Shopping for a new bow

[Duckyincarnate]

I plan to spend the next months/year looking for a better French bow. Does anyone have any good recommendations for where to go to try out bows? I know of the Contrabass Shop, Thwaites, the Bass Place, as well as Stephen Thomson the bow maker. Is Malcolm Healey still going? Any other places I should put on the list? I am in London, but up for travelling around a bit if there are worthwhile shops or makers. Also if anyone knows of any bows privately for sale, I'd be interested to hear. 

I don't have the budget for a commissioned bow in all likelihood - budget up to around £1k.

[NickA]

Malcolm is still going in boxhill.

T&G Martin in Oxfordshire? Worth a visit (you can see Simandl's own bass there too!)

Casswells Strings (near Silverstone)?  Stock Arcus and Coda carbon bows, not many wooden ones though.

In the midlands:

Bass bags (stock ..or at least can get.. Arcus but their wooden bows are lower end).

Turners Violins: lots of wooden bows at all prices.

Tim Bachelar in Leicester (http://www.batchelar.com/bows.html)

I was bow shopping myself a couple of years back.  The problem I found was that I wanted to compare good carbon bows with decent wooden ones (budget around £1k) and failed to find a dealer who stocked equivalent wood and carbon.  I think around that price a carbon one is better than wood and dealers who stock carbon bows can't sell the wooden ones.  Consensus seems to be that if you have a big budget, wood eventually gets better than carbon again!

Meanwhile, I borrowed an Arcus S3 bow (hand made carbon) from bass bags (down the road from me) and liked it so much, I just kept it.  My then bass teacher liked it enough to buy one himself.   Massive step up on my old "brazil wood" bow.  Water proof (!) drop proof (it's been dropped on its stainless tip from a music stand with no ill effects) and no CITES issues (no tropical wood, no "mammoth" ivory) and none of the expensive silver or gold trimmings that wooden bow makers seem to like adding and which really thump up the cost; just stainless and titanium.  Should have tried lots more bows, but this one hit the spot.

[Duckyincarnate]

Really useful advice, thanks!

I have a fairly good carbon fibre bow (Col Legno) which I like, but I would like to have a quality wooden bow as the sound is meant to be richer. I am certainly not ruling out that I will be disappointed and find nothing that surpasses the bow I currently have, in which case I will keep on saving and try again in a year or two. 

I find it interesting that it is so difficult to find bows privately for sale. I know this is a niche sport but there is no shortage of basses on the market. With bows you really only see a couple of high value old French bows posted, often from about £4k. Where are the people upgrading from their quality pernambuco shop bows? Do people just keep hold of these as spares maybe? 

[philparker]

You quite often get quality bows in the second hand double bass section of ‘Musical Chairs’.

I have been fortunate to purchase two good Pernambuco bows on eBay, for a good price, but it is pot luck. Although I always wonder how a £4K bow will sound, not that I have the budget or the skill to justify buying one!

[NickA]

Judging by my dad's cello bow collection ... People just keep the old one and buy another.  I have two bass bows and two cello bows so far.. and likely a third cello bow by Xmas. Then more bows than electric basses even!

Ps: don't think wooden bows sound "richer" really.  Anyone?  Maybe a bit "darker", all very subjective.  My bass is a big fat dark sounding one, the new bow gives it lift / clarity ...but so might a £2000 wooden one.

Gotta go try a load .. but don't write carbon off.  A £2000 carbon bow is nothing like a £200 composite one.

[hubrad]

If you find a dealer for Stentor, they should be able to get some bows in on sale or return for you to try, subject to Stentor's Bowline list availability.

Worth asking.

[SubsonicSimpleton]

Be sure to take your own bass and bow with you when you go shopping - although you might reasonably expect more expensive to equate to better, you might find that there is no certainty it equates to better playability or better sound quality even if the materials and cosmetic appointments are better.

 

When I started looking for my first bow upgrade the lack of local stockists led me to be cheeky and ask other double bassists if I could check out their bows - I was very fortunate that they were generous and trusting enough to either invite me round to play through their bow collections or lend me bows to spend some time with at home. I found that on my bass the best combination of handling/sound was a Col Legno that had been rehaired with black hair, and that although some of the wooden bows sounded prettier (in isolation at least) none of them had a handling balance that I really liked. Comparing the Arcus(S4 I think) directly with the Col Legno on my bass I preferred the Col Legno both in terms of sound and handling, so even though I was prepared to pay more I ended up picking the bow I felt worked best for myself and my bass/strings. I quite like the directness of carbon/carbon-composite bows, but to my taste the Arcus was a bit too bright (although I do play on spiros, so if I were using a darker string the Arcus might have been more palateable).

Be open minded and choose what is going to work for you and the music you like to play.