Violin Forum/Message Board

[John Cadd]

I remember two improvements in violin sound .The first time was when I removed all the metal string tuners on the tailpiece .And the second was when I removed any imperfect bow hairs to leave nicely cylindrical hairs giving a creamy smooth sound .
To understand what imperfect bow hairs look like you can see magnified photos with lumpy hair ,and hair with jagged edges like a saw. There are internet photos and any mobile phone can enlarge the pictures too .All those uneven misshapen hairs will spoil the sound.Start checking your worst cheapest bow .Unscrew the ferrule completely first .Work on a clean flat surface with good light . Wear some clean white cotton gloves to avoid contaminating the hairs that will remain in service . Count all the bad hairs first .Just learn what you have .Use the strongest magnifier you can get and tell us what you find . Then tell us how it sounds .

[John Cadd]

A completely opposite opinion can be seen in Quora which tells us the saw tooth shape seen close up on bow hair is what starts the sound. Since these rough ,coarse hairs are normally in the minority and the roughness occurs in patches along the hair , it seems unlikely . An older theory that the scale edges of the hair filaments cause the strings to vibrate is another fallacy . The rosin stuck to the hairs is what does that . Bow rosin comes from the sap of trees and if you use a hand saw on resinous wood the resin will stick to the blade and make it hard work .To remove that clogging resin ,a rag damped with Methylated spirits will clean the blade .
On the same theme a violin bow can become clogged with a mixture of rosin and perspiration near the frog. That can be cleaned with a clean rag with some methylated spirits also . But the clean hair will need some fresh rosin to be applied . Mainly always avoid touching the bow hair with bare skin .
A completely wrong instruction also on Quora was to wash bow hair with water after detaching the frog . Try that with some spare string after coating with rosin and sweat. The advice may come from a player who has no woodworking or Chemistry background .Players can be very impractical people .