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The contrabass shop.


fatgoogle
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[quote name='fatback' timestamp='1371038953' post='2108926']
The bow hair colour subject is interesting. I read somewhere that brown hair may be the best compromise for db. Anybody tried it?

I'm hoping that blonde, mermaid's hair might do the trick for me, if I can source some. :D
[/quote]

Its of interest to me to. From what ive experienced so far, for me anyways, a black hair but with lyrical qualities maybe. As in as much grip as black hair but less growl and scratch a bit more Jacqueline du pre playing the elgar concerto's.

Another expense though at 60 a rehair for silver stallion and I imagine even more if the guy has to order in a spool of hair that he'll only use on one bow.

Edited by fatgoogle
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  • 4 weeks later...

Interestingly, getting the hairs right for a bow is a real art and worth paying for an experts touch. If a bow is stiff then more hair is needed than one with more flex . If it has too much hair then it can skid rather than roll the string, if the horse hair isn't that great quality the attack is affected as well as the sound , there theres the evenness of tension , the straightness of the hairs and their coarseness, and some players like more hair on the leading edge ( rather than playing with a felt bow ) ...theres a lot of fine detail in getting the perfect bow set up and that requires handling a lot of bows and experience over time ...so well worth spending the money !

Floyd , was the recamber to sort out a twist in the bow?

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I mention this only because when choosing a bow I figure that a lot depends on how well it has been set up to start with but one would expect anything from the Contrabass Shoppe will be bang on!

I always hold the bow at frog and tip and bend it to test its reflex - some are unbelievably stiff and unresponsive ...maybe ok for some heavy concerto playing but not a solo bow with finesse. Others seem really nicely balanced , good and flexible but don't have the sound and I think that in those instances it may be that the set up isn't that great. I press the hair lightly to see what the pressure is like across the hairs, eye up whether there is any twist down the string length and the top of the bow, look for cracks in the widest part of the mortice of the tip wedge, feel the quality of the hair in the fingers ( if its rough its never going to produce a great sound ), and if possible play it one's own bass.

Theres a lot to getting a bow right but I reckon it probably comes down to the feel and balance ...after that its a case of getting a re-hair done to perfection ..one luthier I know reckons it takes about 100 rehairs to start to understand the detail ! .

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Yep, so many variable's and then also what different players like. I was sort of always under the impression that a bow with a good curve(Exact term??) would be better but then i see Rinat Ibragimov uses a very straight bow and has such an amazing touch.

I might very well bring this bow to the U.K to get serviced and re-haired etc when it needs it. There's guys over here who can do it well but there's so few bass players that imagine that the don't get a huge amount of practice on bass equip.

Also good info ^ Peter. Maybe a sticky should be made for beginners etc. What bass's to look at for a certain price. What bows are pretty good for less then 500 etc etc. That's valuable stuff that can take years to work out and would save a lot of money.

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@FatGoogle ... You most likely know already, but if not, Tom Barrett runs the only dedicated double bass shop out of Galway ... Has some nice bows and a great selection of DBs to noodle on.. He also has a superb reputation as a luthier and bow stringer! Do a net search for double bass Ireland and you'll find him!

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