Black Bow Hair & Bow Storage

My order for black bow hair finally came in. Apparently, my order got lost, so I've been waiting for about a month. I had a customer who wanted the violin bow rehaired with black bow hair. Black bow hair is coarser than the white and bleached bow hair. Generally, it is used on cello and bass bows because the strings are larger and take more friction to make a sound. I think the black bow hair is also stronger because the individual hairs are slightly thicker. I rehaired two bows today -- one in the black and one in the bleached white hair. I had fun playing the black haired bow, and was switching back and forth between the two bows to hear and feel the difference.

If you have a bow that has real horsehair and you won't be playing for a while, be sure to loosen the bow hair and also store the bow in a plastic bag or in a case with mothballs. This will keep the carpet weevils out of your bow hair. Otherwise, you will open your case and find loose hairs all over the case and little insect larvae and/or shells all around inside the case.