Double Bass How loose to loosen a bass bow when not in use???

[Don Hergert]

Sorry if this has been discussed more than 100 times already, I did a search and didn't find anything directly addressing this question... The articles that I've found only address how tight to tighten a bass bow, nothing addresses how loose to loosen a bass bow.

I've recently started working on Arco with a relatively inexpensive but pretty nice bow, and I'm wondering how loose to loosen the thing when I'm not going to be using it for a while...

I've seen people who go way loose with it, so the horsehairs are literally flowing all over the place, and I've seen people who loosen only until the horsehairs begin to be out of allignment with each other.

Is there a right or wrong degree ot looseness? Is there a best way to do this?

 

[Anne Millington]

I was always taught to loosen the screw to just past the point at which further loosening would make no appreciable difference in hair tension, if that makes sense. My problem is always wanting to tighten too much. I was always getting scolded by teachers for that, and finally learned that less is more. It actually gives more nuance to not overtighten, and is easier on the mechanism.

 

[Don Hergert]

Thank you very much, I'll try that.

 

[Don Hergert]

So, with about a week of trying different degrees of loose, I've fallen into the habit of loosening to a point where there is no tension on the screw (nor more essentially, on the stick). This does leave the horsehair looser than I had been hoping for, but it's mostly still in line and not flowing all over the place. But for sure, the stick is not under any tension.

Re: "tighten too much", I had read in another thread here on TB about tightening the bow to a point where pressure on the bow against the D string allows the bow to touch the horsehair at the same time as the horsehair touches the G and A strings. In other words, tightening the bow only to a point where it will both help note clarity and prevent horsehair contact. That seems to work nicely for me, and I agree, less is more!

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[Michael Eisenman]

You only need to loosen it enough to remove tension from the hair, so the hair doesn’t stretch and tension is off the stick. Any looser is unnecessary. IMHBAO ;^]