why go to strangers II

  1. billkilpatrick
    when you put away the bow, do you release the tension on the horse-hair? ... a little? ... a lot? - or do you just leave it?

    there's only a little tension of my bow at the moment - will slackening it off and bringing it back to tension, over and over again cause more problems than just keeping it at a steady (moderate) tension?
  2. Mandoviol
    Mandoviol
    You should loosen your bow so that the stick touches the hairs. You don't want to keep it under tension because that tension can actually cause your bow to warp or lose its curve (think of Clouseau's violin bow in The Pink Panther). Plus, it's probably not good for your bowhairs to keep them tight all the time.

    I think keeping the tension up wouldn't be good humidity-wise, either (more warping, perhaps).
  3. farmerjones
    farmerjones
    Bill-
    Loosen the frog nut so you can see that it's seperating from the bow a bit. Then push on the end of frog nut a bit. Sometimes the frog doesn't slide smoothly along the stick.
    Yes, i loosen my bow to slack very time i'm done playing. I also hang it up by the nose. They say, keeping it in the case encourages bow mites.
    How tight when playing? Tight enough so you're not pinching the hair with the stick when playing. That shortens the life of the hair. Some like it tighter than that, still. You can feel that much out.
  4. Mandoviol
    Mandoviol
    One of the old maxims I remember regarding bow tension for playing is that you want to keep it tight enough that you can slide a pencil between the hair and the stick at the bow's middle. You shouldn't need to go any tighter than that.
  5. farmerjones
    farmerjones
    Suprised nobody caught this: Frog-SCREW. Not frog-nut. You can't see the frog nut when the bow is assembled. Anywho, loosen the frog-screw a few turns then press on it's end while holding the bow firmly. This should slacken the hair.
  6. Jim Garber
    Jim Garber
    Many years ago I was at an outdoor summer festival and it was quite humid. I played day and night and put the fiddle away, loosening the bow. A day or so later, when I was home I opened the case and the bow hair had exploded. The hair soaked up the humidity and I kept on tightening it to keep up the tension. When it dried out it was very tense.
  7. Mandoviol
    Mandoviol
    Humidity can definitely do that to you...I remember my bow once did that the day of a concert (not helpful at all). I ended up having to get it rehaired because the hairs stretched so much.

    It's good to have a second bow for cases like this, when humidity is bad enough that it makes your bow go completely slack at highest tension OR if your main bow has spontaneously decided to stop tightening or drop all its hair.
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