How Do You Know When It's Time to Change Your Strings, Rosin & Bow Hair? - Ask geoff & lauren #13

Geoff: Hi and welcome to another episode of "Ask Geoff and Lauren." We're here to answer your double bass related questions. So if you have any, you know what to do. Jump in the comments and let us know. We've got a question from our friend Eric Mayer, who is a great bass player and has been a friend of mine for a few years, and I know he's a fan of Lauren's as well. Eric is asking us, Lauren, basically, how do you know when it's time to re-hair your bow? And what I've decided because this is such a quick question, I'm going to add in a few more. So, we're going to go, how do you know when it's time to re-hair your bow, change the strings, and your rosin? Let's do the bow hair. So how often do you re-hair your bow, Lauren? Lauren: Well, you and I have talked about this before. Geoff: Yeah. Lauren: And you shouldn't do what we do, which is wait way too long to get a bow re-haired. Geoff: I still haven't got mine re-haired since last year when we talked about it. Lauren: I got mine re-haired. I got white hair this time. Geoff: By the way, we didn't really answer a question for someone previously. They asked us a question about black and white hair and the quality of bow hair. And I forgot, when I listened back, we don't really talk about the quality. Would you pay for more expensive bow hair or do you just ask the person who does it to put hair on... Lauren: I was thinking about that. Geoff: Yeah, and grade. Let's just jump in on that now. Lauren: Yeah. Geoff: Have you got any thoughts about it? Because with me, I'll tell you what I do, i just go with...they only give you one option and it's quite expensive and he's a renowned guy so I'm guessing it's good quality. How about you? Lauren: Yeah, most people that I go to don't even give me an option. They just say, "Do you want white or black hair?" And some people, if they predominantly do violin re-hairs or cello re-hairs they don't even have black hair. But that's a little bit rare. But there was...there is a woman that does re-hairs here that offered Argentinian hair I think, and I've heard really good things about that. But, like I said, I just do whatever the... Geoff: Did you get white or black? Lauren: I got white hair. I got it. Geoff: Oh, ah, you said. Good for you. And is it good? Lauren: Yeah, it's great. I really like it. Geoff: Did it make a big difference or did you wish you'd done it a year earlier? Lauren: Well, I don't have any regrets about my life, but I do like it a lot better for what I'm doing now. The quality, like I said in our video on the color of hair, black hair is just so much coarser and I'm finding that I have to re-rosin my bow quite a lot more often than I use to but I can't put as much rosin or else it changes the quality. And that's a whole other discussion but in general, it's a lot smoother and I'm having a lot easier of a time doing the off the string or [inaudible 00:02:41] stroke, which is really nice. Geoff: So, come on then, give me a number. How frequently, in terms of like years or months or whatever, should you change your hair? Just in general, your bow hair. Lauren: I think that a good number is every six months but if you wait... Geoff: I was going to say six years then. Lauren: ...but if you, if you can only do it once a year that will be fine too if you take care of the hair. If you loosen the hair at the end of every practice session and if you maybe take a comb every once and a while and scrape through the rosin. You don't go crazy with rosin every single time you put it on. But don't be like me. I waited two years. It's been over two years since I had gotten my last re-hair and it was long overdue, so. Geoff: I'm trying to remember mine. I got mine changed by a guy called Phillip Archar. How cool is that for a bow re-hairer? Lauren: That's a great name. Geoff: Yeah, and he did a great job as well, Phillip, so thanks. And that was in 2010 but since then I got it done once. So it's probably I'm averaging once every two and a half years or so or three years, which is not good. Lauren: No. Geoff: I am a bit of a bow dodger though because being a jazz bass player I'm always... Lauren: Well, that's another thing. That's a great point to bring up. It depends on how much you play. Geoff: Well, Eric is a jazzer who practices a lot with a bow, but he's not doing what you're doing. It's more... Lauren: Exactly. Geoff: So I'd say probably once every year or two I'd say. Lauren: Yeah, I think so. If you're not using the bow every day or if you're only using it for like 30 minutes every day or whatever, then you can wait closer to a year. Maybe even longer just depending on how you feel, but I'm using the bow every single day with my practicing on top of rehearsals. So I really...I really should... Geoff: It should be every six months, shouldn't it? Lauren: It should be every six months. So if you're doing that then I would say six months. If you're just mostly playing pits and you rarely play with a bow, then you can lean more towards a year. Geoff: And I think also I feel that...yeah, for me it was just because I haven't found somebody that I like locally. So it's not been easy for me to do it, but I just need to get