Bow hair - types, quality, sources

[Bunny Hoskins]

Originally Posted by Richard Prowse

I've just had my French bow, that I had converted to German about 10 years ago, converted back to French - I'm learning Czardas (Monti) for a concert and was having trouble with the fast C7 bit; I discovered that those string crossings are much easier with the French. I had black hair on my bow, which I really liked, but the luthier only had 'salt and pepper' (no time to wait for hair to arrive, I only have one bow). No problem, I was keen to try it, as I'd never used it before. It's still early days getting back into the French bow (10 years is a long time) and I'm not sure about the 'salt and pepper' yet. I'm doing lots of practice, so I suppose, time will tell. I've got EP weichs on my bass and they sure sound different with the French (I like that German sound, but French is good too). I know I really need to get a German as well, but I'm going to persevere with the French for now.
There are things I like about the French bow.

Salt an peper??? You kiddin???

[Bin Hire]

Originally Posted by Bunny Hoskins

Salt an peper??? You kiddin???

Bunny, the traditional types are black, 'salt and pepper' (sort of brown looking) and white.

[Thomas Erickson]

I think "chestnut" is pretty available too, but I haven't tried it. I still don't think the color is all that relevant though - an indicator of what the consistency might be, at best.