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Regulars
John, I have to tighten my bow tighter than a pencil, I have to use my pinky to pass through or I get a lot of unwanted bow bounce.
Most likely the hair we just to short when installed on the bow, on a non expensive bow I don't think I would worry to much about it.
Mark
Master the Frog and you have mastered the bow.
Albert Sammons
Regulars
Pencil width is a decent rule of thumb for an average bow, but the right amount of hair tension for your bow may vary with the stiffness of the bow or the type of music being played. Also, your bow hair will expand and contract with changes in humidity, so you may have to adjust for the seasons. It mostly comes down to how it feels to play, and how much of a bounce you want.
Regulars
@JohnG -
It's like Andrew said.
Now, my bow is pretty darn flexible, so here's how I adjust my tension:
- Place your bow on your strings
- then put some weight on the bow... like if you get excited to play a strong, loud note or passage.
- Observe the clearance between bow & hair
- I look for about ⅛" of space - WHILE you have your loud-playing pressure applied.
- If your stick & hair & strings are ALL touching when you do that , then tighten your bow a half turn until right.
- Check after each adjustment.
- On the other hand, if you dig into playing a note loud and have more than an ⅛" of clearance between bow & hair - I'd loosen the tension by a half turn until right.
- Check after each adjustment.
You can decide down the road, if you want to buy a more or less flexible bow - you're probably going to want to just keep working on your bow grip for a bit, first (we all need that). 😊
- Emily
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@JohnG -
Guess I should've probably mentioned it's good to start my above, 'fine tuning', test with your bow tension at what YOU would consider 'normal'. 😊
...and bounce can be several factors all at once.
Christian Howes - "showing you how elite players stop bow skip and play with a Smooth Change & Strong Sound on violin or viola."
Good luck - hopefully this helps.
Regulars
JohnG,
So, more tension will give less bounce?
Seems counter intuitive, when my teacher told that I looked at her like a 3 headed alien, and tried for weeks to disprove her for weeks but for me and my bow (eats crow) she was right.
Mark
Master the Frog and you have mastered the bow.
Albert Sammons
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