Bow maintenance is very important to the proper upkeep and continued playability of any bowed instrument. Depending on your level and style of playing, as well as environmental factors, a bow might need to be rehaired as often as every 3 months, or it might last as long as a year or sometimes more.
Some good indications that it’s just about time for a rehair:
Broken hairs
If you’ve lost a lot of hairs on one side of the bow at the frog, it will be placing uneven tension on the stick of the bow, which can warp the bow. When the bow is warped to one side, it will change the balance, and your bow will behave differently in your hand.
Stretched hairs
If you find yourself having to pull the hair further back to achieve playing tension, it is probably time for a rehair. If you try to keep tightening the bow when the hair has stretched too far, there is the risk of stripping the mechanism inside the bow.
Frequency of broken hairs
Like many organic things, as bow hair ages, it becomes more brittle. If you find yourself braking hairs more often than you used to, it’s a good indicator that it’s time for a rehair. It’s also important to note here that when a hair breaks, it is important to cut that hair at the opposite end, rather than pulling it out, which can cause other problems.
Frequency of rosin application
As you use your bow, you wear the hairs smooth. The smoothened hairs take and hold rosin less easily, as well as making it less responsive on some of the trickier technical aspects of bowing.
A sudden lessening in tension
If your bow hair suddenly lets go, it’s likely that a plug has slipped or that the spreading wedge has come loose.
Shortened hairs
This isn’t caused by time or wear, but rather by fluctuations in humidity. If the bow experiences a drop in humidity, the hair can contract, making it impossible to relax the bow hair completely, one of the most important parts of good bow maintenance. A bow which is kept under tension puts unnecessary risk on the head of the stick, which can snap at the thinnest part. It also plays havoc with the camber or curve in the stick, and can make the bow warp out to one side.
Bow Bugs
If you don’t play often, you might find that your bow has attracted bow bugs, an insect whose larvae eat bow hairs, as well as tortoise shell and gut strings. If you open your case and find that there are a lot of broken hairs, you’ll need a rehair. Because they don’t like sunlight or to be disturbed, bow bugs are usually seen in instruments which aren’t used very often. If you open your case and find your bow in this state, the case will need to be vacuumed thoroughly and the case left out in the sun for a couple of hours.
Broken tip
If you have broken the tip off of your violin bow, it will need a bow rehair in order to be repaired. Should this happen, your bow will need a once over, just in case there was other damage when the tip broke.
Dirt
Over time, the spot where the bow touches the thumb at the frog can become quite dirty. This will stop the bow from getting any traction on the string, but is also a good general indication that the time has come for a rehair, as it takes a while for a noticeable buildup to occur.
Leather grip
You may also find that over time you need will need the leather or silver on your bow replaced, which will be completely dependent on wear. If you regularly rehair your bow, we can keep an eye on it, and make the recommendation for a new leather grip or silver winding as needed.