Musical Practice and Performance Stack Exchange
Musical Practice and Performance Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [archeterie]

The art of making bows.

The art of making bows. (It can also refer to repairing them, but on this site we use for that.) This should be used to tag questions about building violin bows, etc. whether from the perspective of the craftsman or the layman.

The corresponding word for an instrument maker is archetier. Archetier comes from "archet" (literally "small bow" in French).

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Why are modern string bows concave instead of convex?

Every bow that I have seen used to play an orchestral stringed instrument, regardless of the style of music being played, has the same concave design. By concave I mean that there is a slight curve of the wood towards the bow hair (which is…
feetwet
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How does one change bow hair?

What are the steps to follow to unmount the hair from a bow and install a new set ? What kind of tools and products do you need beside a new set of bow hair ? How do you measure/adjust the length before mounting ?
ogerard
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Are there reasons to choose between a round-section or an octogonal-section bow?

The initial part of a violin, viola, or cello bow in modern models is always octogonal, but the rest of the stick can be either of round section or octogonal-faceted. Is it simply a different external design, a different school of bow-making, or…
ogerard
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Can I build an EBow myself?

It's possible to get some crazy sounds using an EBow on the guitar. I know that it works by creating an electromagnetic field to move the strings. Has anybody tried to build one? Are any schematics available?
c0smikdebris
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Why are string bows so hairy?

All violin bows I have seen are designed to hold a width of at least 1cm of hair. However, in my string training, I was always taught to rotate the bow so that only the outer-most hairs contact the strings. So what is all the other hair for? I…
feetwet
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