Give your bow some love

See below for a guide to the bow service packages we offer to keep your bow in tip-top shape

faq

How often should I rehair my bow?
It depends on the player and how much you play, your technique, the type of music you play etc. As a rule of thumb, if you look after your hair properly and are a light player it might last for 100 hours of playing. For a professional, that will mean a re-hair  every few weeks! The more often you re-hair your bow the better it will play for you.
What are the signs that my bow needs a rehair?
Signs that your bow needs a rehair include: the ribbon looking uneven, gaps appearing in the ribbon, hair seeming longer, hair needing more turns of the adjuster to tighten it, hair looking yellowy, brown or even black near the heel, hair sticking together in clumps, loss of hair, loss of friction on the strings, skating feeling when you play, lack of grip....

Some of these things can also be signs that the bow has been over-rosined, over-tightened, touched with greasy fingers, caught on the bow holder or mishandled in another way. Technique also plays a factor in how long hair will last as does the style of music you are playing and how much pressure you apply with the bow. 
​
There are huge variations in the length of time hair lasts depending on how many hours the bow is played with over any given period of time, the player's technique and style of music played, and the care taken over the bow. For this reason we do not guarantee a re-hair for any particular length of time. Some players are very light on their bows, take care of it very well, don't play that often and a rehair lasts a year or more. Others need a rehair after only a few weeks. It is no reflection on the re-hairer or the player. It is just a sign of how much variation there is in the handling of the delicate object that is the bow.

How can I make the hair last longer?
One useful comparison might be a pair of running shoes for a professional runner. There are only so many hours in each pair of shoes, and running style, ground, distance and speed account for a lot of the variations in how long a pair of trainers will last for each individual.

​Number one rule: Apply less rosin. And yes, I mean less than you are using now! Less is more. Apply as little as possible. It is a myth that more rosin will give you a better and cleaner sound. Think about it - rosin creates dust. Dust interferes with the clarity of your sound. Rosin dust directly degrades the hair.

Wipe down your stick and the frog of your bow after playing. Don't wipe the hair. It is easily damaged. If you don't apply too much rosin then the amount you will have left on the hair after a session will not be significant. Wipe the rosin off your strings, as it gets into the strings and degrades them and degrades your sound. The rosin will collect dust and dirt from your case and that will also affect the hair and your sound. 

Loosen off the adjuster after playing, but take care, as if your hair has already stretched from playing with it for a while, then don't loosen it off too much as it is more prone to get caught if its too baggy, and this habit also seems to affect the way the ribbon rebounds again after tightening it back up.

Don't flick your hair with your fingers to release rosin or dirt. This affects the evenness of the hair ribbon and can damage the hair. Don't ever touch the hair with your fingers. be careful how you hold your bow during the break or rests in the orchestra rehearsal. Never leave your bow on the music stand or a chair. If you're not holding it but the frog, it should be in the case.

Do not clean the hair with a toothbrush or any other object with bristles (or anything at all actually). 

Why is it so expensive?
The true answer is that it is cheap. I'll break it down:
Cost of a standard rehair to the customer = £110.40
  • VAT = 20% (goes straight to the government): £18.40
  • Materials, including hair = £23
  • Cost of labour/workshop and bench space = £60
  • TOTAL COST = £101.40
  • PROFIT FOR THE BUSINESS (To cover rent, overheads, advertising, running costs etc.) = £9 

Every bow is different and so takes a different length of time to rehair, as some bows are easy to take apart, some are difficult, some are made badly and need amendments, some are dirty, some are clean, some are well made and a dream to work with and others are just very tricky.

Giving each customer a different price to account for this would just be too difficult (and add to the overall cost as each bow would have to be quoted for individually!) so we do a fixed price and work for a fixed fee on bows, which sometimes means we make a loss on difficult bows. Even on easy bows the hourly rate is way below a music teachers' charge out rate, for example. I really love it when I meet musicians who understand and appreciate the training and skill that goes into working on their bow. It is by far the most skilled thing I think anyone in the workshop does, as there are so many minute variables. That's why so few violin makers also do bow repairs. The skills are very specific and unique.

Anyone who is VAT registered who is offering bow repairs for less than £100 is seriously undervaluing their skills or using it as a loss leader to get customers in the door. Even at £110.40 we are making a tiny profit. We might as well be donating money to a charity for musicians to be honest, instead of doing this difficult job. But we do it because it is necessary and without it there would be no music!

What do we propose to do about the problem of the market rate being too low?

Until the industry changes and other businesses understand and accept that this service is not sustainable at this level there is not much we can, do but we will continue to talk about the problem.

Meanwhile, if anyone who has had a good re-hair from us and would like to tip us, we would be very grateful.


SERVICE PRICING

basic service - £20
stick clean and polish
silver polish
lubrication of adjuster and underslide
FACE, FROG AND PEARL SLIDE CLEAN AND LUBRICATE (during rehair only)
​
Bow rehair - Fiddlers £100 (£110 BASS), silver £110.40(£118 BASS), gold £129.60(£140 BASS)
bow leather replacement - £55(£59)
Bow lapping - from £138 (thread), £175 (silver), £175 (silver Tinsel)
Brass eye replacement £110.40
new button and adjuster £95
bow face plate replacement £450
​
Other repairs quoted by assessment