michael sowden Posted November 18, 1999 Report Posted November 18, 1999 Do you have a question on bow hair. if so i will try to answer it for you thank you. MICHAEL SOWDEN
Ludwig Posted November 18, 1999 Report Posted November 18, 1999 Mr. Sowden.... I recently went to a performance of a very respectable community orchestra in my town, and I noticed that 2 violinists' bows were strung with some very unusual hair: one was bright green, the other red. I hadn't seen this before. Is this merely dyed horsehair or is it some new innovation. Any information you can present would be very much appreciated. Thank you.
Al Stancel Posted November 18, 1999 Report Posted November 18, 1999 Hi Michael: We used to, say 15 years ago, reverse half of the hair hank, and mix it, before putting it in a bow. Since 1984 we do not do this, but simply tie off the hank, the part nearest the horse, insert that part in the frog, the other end in the tip. Any thoughts?? Regards, Al
michael sowden Posted November 19, 1999 Author Report Posted November 19, 1999 Dear Dean, Thank you for your question, The hair that you saw was indeed dyed,usually punk bands have there bows haired with different colors just to be unusual or to make some statement. The hair would not last very long as it first has to be bleached which seriusly weakens the hair and then dyed into the prefered shade. The only people who like colored hair are horse hair cloth manufactures which is very expensive.
michael sowden Posted November 19, 1999 Author Report Posted November 19, 1999 Dear Al I have always been enthrawled by bow makers who hair bows in the 50/50 way. To my way of thinking it can only cause problems by hairs frequently breaking out . I have sucsesfully talked teachers into hairing the bow in the corret method, white end in frog first,as this is the way hair should be used,naturally the hair is stronger there and slightly thicker which in turn fills the ferrule correctly. Iwould like to see everybody using this method as it will save me trying to explain to people why their hair is breaking unnessesary Hope this helps as i can only speak from the hairs poit of view. All the best, and hope your feeling ok . MICHAEL.
Mark_W Posted November 19, 1999 Report Posted November 19, 1999 When hair is bought in single hanks, rather than in bulk, does the bound end come from the part closest to the horse, so to speak? Are you saying in your answer to Al that this is the end that should go into the frog? Thanks, Mark W.
michael sowden Posted November 19, 1999 Author Report Posted November 19, 1999 Hi Mark. When you buy a single hank it can sometimes be tied at the colored end.This does not mean that that end should go into the frog.And should always be re tied at the white end to go into the frog. hope this answers your question. MICHAEL
Irene Posted November 19, 1999 Report Posted November 19, 1999 Mr. Sowden, thank you for the explanation. Last weekend I heard Pamela Frank play Kernis's , and her bow hair was dyed blue. Colored bow hair was something I had never seen before either. I don't know why, but my guess (and I could be completely wrong) is that it might have had something to do with the nature of the piece as well as the fact that she had dedicated her performance to the memory of Felix Galimir, who passed away earlier that week. She also wore black for her performance.
Al Stancel Posted November 20, 1999 Report Posted November 20, 1999 Well, for once I made the right decision to do it the way you say....nice feeling to be "right" once in a while. Feeling fine...surgery was a success! Cheers, Al
David T Posted November 20, 1999 Report Posted November 20, 1999 Yes, the white end is the one near the hair root in the skin. The tapered end of mare horse is slightly darkened by urine, but this etching effect tends to give the hair more "bite" on the string. This is very desirable because the tapered end is installed in the bow tip, and the upper bow is lighter and therefore needs more "bite" there. The stallion hair is cleaner because they don't pee on it.
David Tseng Posted November 20, 1999 Report Posted November 20, 1999 If I buy a big bundle of hair, do I just cut right amount of hair and put in the bow? regradless of the quality of the bulk hair? That what most rehairers did.Or do I pick the good hairs and throw the rest (about 80%) away?
Guest Posted November 21, 1999 Report Posted November 21, 1999 : Yes, the white end is the one near the hair root in the skin. COME ON PEOPLE PLEASE!!!!!!! horse hair varies in color from horse to horse. I have owned horses for 23 years and KNOW this to be true. brown/black and some red horses have black , brown, or combination colored tails. palomino's greys and some paints (bicolored horses) can have white or sometimes varicolor tails. generally the color is uniform the length of the tail unless the horse's tail is varicolor or a combination of colors. Mare's and stallions BOTH raise their tails when they urinate-they also squat in effort not to get tails and hoofs splashed. however , the tail can and does get stained with manure! get your facts straight please! HAHAHA
RED RUM Posted November 22, 1999 Report Posted November 22, 1999 It is quite amusing to read that DAVID T has spent 23years watching his horses bathroom habits,unfortunatly david must have not been able to withstand the natural forces of wind,strictly in weather terms of course,and retreated indoors. I have been in the unfortunate position of standing near to a mare as it peed in a quite light wind and felt the spray on my skin,i must have been 3yards away at the time and facing towards its rear end. So to conclude,its tail was far closer than i was. Subsiquently i now have a slight rust tan, lord knows what the tail looks like. I would advise david to take a closer look next time and get HIS facts straight.DAMMIT i never thought david might be refering to ROCKING HORSES???????
RED RUM Posted November 22, 1999 Report Posted November 22, 1999 SORRY DAVID T THIS IS FOR DUNVEGAN AND NOT TO YOU FROM RED RUM
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