Quick Tips
-Use a toothbrush to clean and rejuvenate bow hair. Just brush the hair, then play.
-Rosin dries out, so get a new cake of rosin at least once a year. I have found that the freshness of rosin is more important than the brand. In the meantime, cut or scrape off the top of the rosin to get at the fresher stuff!
-In my public school teaching, I use car pinstriping to mark first and third positions on the bass. See a video here. I also use a couple drops of white-out on the bows to mark beginning and ending of bow strokes.
-On my bass, I use nail polish to mark a few spots in thumb position. It’s a dark brown, so the audience can barely see it but easy for me to see. It doesn’t hurt the fingerboard, stays on, can be easily removed, and is cheap!
-Use corn pads on the bow for the pinky or thumb
-If a cellist has tense bow hand, try having them hold the bow German or underhand style. This may sound like heresy at first, but this is how gamba players hold the bow, and it many cases it seems to relax their hand when going back to the ‘normal’ technique.
I also use the car pinstriping for marking up my violins, violas, cello and bass instruments. For my older students I use black pinstriping so it is not visible to the audience. For the younger students, we use school colors.
The corn pads work great on the bow. I also use them with my young bass students as an indicator of where their left thumb should be placed on the back of the neck.
I like your tip about using a toothbrush on the bow. I have never heard that (even though it makes perfect sense).
Thanks for the tips.