Caring for your Bow

To keep your bow in good playing condition, please refer to the below guidelines: 

• Avoid touching the bow hair with your fingers. Even small amounts of grease, sweat or dirt from your fingers can affect playability and make it difficult to apply rosin
• Always loosen the bow while it is not being used. If it is not loosened after you have finished playing, the hair stretches out and will eventually not tighten to playing tension.
• Do not over tighten the bow. Tighten your bow until the hair is pulled away from the stick only approximately 8mm at the narrowest point for violins/violas and 10mm for cellos. For double basses, tighten your bow until the hair is pulled away approximately 15mm for French bows and 20mm for German bows. It is important that the bow remains curved. If the stick looks straight to the hair, it is too tight.
• Don’t rosin your bow every time you use it. You should only need to rosin your bow every 5-6 hours of playing time or every 1-2 weeks for beginners.
• To keep your bow performing at its best, we recommend rehairing your bow every 12 months.