 
Registered User
Posts: 382
(8/1/01 10:30:29 am)
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Bow hair in
colors, I have a question
Have any of you used the colored bow hair? I had my bow rehaired
about 2 months ago with purple hair, and while the rehair itself was
a good job, I am finding myself not enamored of the hair itself. I
am under the impression that new bow hair will require quite a bit
of rosining, but this hair just still seems to 'eat up' rosin, and I
get a feel (although subtle) that the bow hair does not get that
nice 'traction' feeling, but seems to more or less 'skim' the
surface of the string a little more. Does that make sense? Hope so!
It's almost as though it has less bite on the string. Does the dye
process itself intrinsically damage the hair? Do any of you have
experience with the dyed bow hair? I'd be curious what you have to
say. This is my first rehair, so I am not entirely sure what to
expect in any case. Thanks, guys!
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CelloBass
Registered User
Posts: 34
(8/2/01 4:50:28 pm)
Reply
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Re: Bow hair in
colors, I have a question
Hi Betsy,
is it real hair or plastic? If it is plastic... I
have read a couple of times that the fake hair doesn't give you the
real friction feeling that new real hair usually does. If it is real
hair, it has been spoiled by the coloring process. I would go with
real natural hair. By the way, if you want to get a bit more
friction than normal because you are a fan of the 'big tone', you
could try black hair, if your luthier offers it. Black hair is often
used on bass bows to give them the ultimate grip. Make sure that the
notches of your bridge are deep enough! 
Horst
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Betsy
C
Registered User
Posts: 383
(8/2/01 8:08:51 pm)
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To Horst
Horst, thanks for the reply. Yes, it is real hair, and it is
supposed to be pretty decent stallion hair from what I understand. I
think when I get a little windfall, I am going to replace it. The
black hair sounds interesting. Is it noticeably 'grippier' than the
regular white hair? Is it any more expensive?
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 Steve
Drake
Registered
User
Posts: 402
(8/2/01 10:43:37
pm)
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Community Supporter
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Re: Bow hair in
colors, I have a question
Did you get the hair from www.wildhairbows.com? I've used several
hanks from this company, and have found it to be as good as anything
else out there. I had the pink hair on my Berg bow for a long time,
and the only reason I changed back to white is because I use that
bow for almost all of my gigs, and it really stood out, sometimes
when it shouldn't have. I now have royal blue on my coda colours
bow, and it's a vast improvement over the hair the bow came with.
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Betsy
C
Registered User
Posts: 384
(8/3/01 7:38:18 am)
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Re: Bow hair in
colors, I have a question
Steve, I think that is where the colored hair did come from. My
luthier said it was really good quality hair, and he is a
trustworthy person who is honest. Maybe I just need to work with it
more; the difference is fairly subtle. There's always the
possibility that I just need to use more rosin because the hair is
fairly new. Thanks for your response!
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Todd
French 
Moderator
Posts: 226
(8/3/01 2:00:25 pm)
Reply
 |
Re: Bow hair in
colors, I have a question
I would think that while this may be good quality hair, I doubt
very highly that the company is using the finest quality hair
available to dye with these colors, only because the hair is so very
expensive. The finest grades of horsehair are getting more and more
expensive, and so if one were dying a batch of this hair, and
something went wrong, there's many thousands of dollars of colored
fertilizer.
Also, there's a good chance that the dyes used
effect the structure of the hair itself, even in a microscopic way,
which can make a difference. The colored hair certainly is fun, but
I wouldn't expect the same performance from it as you would from
regular, highest quality unbleached hair. Maybe someone should come
out with colored rosin that doesn't harm varnish...
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CelloBass
Registered User
Posts: 36
(8/3/01 3:30:01 pm)
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Re: To
Betsy
The black hair is a bit coarser and grips better than white hair,
but the difference is not dramatic. If you are willing to do some
experiments with bow hair, you could give it a try. At least it is a
well known and well-tried option, and the hair is naturally black,
not colored. Maybe you know that I play the bass as well. I think it
is a good idea to take the best from both instruments. For example,
I have found out that bass rosin works very well on the cello at low
temperatures when cello rosin gets very hard. The C strings almost
plays by itself because bass rosin is softer and more stickier,
especially at low temperatures. Why not try bow hair usually used on
basses? The whole friction issue is much more critical on the bass
than on the cello, so bass players usually have drawers full of
different rosins, always trying to find a better one. If you have a
bad rosin or bad bow hair on the bass, is is not more difficult to
get the deep strings working, it just doesn't work at all. At
spiccato the bow bounces but there is no clear sound, just
scratching. The cellists sitting in front of you turn their heads up
to you, and after the rehearsal they tell you "you'd better take
your bass to the luthier... sometimes practising helps as well.."
Horst
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Steve
Drake
Registered
User
Posts: 404
(8/3/01 4:40:42
pm)
Reply
Community Supporter
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For
Todd...
So have you tried the colored hair? Give it a try! Conjecturing
about the effects of the dyes doesn't mean much if you haven't tried
it. I've found it to be very high quality hair. My own experience
has been limited - I've only tried 2 hanks in 2 bows, but they've
both been great! And the blue hair in the coda bow was a great
improvement over what was in ther prefviously.
Quote:
The
colored hair certainly is fun, but I wouldn't expect the same
performance from it as you would from regular, highest quality
unbleached hair.
Unquote.
This would be where lack of
experience with the product could make you look silly. The 2 hanks
of colored hair I've used have been as good as the best unbleached
hair I've ever used.
My MP3's
My Cello
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