Bad bow
Friday October 17, 2003 – 8:32 pmThat fiddle I got is very hard to play. I think it’s a bow problem because the new bow that I bought will not produce any sort of resonance on the strings, no matter how hard you try or what angle you use. I tried the rosin, and I know how to hold the fiddle, I know how it’s supposed to work, but this is impossible! This is using the $30 cheapie bow that I got from fiddle repair guy. Now, the old bow that I had does work — not very well, but if I tighten up the hairs enough I can produce a somewhat normal note on the violin. But the bow seems to be bent in the middle so the hairs always touch the wood, and the hairs are always coming loose and making it even worse. Ugh… it was never like this the few times I’ve picked up someone else’s fiddle to play with it. I could always at least get a decent tone out of it, try to play a scale, try to play multiple strings etc. I just refuse to believe this is entirely my fault. :-(
October 18th, 2003 at 12:04 am
I’d get the good bow re-haired with real horse hair. And make sure you really rosin that fucker up. The rosin is what makes the tone, the bow hair is merely the conduit and horse hair binds rosin better and has more elasticity than synthetic stuff. And the "bowed" -ness of the bow is a good thing, it increases the dynamic and textural range of the bow.
October 18th, 2003 at 12:50 am
my god could I sound more diDACtic?! But I forgot to say–I always liked the dark, dense, resiny type of rosin more than the syrupy looking light colored stuff. Don’t scrimp and save where rosin is concerned. And you should scratch the surface of freshly bought rosin up like with a key so the bow "takes" it better until it starts to wear its own track into the core of the rosin (where the good stuff is). You probably already know all this but I was inspired…
October 18th, 2003 at 1:16 am
What Alex says is right; the rosin is the key.
I don’t know much about this, but i asked my girlfriend (who plays violin).
"A bow that is bent is unusable " she says.
There’s a bow lying upstairs wich is really bent and never gets used…except when i get a sudden rush of Jimmy Pageness ( my guitarstrings go all sticky from the rosin, wich really turns me off wanting to be J Page)
(ps.: Speaking of violin….
be sure to check out Henry Flint’s recordings for inspiration…)
cheers,
cstof
October 18th, 2003 at 7:43 am
Just be redundant…rosin, rosin, rosin. It can take a long while to get enough on there if it’s a new bow, specially if there isn’t any rosin on the strings themselves. Scratch the rosin up good and really drive it into the hair. Let us know how it goes!
October 18th, 2003 at 11:50 pm
I understand your whole network got started via internet programming. I am a recent grad and I aiming to get started in a field such as yours… do you have any advice? I want to start a cool website, but I will be traveling soon, to the UK. I wanted to catalogue my memoirs while abroad and perhaps even make a business out of it, b/e I would like to be "gainfully employed," but still have the freedom to travel, etc. It’s either this or law school.
Thanks again
Dannida
October 19th, 2003 at 12:13 am
Hello! Yes… a field such as mine, hmmm. Well my best advice is to just follow your nose and GO for it! :-)
October 19th, 2003 at 5:53 am
did you try tightening the hair with the end screw?
October 19th, 2003 at 7:56 am
I haven’t touched the fiddle since I posted the complaint. I think the old bow is pretty much fucked. It either needs to be fixed and restrung or thrown away, it’s hard for me to say which. Ryan, I’ll let you look at it the next time you’re over here, or maybe the Old Town kids will know.
October 19th, 2003 at 1:08 pm
if the bow is bent then you are out of luck…as posted before. but i’ll have a look next time i see you. nice to hear you have some new axes for your arsenal! :-)
December 24th, 2003 at 10:37 pm
I received a brand new fiddle for Christmas and the bow is really bent. Could it be that there are different types of bows?