Bow rehair services

Mayim Alpert has specialized in bow rehair and repair for more than 5 years. Over this time he has tried many suppliers' bow hair and learned what makes good hair - it must be straight, not crinkly or wavy. It should be of even thickness, and supple in order to last. Only the best will satisfy a discerning customer.

​

Furthermore, the resulting ribbon of hair is equally or more important than the hair quality. The hairs in the ribbon should be of equal length, so they become equally tense upon tightening the bow. Then the stick will bounce lighter and quickly in response to the strings.

 

There must not be too much hair or the stick will respond poorly. For an ideal touch, the hair should be just slightly tighter on the playing side, to give the player the ability to really dig into the strings if so demanded by the music.

​

Alpert & Kallinen is proud to offer Michael Sowden's Mongolian bow hair, sorted and cleaned to perfection by Sowden himself in Yorkshire, England. This bow hair is claimed by many to be the finest in the world!

​

We also offer a standard quality Siberian bow hair, which is a bit thinner and rougher in structure. It is excellent for bass and cello bows as well as fiddlers' bows and student bows. Black horse hair is available at the same price.

​

Prices for violin, viola and cello bows:

Professional rehair: 90€

Student rehair: 75€

​

Contrabass bows use nearly twice the hair and simply take more time, so bass bow rehairs cost 105€ for the professional quality hair and 90€ with student quality.

​

Baroque bows are also welcome and treated in an appropriate manner - baroque and older period bows usually require significantly less hair than modern bows, but are m​ore challenging to rehair perfectly due to the lack of slide and ferrule in the frog.

​