BOW RE-HAIR
My rehair service is undertaken to violin, viola, cello and double bass bows, utilising only the finest materials in combination with the very best unbleached white hair. Each bow rehair achieves a perfect ribbon of hair that produces equal tension across its width and length, providing perfect contact with the string and providing maximum confidence for the musician.
For many years, I have provided a postal service for bow rehair. I have many clients who send their bows to me, which are usually turned around within a couple of days. Some good advice is needed to make sure the bow is packaged safely. Please feel free to ask.
I provide a same day and express rehair service for visiting clients.
BOW RESTORATION AND REPAIR
I am able to provide a full repair and restoration service for bows to include:-
- Tip face and liner replacement.
- Lapping and thumb grip replacement.
- Head repair – pinning.
- Head repair – splits or breaks at the mortice.
- Part or whole bushing.
- Distortion (twist) removal.
- Re-camber or camber adjustment.
- Re- finish ( as per original finish).
- Replace pearl eyes, slides & liners.
- Frog repairs, ebony, Ivory or tortoiseshell.
- Silver and gold work.
- Replace bronze or brass eye.
- Bushing of the frog.
- Crack repair.
The quality of the work has been exemplary in all respects, and throughout the process Paul kept me fully informed both verbally and through numerous photographs of the progress of the work. Read More
SOME FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is a rehair?
The careful removal of old worn hair, the two primary wedges that hold the hair in place at the tip and frog and the third wedge which spreads the hair to the width of the ferrule. I cut and make new primary wedges, pick though the hair and establish the correct amount of hair for that bow, and tie each end with thread. I hair the bow in the English method, head to frog. I insert the tied hair at the head and press the top wedge in place. Wet and comb the hair and tie off the hair at the frog, insert the hair and press frog wedge in place. The dry hair combed to check every hair is parallel, set the pearl slide and ferrule, and insert the spread wedge which establishes the ribbon of hair.
Will I know when the bow needs rehair?
If you play regularly, then you are more likely to become sensitive to change in contact with the string, pressures needed to produce tone or articulation. If and when you notice this, then that is the time to rehair your bow. It will maintain great contact and less strenuous effort for tone production. Some professional musicians may rehair bows many times in a year and others far less.
In other cases, I would advocate a rehair at least once a year.
Can you deal with a twisted stick?
A twist or misalignment along the length of the bow stick can occur over a period of time and is often caused, though not exclusively, with a loss of hair on one side left for far too many years or inherent feature in the grain of the stick. If left unchecked, the stick is likely to remain out of true and the bow ceases to function as bow makers intend them to work.
The twist is corrected while at the bench, usually in conjunction with a rehair, re-setting perfect alinement between the head, stick and frog.
I’m just not sure if I should rehair my bow, its been a long time, but I can still play with it.
I have encountered this level of fear or uncertainty, many times in my career. The longer you leave your bow between rehairing; your experience of new hair becomes ever more noticeable. Old hair becomes polluted with perspiration from the right thumb at the frog, immediately in front of the ferrule. This is easily transferred along the hair and contributes to the overall deterioration of positive contact with the strings. Bow hair is a natural product and over time it deteriorates, hardens and become brittle, in addition to the other factors.
A practice of regular rehairs will always maintain your bow at its best, and in doing so, promotes confidence in your technique and enjoyment of your music making.
My bow has lost its camber, what can I do?
In mechanical terms, a bow can be described as a leaf spring. The curved spring is activated when tightening the hair with the adjuster. The curvature of the bow (leaf spring) is known as the camber.
Bows can lose the camber and will need re-springing; again, this is usually noticed and done in conjunction with a rehair. A percentage of bows may need this attention more than once. My clients rely on me to attend to any camber issues, if and when required.
No two bows are the same, some may need adjustment just once or twice, others never go out of alignment.
A note on bow misalignment and loss of camber.
The expertise I have gained at the bow bench is as a result of working on many hundreds of bows, in a career of over forty years. The effect that corrective work has on a bow, is to restore it to how it should work, and to how it was first intended to function.
I have worked on bows that have not seen a bow bench for as much as twenty or more years. Superb bows made by distinguished craftsmen, that have over that time lost hair, gone out of alignment and lost some camber. The deterioration has happened slowly and mainly un-noticed. The musician will automatically and unknowingly adjust their bow technique to compensate for the misalignment etc. In essence the bow is no longer working entirely as it should.
On the occasions that I have returned and restored bows, such as I describe, to function as they are intended, I inform the client that once the stick is restored, the first day or so of use, it will feel quite different to how you had become used to. After this, the musician will begin rediscover all the qualities that caused them to buy the bow many years previous.
There should never be any fear of returning a bow to function as they are intended.
My work is to offer best advice, restore items to their former condition and function, and ensure that bows are maintained the best they can be. My clients can perform at their best with total confidence.