Geo. Heinl & Co. rehaired my bow at seven months into my ownership. I was looking to rehair because I've been breaking hairs, and the hair at the frog was getting gummy and slippery. There was also an oddity in that I had to wind the bow up many full turns in order to get the hair to playing tension.
Heinl's has two options for rehair: a standard vs premium rehair. The woman at the store explained that both services used the same type of hair, but for the premium, they select/pick it twice. (I might have misheard so don't quote me on that!) I also think she said that the TSO uses the premium kind. They have a same day or a 24 hour service, but I had to notify them ahead of time.
I selected the premium rehair at $80, for a 24 hour turnaround. When I got it back, I briefly inspected it at their store. The hair at the frog is well done. It is spread finely and evenly, and at the tip, it's bunched in neatly as well. The hairs themselves are even from frog to tip, with same tensions within each hair. The hairs are pale yellowish to off-white, a neutral colour, visible strands individually. Compared to before, the JonPaul original hair was pure white to platinum blond, and extremely thin, almost like bunched angelhair pasta. Just from an initial visual inspection, it seemed pretty good. I was happy with their service and the quick turnaround.
At home, I brought it back to playing tension with a simple 3/4 turn. Much better than before. I guess I've been stretching the hair too much. The rehair came with a practically invisible layer of rosin which was playable immediately. Thankful for the great rehair job from Heinl.
I haven't had very much playing time on the new hair, but it sounded fine from the few moments I tried it. I was wary of a rehair changing the feel and sound of the bow, but it's just as revealing and precise as before on the double stops.
It's also good time for a mid-year review of the bow. I am very happy with the JonPaul Carrera. It's everything I need, and it's allowed me to continue playing at a higher level than before. It's well behaved on the gut strings I'm using this summer, and it makes me sound really good especially in the lower notes.
I've had to adapt my playing style to the Carrera. I'm no longer applying so much pressure to collapse the bow hair to the stick, and on long detache strokes I no longer shudder. It's become a part of my arm and I feel a lot more from the fiddle when I'm using this bow.
I really love that I can throw the bow around the strings and the weight of it will carry itself through. It almost plays itself, and it's a very fun feeling to get the bow moving and get that kind of vibration / sound reaction from the strings and fiddle.
I'm extremely impressed with it, and my initial reaction stands: It's the best bow I own, and probably will be the best bow I use for a long while.