Alcohol Cleaning Horsehair
Is using alcohol on a toothbrush to come through a bow's horsehair (cleaning) it a good idea? Or does alcohol make the horsehair more brittle and easy to break?
Replies (18)
Pour some alcohol on your head...what does it do to your own hair? Same for the bow...
You can use some mild soap and water on that small area near the frog that becomes dirty fom thumb but NOTHING any more stringent.
Sean, if the hair gets bad enough that you want to use alcahol or anything else just have the sucker rehaired...... Honestly!
Since your alternative to cleaning the hair is to have the bow rehaired, I can seen no reason not to try the alcohol cleaning.
Just be sure to get ALL the old rosin off, which might require dissolving the rosin in alcohol as much as 8 times and cleaining it all off each time.
I do it that way (using alcohol swabs) and have been for 10 years or so (violin, viola, and cello bows - about 20 in all).. If it doesn't work I figure maybe it's time for a rehair, but more often than not, it works just fine -- and the rehair is no better. I can't afford to rehair every time I think I'm getting unhappy with a bow, and removing oils from the hair is one of the things I do want the alcohol to accomplish.
Fortunately my bows have no scalp for the alcohol to irritate.
Andy
So if it it not ideal to use alchohol to clean a bow's horse hair, what is alchohol good for cleaning...bow frog, tip, strings only?
Hi Sean,
I regularly use alcohol to clean my chinrest, tailpiece, fingerboard and strings. I also use a very small amount on a cottonball to clean the rosin off my bow - but I also quickly wipe away any excess with a clean towel.
My rule has always been to use alcohol on all my ebony if needed, strings and bow. But never the fiddle and I've never heard of cleaning the hair it. The suggestion of washing your bow hair is a good - I do it as well. Just make sure to not get the bow tip wet or the tip will fall apart.
Good luck!
Does alchohol cause synthetic strings to become unwound quicker, therefore shortening the string's life?
Hi guys,
Not to be a wet blanket here, but as the respected makers on this forum will tell you, alcohol can strip varnish REAL quick. Personally, I never let alcohol get anywhere near my instrument; regular cleaning with a soft cloth takes care of rosin buildup on every part of the violin and bow *if* you do it often!
Again, I don't mean to correct anyone posting on this thread; I just think that the warning needs to be out there concerning alcohol.
To clarify, no, I don't clean the horsehair itself with a soft cloth--I agree with the poster suggesting a rehair, but I know that's not really the point of the thread. Just didn't want to appear to suggest something that wouldn't work!
Well, an alcohol bath is certainly much cheaper than a re-hair.
The trick is to ensure no alcohol gets on the stick. The ebony can withstand alcohol without damage. I have given my bows a bath for years, and the hair is just fine.
You will want the best for a re-hair, though. Finding the best person for this can be difficult. Not much is worse for a player than a less than perfect re-hair.
I would not advise a soap and water bath, though. The hair will wick the water into the wood wedges used at the tip and frog. These will fail later and need repair. So, you do not gain much by this approach.
Bow hair doesn't really wear out over time, but it does age and it does get dirty. If the hair is weak and breaking, rehairing is called for. If it is simply dirty, then cleaning is an option. I usually did it with a toothbrush and alcohol, with the frog completely off the stick to keep the bow as far as possible from the hair. A good bow is almost never varnished, so alcohol should not affect the finish. But alcohol has other properties that make it a good idea to keep it off the wood. For exampe, sometimes we have to take the top off an instrument. By running alcohol into the seam (don't try this at home) we can shock the wood pores at the point of contact and the glue will either weaken or release. You can use a rag lightly dampened with alcohol to clean certain parts of the bow and the instrument, but you should probably not unless you truly know what you are doing.
If you do use alcohol, I strongly suggest pure grain alcohol if you can get it (here in New York State, it is no longer sold in liquour stores). At 190 proof it is strong enough for any purpose that you would need it for, and it is "safe" to drink. Denatured alcohol is filled with products intended to kill you if you drink it. A truly bizarre piece of legislation, if you ask me. The shelves at Home Depot or Lowe's are crowded with the stuff. Check the list of ingredients on the can and you will see that it reads like the contents of a toxic waste dump. Alcohol passes easily through the skin and goes directly into your blood stream, after which it makes a beeline for your liver.
