Advice on strings and bow material?

Posted by Roy Alderman on July 17, 2010 at 2:42pm

Hi guys,

I'm a newbie to bulding CBG's and am working on my next few projects - one of which is a CB Fiddle. It will be a simple 2 string acoustic. My construction is at the 40-50% mark.

 

What do you recommend for a cheap & functional setup for strings and bow materials?

 

I thought I might try to use an old wooden coat hanger as a base for the bow, but know nothing about fiddles and appropriate materials for this use.

 

Could I get some ideas/guidance fro you more experienced folk?

 

Thanks, Roy

You need to be a member of Cigar Box Nation to add comments!

Join Cigar Box Nation

Email me when people reply –
Follow

Replies

  • Diane in Chicago August 9, 2010 at 10:59pm
    Except if it is Incredibow hair! What IS that stuff? Some kind of "polymer filament" . . .

    http://www.incredibow.com/index.htm



    Naz Nomad said:
    I tried fishing line on a makeshift bow ... it was fairly useless.
    Horsehair has the properties to retain rosin, which gives you the friction against the string to produce sound.
    I did extensive Googling research on other materials for bow-hair (after futile attempts to get near some semi-wild horses with scissors, don't ask lol) ... they all came back with the same answer, ''don't bother, it's horsehair or nothing really'' :-)
  • Naz Nomad August 9, 2010 at 7:03pm
    I tried fishing line on a makeshift bow ... it was fairly useless.

    Horsehair has the properties to retain rosin, which gives you the friction against the string to produce sound.

    I did extensive Googling research on other materials for bow-hair (after futile attempts to get near some semi-wild horses with scissors, don't ask lol) ... they all came back with the same answer, ''don't bother, it's horsehair or nothing really'' :-)
  • Roy Alderman August 9, 2010 at 6:44pm
    Thanks, Diane & naz! actually, dianne the coat hanger i have is quite old ( a product of the 40's or 50's perhaps?) and looks quite similar to the bow in the pics provided by Naz, so i'm hoping it will work. many of the homemade instructions i have come across suggests thin fishing line as a synthetic bow material, any experience with this? keep in mind that I dont even know how to play a fiddle, but have a good ear and quite a few years w/guitar.

    thanks again - you guys rule! Roy
  • Naz Nomad August 9, 2010 at 6:08pm
    Elaborating on Diane's post slightly (all of the Harpkits instructions ARE a great source of ideas btw), this shows the method of constructing a psaltery bow with some useful photos too ...

    http://www.apsimplepsaltery.com/bow.htm
  • Diane in Chicago August 9, 2010 at 5:35pm
    Sorry I did not see this earlier!

    You can use a regular steel guitar string for a fiddle, select your gauge based on your anticipated tuning -- or use what's in the drawer!

    As far as a bow, the hairs have to be at a pretty high tension, I don't think a coat hanger will have enough spring for that. Musicmakers has a kit for a bowed psaltery and you do string up the bow for that. Maybe you can glean enough info on how to go about it from looking at the photos?

    http://www.harpkit.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Produ...
This reply was deleted.