Re-hairing a renaissance bow?

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Charlie Schultz
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Re-hairing a renaissance bow?

Post by Charlie Schultz »

Hi all,
I'm just wondering how hard/expensive it is to rehair a bow myself. This is a renaissance viola da gamba bow, probably student grade.

Thanks,
Charlie
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Jim McConkey
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Re: Re-hairing a renaissance bow?

Post by Jim McConkey »

I've never tried rehairing a gamba bow, but I have rehaired a violin bow. It was not that difficult to get a decent result if you take your time. Years ago our own Amy Hopkins (correction: it was Craig Tucker!) taught an MIMF class on rehairing. I don't think the courses were archived, but there may be some discussions in the Library.
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Peter Wilcox
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Re: Re-hairing a renaissance bow?

Post by Peter Wilcox »

Good luck. Years ago I rehaired a violin bow with synthetic hair and as I remember it went OK. I tried rehairing a bass bow from the tail of one of our horses, and it was a complete disaster. :oops:
Maybe I can't fix it, but I can fix it so no one can fix it
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Karl Wicklund
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Re: Re-hairing a renaissance bow?

Post by Karl Wicklund »

Complete disaster in what way? I don’t quite believe I’d ever do it myself, but I’m curious.
Kaptain Karl
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Peter Wilcox
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Re: Re-hairing a renaissance bow?

Post by Peter Wilcox »

It was many decades ago, before the WWW and online instructions/videos, and I didn't know what I was doing - I mean, how hard could it be? :o The synthetic hair came prepared for installation, so I was lucky, though it was probably a pretty crappy job. The horse's hair was individual strands, and I knew nothing about preparing, controlling and installing it, so it was not even in appearance or tension. I think I just got frustrated and threw it out.

Here's a video on how to do it - would have helped back then.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWwvGOKC6K8
Maybe I can't fix it, but I can fix it so no one can fix it
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Karl Wicklund
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Re: Re-hairing a renaissance bow?

Post by Karl Wicklund »

Gotcha. I watched an acquaintance rehair his bow several years ago - lots of steps I wouldn’t have imagined - a total disaster makes sense.
Kaptain Karl
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