If you're a string musician, you're very likely to find yourself frequently in need of new bow hair -- the horsehair that's used to string the bow. Of course, as any luthier knows, there are a wide variety of types of bow hair, as well as a wide variety of colors, including white, black, and salt and pepper bow hair.

But the colors don't matter, right? What matters is the source of the bow hair, its texture, that sort of thing. Right?

Not so much. Color is closely tied to things like how coarse the bow is, and can have both subtle and profound effects on your performance. Many players use different bows depending on whether they're playing orchestra or solo, but some don't want to compromise their tones and thus try to look for balance.

Ultimately, most musicians find they need to do their own experimentation to find out whether they need salt and pepper bow hair, or black, or white, or something else entirely. Generally, black tends to be more coarse than white, but exceptions abound. And some musicians feel they get a smoother sound when they use white bow hair.

What's more, different colors of bow hair often work better for different types of music; many classical players prefer white hair, whereas those playing jazz or rock may go with black hair, for the heavier, more raw sound it produces.

Others find a nice middle ground with brown bow hair, which should not be confused with salt and pepper bow hair; as its name states, salt and pepper bow hair is black (or sometimes chestnut brown) hair mixed with white, whereas brown bow hair is simply that: Brown.

It's important to note that true salt and pepper bow hair is a premium product, since it requires a greater degree of work to produce. The luthier must combine multiple strands of differently-colored hairs in the same bow, almost laying strands individually. It's hard work.

Whatever type of bow hair you may need, you're sure to find the best at Wagman Primus. We carry a wide variety of types of bow hair from a range of sources.