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Bad Hair day!

 
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MLM
Junior Member


Joined: 09 Dec 2007
Posts: 9
Location: Bend Oregon

PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 10:38 pm    Post subject: Bad Hair day! Reply with quote

I recently had an very old bow rehaired but when I tighten to play not all
hair comes tight, do I have a weak bow or a bad rehair job? Any way for me to shrink the hair or somehow may it all even?
MLM
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Chet Bishop
Super Member


Joined: 23 Mar 2007
Posts: 678
Location: Forest Grove, Oregon

PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 11:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Can't tell you about the bow, but if the re-hair was done correctly, your hair ribbon would be even all the way across.

If you are talking about one or two hairs, they should have been shrunk by the person who did the rehair-- you can do it yourself, if you are careful, but since you paid to have it rehaired, I would say take it back, and ask that they make it right.
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Mat Roop
Senior Member


Joined: 24 Mar 2007
Posts: 911
Location: Wyoming Ontario

PostPosted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 12:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bad rehair job.. Plain and simple... take it back !... Good luck, Mat
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MLM
Junior Member


Joined: 09 Dec 2007
Posts: 9
Location: Bend Oregon

PostPosted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 10:28 pm    Post subject: Bad Hair day! Reply with quote

I would like to know how the hair can be shrunk as Chet mentioned.
I don't see any reason to go back and take a chance on two bad jobs
if I can fix the problem myself.
MLM
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Chet Bishop
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Joined: 23 Mar 2007
Posts: 678
Location: Forest Grove, Oregon

PostPosted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 3:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

IF!
IF...you are only talking about two or three loose hairs... not a general uneven-ness, then those few hairs can be shrunk by carefully exposing them to heat from a (preferably an alcohol-lamp) flame, from a safe distance above the flame, and moving the relative position of the heat source fairly rapidly back and forth lengthwise, until the heat takes effect, and the hair (quite abruptly) shrinks and pulls up even with the other hairs. I have successfully used other heat sources, such as a butane lighter, but the alcohol is what most people use. The distance, obviously, depends upon the size of the flame.

This is ONLY appropriate when the whole ribbon is smooth and tight, with no crossovers, and the loose hairs are limited to a very few. This is NOT a fix for a bad re-hair--that demands doing it over. Some purists won't flame even the odd stray hair. I'm not good enough to make that claim. But I don't abuse it.

And honestly, if you have to go elsewhere, then go--you can't use the bow the way it is, can you? Do yourself a favor-- take it back, and ask that the luthier do the job correctly...if he/she won't or can't then you have learned who not to go to in the future.
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Mat Roop
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Joined: 24 Mar 2007
Posts: 911
Location: Wyoming Ontario

PostPosted: Sun Dec 16, 2007 2:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I agree with Chet... except that I do not flame the hair..I depart from the traditional because it seems to me that flame will shrink not only the loose hairs but also some that you may not want to shrink...and flaming takes a lot of practice to get it right, so it is not for the uninitiated.
Cheers, Mat
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Chet Bishop
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Joined: 23 Mar 2007
Posts: 678
Location: Forest Grove, Oregon

PostPosted: Sun Dec 16, 2007 5:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My experience is that it takes quite a while to get even a single hair to go, and I am constantly moving the flame--never closer than an inch or so away, and a tiny flame-- some folks use a bigger flame. At any rate, it never affects other hairs. I want the "shrink" to be as spread out over the length of the hair as I can manage-- not in just one spot. If it comes up by degrees, not abruptly, then I think I probably achieved that goal-- sometimes it comes up suddenly, and I wonder if I just created a bad hair...anyway, if it were more than two or three hairs, I would be looking at starting over.

Sometimes, when all is tensioned , the hair ribbon looks very good, but when you begin to lower the tension, a few hairs droop much sooner than the others...I tend to think those are good candidates for a careful flame. But to each their own.

It sounded to me that what you described was more than a few loose hairs--more along the line of an uneven tension, which does require a redo of the rehair.

Incidentally, I really like Mat Roop's contribution (other thread) about using an inverted clothes iron to shrink the odd hair. I use such an iron for several other things (bending ribs, etc.), and have it mounted permanently in the inverted position, but had not thought of using it for that. I will try it on the next bow I rehair. (Thanks, Mat!)

Chet
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