motivated and do that. So that's my job for this week. Lauren: Yeah. Geoff: So this has actually already turned into a long video. But, you know, we were saying we've actually got another two things to talk about. So let's quickly do those. Rosin, how often do you change your rosin, Lauren? Lauren: I usually lose my rosin before it gets too old. So we had a conversation in the study group about this actually, when somebody asked, "How do you know when the rosin is too old?" And I have experienced that where the rosin just completely dries up. With Pop's it's very, very easy to tell because Pop's is just so sticky and soft. Geoff: It becomes so hard, doesn't it? Gosh, yeah. Lauren: Yeah, it becomes very...and when you put the bow on the string you can tell because it's very powdery and normally Pop's is just so sticky. But with other kinds of rosin it's a little bit harder to tell, but you can sort of see...like I'm thinking of Kolstein's right now. If you look at it, it looks, it kind of looks like glass a little bit. You know, like a darker...there's no such thing as dark glass. I don't know what I'm talking about but you can kind of tell. Geoff: Amber: Lauren: You can kind of tell when it's dried out because it takes on a lighter shade and it doesn't stick to the hair as well. You put more on, it comes off easier, and I think that happens...and I know somebody will correct me if I'm wrong about this...but I think that happens typically after about a year and a half, but also the weather changes a lot here. So it gets really, really cold and then it gets really, really hot, and I think that plays into it. Geoff: I think absolutely, yeah. I think it's a similar kind of...yeah. It's a similar sort of thing but probably rosin will certainly last longer than bow hair. So I'd agree with you about that. Quickly about strings, I think it depends on what you're doing. Just for me, I'm playing either [inaudible 00:06:30] or Weich strings most of the time. I change them, honestly, probably once about every eight months or something like that. Lauren: Okay. Geoff: So a bit more frequently than once a year, but I want to get a...I like a brighter sound to that string. They can get too dark and I find that when I change them they always sort of tend to sound better. But if I was playing an orchestra string, you know, like if I was playing Bel Canto or [inaudible 00:06:52] or something I'd leave them on for years probably. I don't think I'd be excited about change them unless there was an issue with them because I don't necessarily want...to me they just get, you know, more mellow sounding. As long as they're not...there's no sort of fault with them I can't see a massive reason. [Inaudible 00:07:07] Spirocore last for years as well. Lauren: Yeah, Spirocore's are great because a lot of people prefer the older ones. Geoff: I do. I prefer the older sound, so I will have them on for as long as they'll take until they break. So, what about you, Lauren? Lauren: Well, I actually really prefer the brighter sound. You know, I use Solo strings. I use the original flat chrome Solo's. Geoff: Yeah. Lauren: And I really love that just super bright sound. I think it fits my bass really well. And, like you said, after about a year, sometimes even less, they'll turn dark and you find that you get a lot of false notes. You know, like sort of, they sound sort of like wolf tones where you don't have a wolf tone it's a little bit harder to get the crisp, clean sound. And so I really like to change my strings if I can every year, but the strings are just so expensive... Geoff: Yeah, absolutely. Lauren: ...that I can't do it. So I'll stretch it out but I know my teacher Jeff Bradetich has kept some of his strings on for upwards of like five years. Geoff: I really think...I think if I was playing orchestral music I really don't think I'd be changing them as much, but I think if you like that brilliance...by the way, if you're watching Pirastro, please send Lauren some permanent. I'd really like you to try a Pirastro permanents because... Lauren: Oh, I love permanents. Geoff: Yeah, have you tried the Solo set? Lauren: Yeah, those were my go-to strings when I was in college actually. I tried the permanents first and I love those because... Geoff: Great string. Lauren: They're very high tension still. Jeff likes the flat chromes, but they're a little just ever so darker than the flat chromes. They give a really beautiful sound, but with the flat chromes, you know, I go back and forth, but with the flat chromes they're just so great. They're just so piercing. They get that like really nice like bullet sort of sound. Geoff: In that case, don't send her a set. Send me, please, a set if you're listening Pirastro, send me some original chromes. Yes, so now hopefully that has answered your question. It was Eric who was asking, of course. Originally, about 20 years ago, he was asking a question about rosining his bow. And hopefully we... Lauren: I think we've answered a lot of questions. Geoff: Yeah, I know this is like a multiple episode, multi-pack of "Ask Geoff and Lauren". Lauren: Yes. Geoff: So if you've got any comments that you'd like to leave, you know what to do. Join us below in the comment section and we'll see you in the next video.