How tight is your bow?

[Ken Smith]

Depends on how you play. You don't want the hair dragging on the stick. That will break hairs. Play your hardest ffff with the bow and tighten it until your hairs do not hit the string. This can be altered depending on what you are actually playing. Stronger/harder players tighten the bow more on average than lighter players. On average is the key as players do what they like or feel they need. You can do the same. Do what works best for you. No rules here per say.

[Richard Prowse]

Come on Ken, we humans make up rules for everything. Maybe we need to formulate bow tightening rules?
Well, as a guide.

[Terry McDougal]

Somewhere in the middle? You don't want a tight kilt, nor a loose one, for obvious reasons.

[Bin Hire]

Well put Terry!

[Thomas Erickson]

I really don't mean to sound like a jerk, but tightening your bow is something that is so simple it really can't be explained. I mean, if it "bottoms out" it's too loose, and if it's too tight, well, it's too tight. If your bow doesn't seem to be working, you're probably a lot better off looking at your technique or maybe your bow just sucks.

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Thomas Erickson

I really don't mean to sound like a jerk, but tightening your bow is something that is so simple it really can't be explained. I mean, if it "bottoms out" it's too loose, and if it's too tight, well, it's too tight. If your bow doesn't seem to be working, you're probably a lot better off looking at your technique or maybe your bow just sucks.

I think there is a bit more to it than that. After some time, the hair will stretch from the frog little by little. Tightening the stick is harder when you have less room to tighten it from the hair being stretched.Also, the balance of the bow (in playing it) changes as the frog moved further towards the screw and away from the grip. I have one bow that has a very stiff stick and a fairly big camber. Tightening that bow is not so easy because the hair has been in there a long time (what hair is left), and I can barely get the hair off the stick when tightening it.

I know bows and know them well. Some just need some TLC so they work better. Also as you say, there are some not-so-great bows out there in use as well. That can make things difficult regardless of the hair condition.

[Thomas Erickson]

Fair enough. All the more reason to get regular rehairs. Assuming you have a luthier who does a good, consistent job anyway.