I'm surprised that one of the Bow Makers has yet to enter a thought?
My fear is that Sean may end up with a real mess (depending on how much rosin is on the hair) and or damage the stick's varnish and being very astringent hurt the wood, even the ebony. Then what? Beware of quick fix easy way outs. It just seems too risky when it comes to your instruments/implaments. It would be a shame if something were to happen and then everybody is saying, "Gee, I never heard of that happening before?"
I'm surprised that one of the Bow Makers has yet to enter a thought?
They are no doubt just shaking their heads as are many of us
Hmm.... lots of points of view here. Unfortunately, I think all the makers are still at Oberlin (David, where are you when we need you?)....
Denatured alcohol is nasty stuff. It's used by shops that don't have access to real grain alcohol, but always wear gloves. I'd just rather not have anything that adulterated touching my skin if possible.
Alcohol dissolves rosin (along with lots of other things), so the first practical problem is making sure that all of the rosin is dissolved and removed from the hair. Any remaining stuff will harden and make the hair completely unusable. If you're not sure how to ensure that it's all gone, then don't do it. And if you use too much, you'll run into the second practical problem...
The second practical problem is the bow stick itself. Many bows are not varnished, and so wouldn't take much damage from a little alcohol touching the stick (although it's still not a good idea). But most less expensive bows are, and getting any alcohol on the stick will generally result in varnish literally dripping or wicking off onto the hair. Again, unusable hair (not to mention a damaged bow stick) results.
Using soap and water isn't recommended (although it's a lot safer), mainly because the spreader wedge in particular will take on the water. Plus, although ebony and pernambuco are both pretty tough woods, it's not advisable to have water contacting them either.
So in the end, rehairing is best because it's the safest option to get fresh hair into the bow. Working on bows is not rocket science, but it's like any other trade or artisan craft -- if you're not trained or skilled in what to do, you will make a mess of your bow and end up costing yourself far more than the rehair. Just as it's not recommended to adjust your own soundpost without being trained in how to do it first, it's not a good idea to do anything to your bow hair without knowing what it is you're doing.
Your best bet is a rehair -- NetRehair.com is a great service that's run by one of the best bow restorers on the planet. If you need hair and there's no shop in your area that's reputable, you'll get a great job done by them every time. If there is a shop in your area, believe me -- the money you spend on the rehair is well worth it. Your bow will thank you.
I'm with you Sam! such is life.
I wouldn't worry too much about getting denatured alcohol on your skin, but it can dissolve bow and violin finishes.
Mineral spirits will also dissolve rosin and should not affect the finish.
I was looking for information on removing rosin from a bow. Think I put too much on mine.
The statement that mineral spirits shouldn't harm the finish on a violin is false. Mineral spirits will strip the finish faster than alcohol. My dad used mineral spirits to thin oil based paint and clean his brushes after lettering signs, windows, trucks, etc. It's a volatile organic compound and is flammable. Mineral spirits should never be used on any part of a violin or bow.
well for yrs in plating vioin and I have two expsive bowws and two middle price bows I do use alcohol with a product made of alchol grai sold in a Home depot store. One clean bow first losing it in a bow with ivory soap(DONT TOUCH EITHER THE BOW TIP AND THE BOTTOM PART.) THEN DRY IT UP AFTER THAT USED ALCHOL AS STRONGER YOU CAN GET WIH A TOUTH BRUSH VERY SOFT(DONT SRUP IT) DRY IY AND APPLLY LIGHT ROSIN AND LET IT SIT, LATER USD A STRONG ROSIN.The inf i gave you is a technique that a well knon luthier in NYC Manhathan gave me to make you steel money or I mean get you think new hair. He is located in Upper side side of manhathan NYC. Hair if wll taken care will last a year. its name is carlo !!
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July 5, 2009 at 07:08 AM ·
I dab a toothbrush with alchohol and comb it through my bow's horsehair to clean the horsehair. Good idea? Or does alchohol make the horsehair more brittle and easy to break?