Have you ever wondered what the exact tightness of the bow hair should be? I certainly have. I suppose that this is one of these areas that are not taught so well, as they seem insignificant. I was taught to “tighten it up to here!” Problem for me was that I never could relate, or remember, where “here” was.

If you tighten the bow too much, you can eventually warp the stick, and render the bow unplayable. If you do not tighten the bow enough, the stick will hit the strings and make all kinds of unsightly sounds. The bow will also be unplayable with the hair relaxed.

So… what is the correct bow hair tightness?

Run the bow hair up until a no. 2 pencil can be held between the stick and hair. At this point, you will find that the air space is exactly the same as the thickness of the stick. Cool huh!

Don’t forget to relax the hair each time you are done playing, in order to avoid permanent warping damage to the stick.