Bows

[JoeEvans]

What's anyone's experience of using different bows? I'm a relative beginner on the double bass, really enjoying playing arco; I currently have a fairly basic carbon fibre bow which I think would have been pretty much the bottom of the range, maybe £70 - £80 new. As I find myself spending more and more of my practice time using the bow, I'm contemplating investing in a slightly better one. I was looking at the Carbondix bows on Thomann, which are somewhere round £160.
Will I notice the difference in playing, do you think? And is it ever going to be a good idea to buy a bow without trying it first?

[Trimmo91]

I purchased a double bass from Thomann that came with a nasty bow and i also bought a Carbon fibre German bow from Thomann. Both were trash. I couldn't get either to produce a good full tone, they were scratchy and weak. I kept saying it has to be my technique as I am fairly new to arco. I then borrowed a friends decent bow for a while and it made a whole world of difference. I instantly sold my two bows, and used to money to buy a Yita music bow on Ebay. Reasonably priced but is a fantastic bow. Geoff Chalmers at Discover double Bass endorses Yita music bows too.

This is what I purchased : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Premium-Brazilwood-Double-Bass-Bow-French-Style-D21-/310722859502?hash=item48588691ee

Hope that helps

[SubsonicSimpleton]

Do you have a good arco teacher that you can ask about whether your current bow is fit for purpose?

Lots of the cheap bows have artificial hair(useless) or poor quality horsehair which makes them perform badly regardless of whether the stick is any good.

[Gareth Hughes]

It's worth paying a bit of money for a decent bow. What qualifies as decent varies. Edgar Meyer is quoted as saying he plays the same old crappy stick that he started with because it starts the note well.

Waiting for a rehair, I bought a £70 bow from Amazon. It was horrible. Really weak sound in comparison to the bow I bought from Ken Smith Basses, and it lost hair every time I used it.

If you've played bass guitar before, one difference (to me) between a cheap bow and a decent bow is a little like the difference between playing with a hard pick and a soft one. The soft one just seems to have no body or attack to the sound it produces.

[hubrad]

Talking to people in bowed instrument world, consensus seems to be that your bow should ideally be about 1/3-1/2 the value of your instrument.
I certainly noticed a mahoosive difference going from the sub-£100 level to the £3-400 level, then moved beyond but went second hand. Dunno if you'd notice as much on the ones you mentioned. I got a used Coda Metropolitan from a mate at a mate's rate price(!), which is a serious quality carbon fibre bow.. as good as my wooden one in a different way.
If you're looking at wooden bows, ask your local dealer if they deal with Stentor Bowline - that way they can get interesting bows in for you to try, without being lumbered with expensive stock.

[JoeEvans]

Thanks all. The general consensus online seems to be that carbon fibre bows in themselves are capable of being as good as wood at any given price up to a point, but can't yet match the top-end wooden bows, which I wouldn't be buying anyway. I'm thinking about carbon because it will go out to gigs in small dark venues with alcohol served.
But from what you're all saying, I might try and squeeze the budget up a notch, maybe towards the £250 mark. There's a good selection on Thomann, which I find to be as good a place to buy music stuff as anywhere. I can always abuse the returns policy to try out a few different models...

[hubrad]

I think it probably works in a similar way to basses.. if you go from a £100 bass to a £200 you prob won't notice much difference, whereas going up to 500 is generally a right lift. Going from that one to, say, £1000 is probably subtle.. and so on!
Enjoy the ride!
If you're around the W.Yorks area you're welcome to a go on my Coda. :-)