Cheap Double Bass Bow.

[kedo]

I played DB in the Edinburgh and Scottish Schools Orchestra in my youth but have played bass guitar ever since until acquiring a Stentor 'Elysia' double bass about 8 years ago. I had this properly set up and am getting back into the way of playing it. I also had the bass restrung with D'Addario 'Helicore' Hybrid Arco/pizzicato steel core strings.

The problem is that I would like to use the bow more often, but can't seem to get to grips with it. I must have been able to do it at one time, and wonder if it is the quality of they bow itself. I don't seem to feel the bow grip the string however much rosin I apply. I don't feel the resistance against the strings. It slides, and I get occasional harmonics however hard I try.

Is it possible that the bow is strung with synthetic material and if so would it be worth having it restrung with hair? The bow came with the bass and in all respects looks well made with good materials. The hair looks very smooth though.

As I am not a lifelong double bass player, I am not in touch with finer points of double bass as I am with the bass guitar. I have had a lot of useful advice through the Forum. Can anybody out there advise?

[Lazybirdpete]

I'm no expert but I had similar problems with a new bow. It seems to take a while before the rosin will stick. Getting some Nyman rosin also made a big difference.

[ubassman]

Could be a number of things:-

Too much hardened rosin choking the hair . 'Less' is often 'more' and you can play out excessive rosin (especially once the bow gets warmed up a bit).

Bow tension may way too high - try loosening off the hair right off. The tighter the hair the more finesse and control is required to grip rather than skid.

Could be that you are 'sawing away' with a rigid wrist and arm ..it produces an arcing of the bow and the presentation of the bow angle where it contacts the string changes and the string never 'rolls'. The angle of presentation of the bow hairs needs to be constant square to the string rather than crossing at an angle otherwise you will never get any desirable tone or grip out of the bow.

Could be the hairs - a re-hair should cost around £50 - £60 and may be well worth doing anyway . A lot of 'student' bows do not use the best materials so as to keep the cost down and it probably wont hurt to start from a re-hair and eliminate that as a cause. A lot of professional players re-hair a couple of times or more during a typical year.

Good luck with it !

[kedo]

That's good advice. Thanks. I remember the technique, but it's the 'feel' that will have to be re-discovererd I think. Does the flat of the hair have to be completely in contact with the strings or can you use the edges of the hair?

[ubassman]

Yes, keep the hairs completely flat so that you get full contact and master that first. Watch for the tip of the bow dropping and practice long slow legato notes to get quality movements going.

Tilting the bow to us less hair is a widely used technique to soften off a note but till you get those long legato flat bows working and a nice rolling string, its something to develop afterwards. That said you may need tilt the bow a little to reach the G string easier (but as it is thinner it doesnt need as much hair to get rolling as the other strings anyway - so flat on the DAE is a good discipline to adopt - at all times the angle of the bow is 'square to the string' even when slightly tilted for the G).

One exercise that I find really useful is to play long notes as close to the bridge and as slowly as possible. At first the tone may be very scratchy, brittle and glassy sound (a bit like low humming and buzzing of a high power electricity generator). But then for a split second or two you will get a tone which is different and due to rolling the string. The trick is to try and make that moment last longer and longer until the sound at the bridge is clean. Then when you go to playing in the normal position it will sound silky smooth and hopefully you will be on a roll there to.

Hope this helps!

[kedo]

That's something to work on. Thanks a lot for that advice.