ANALYSIS OF BOW-HAIR FIBRES

The bow hair is considered to be an essential component of the sound production in bowed string instrument playing. Despite of this there is hardly any literature dealing with the acoustic and mechanical properties of bow-hairs. The purpose of this paper is to show the broad range of various kinds of bow-hairs and their properties. For the study eight types of bow-fibres obtainable at most shops in Europe were chosen. Scanning electron microscopy was used to compare the profiles and surface structure. Mechanical tests demonstrate the differences in elasticity and strain rupture. Audio recordings made by exciting a string with an artificial bowing machine indicate that the surface structure have a negligible effect on the produced sound.