knirirr Posted January 25, 2022 Share Posted January 25, 2022 I've heard that trying out some bass bows might be a good idea if I am to upgrade from mine, which is apparently a fairly basic one. Various places offer a bow trial service, and I've found these: https://caswells-strings.co.uk/product-category/double-bass/double-bass-bows/ https://www.bassbags.co.uk/product-category/double-bass-shop/double-bass-bows/ https://www.bowspeed.com/purchasing+and+policies Does anyone have any other suggestions? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickA Posted January 25, 2022 Share Posted January 25, 2022 Bass bags is very close to me. I bought my Arcus bass bow from them ... had it on trial for a week then bought it. They don't have a huge range and had to send out for the bow they recommended. Caswells have a huge stock and will post you 4 to try out. Choose a price range or a bow you fancy and they'll send several of similar cost. I got a cello bow from them. Beware, if you try a more expensive one you'll probably buy it! I went £400 over budget by "just trying the next one up, for comparison". Not tried bowspeed. https://www.thestringzone.co.uk/categories/double-bass-bows do the same as caswells, but the range looks a bit thin, I didn't try them as they didn't stock the bow I wanted to try. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knirirr Posted February 1, 2022 Author Share Posted February 1, 2022 (edited) An unexpected trip to the vicinity of Caswell's and I was able to find out that: 1. They're running down their range of basses and bass accessories. 2. The website is out of date. 3. The only bows in stock were beginner bows or a rather nice one half as much again as I wanted to spend. The results of (3) were sadly inevitable for my wallet. Bowing a worse bass than mine with the good bow was still easier than bowing my nicer one with a cheaper bow. Edited February 4, 2022 by knirirr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted February 4, 2022 Share Posted February 4, 2022 Good bows are like crack cocaine. Once you go there, there is no turning back. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickA Posted February 4, 2022 Share Posted February 4, 2022 On 01/02/2022 at 16:15, knirirr said: An unexpected trip to the vicinity of Caswell's and I was able to find out that: 1. They're running down their range of basses and bass accessories. 2. The website is out of date. 3. The only bows in stock were beginner bows or a rather nice one half as much again as I wanted to spend. The results of (3) were sadly inevitable for my wallet. Bowing a worse bass than mine with the good bow was still easier than bowing my nicer one with a cheaper bow. 1&2 what a shame. Sorry if I gave you a bum steer there. They were great with my cello bow. But whilst in their shop I did notice their double bass stock wasn't exactly top class. 3 What did you go for? Crack cocaine indeed. Bowspeed's stock goes to £7500!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knirirr Posted February 5, 2022 Author Share Posted February 5, 2022 20 hours ago, NickA said: 1&2 what a shame. Sorry if I gave you a bum steer there. They were great with my cello bow. But whilst in their shop I did notice their double bass stock wasn't exactly top class. 3 What did you go for? Crack cocaine indeed. Bowspeed's stock goes to £7500!! No problem. I had to be in Banbury and had an hour to kill, so it was worth a look. I went for the Codabow Infinity, German style. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickA Posted February 7, 2022 Share Posted February 7, 2022 On 05/02/2022 at 18:59, knirirr said: Codabow Infinity, Nice. Carbon bows are amazing value at this price point I think. Waterproof and almost unbreakable too. Love my Arcus S3 but inevitably wondering if an S4 would be nicer still 🙂 Adict. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilp Posted February 12, 2022 Share Posted February 12, 2022 Depending on your budget, it might be worth giving Bill a call at Thwaites.com. They probably have more at the higher end, but that may be where you are looking! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickA Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 The matter now closed by purchase of a nice coda bow. Still.... Imo, the problem with Thwaites, Turner's etc is they don't stock carbon bows, so you can't easily compare them. Reason being, I think, arcus and codabow publish the actual price of actual bows and numerous outlets can sell the exact same article; so the dealers lose the chance of the massive mark ups they can make on "antique" wooden bows. If you can afford a better bow than the really good carbon ones, probably best going to an actual bow maker and buying new, direct from the maker. That or spend a day at bow speed, trying everything and bargaining like mad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knirirr Posted February 16, 2022 Author Share Posted February 16, 2022 12 hours ago, NickA said: If you can afford a better bow than the really good carbon ones, probably best going to an actual bow maker and buying new, direct from the maker. That or spend a day at bow speed, trying everything and bargaining like mad. Probably best for me to stick to the carbon bows, in that case; bargaining is never something I enjoy. The Coda should certainly do the trick for someone of my skill level. There is a good bow maker locally but I can't afford his wares. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilp Posted February 20, 2022 Share Posted February 20, 2022 On 15/02/2022 at 22:49, NickA said: The matter now closed by purchase of a nice coda bow. Still.... Imo, the problem with Thwaites, Turner's etc is they don't stock carbon bows, so you can't easily compare them. Reason being, I think, arcus and codabow publish the actual price of actual bows and numerous outlets can sell the exact same article; so the dealers lose the chance of the massive mark ups they can make on "antique" wooden bows. If you can afford a better bow than the really good carbon ones, probably best going to an actual bow maker and buying new, direct from the maker. That or spend a day at bow speed, trying everything and bargaining like mad. In reality, if you want a top quality bow, you won't be looking at carbon. Thwaites, Turners etc do not deal in mass produced bows, so no, you won't be able to get a carbon bow from them. I'm not sure where the "massive mark up" theory came from either. There isn't much margin to be had in either a good new bow from a named archetier, or an antique named bow such as a Pfretschner. Everyone in the trade knows the value of these things, so unless you're talking about Sartory, Peccate or Tourte etc, there's not much margin by the time a good rehair is taken into account and they've been shipped out on trial a couple of times! A good carbon bow is absolutely fine - I have one myself as a backup, for outdoor gigs and col legno heavy pieces - but a well made Pernambuco bow is a different thing entirely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommyjamesallen Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 Thwaites sent me a bundle of bows to try out, no questions asked. I ended up buying one. I spent about 2 weeks loosing my mind trying to decide which one though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickA Posted February 22, 2022 Share Posted February 22, 2022 Neil and I can argue wood Vs carbon till the cows come home! See previous threads 😂 I think he's probably right if you spend enough, but in my budget (£1000 for the bass bow, £1500 for the cello bow) I couldn't find a wood bow I liked as much as the arcus ones. Plus they feel nice, look amazing and are largely indestructible. The arcus bows are as hand made as wooden bows, they lay up the carbon tubes on a former and then grade the resulting sticks from 4 to 9 before fitting them out with hand made frogs and metalwork. I asked the owner, Mr Muesing, what happened to 1 to 3 and the 10 and he said all their sticks are now good enough to be at least grade 4 but they haven't made a 10 yet! An S9 violin bow will cost you £7000, and how THAT compares to bowspeed's finest I really couldn't say. I do note though, that.. it didn't cost them more to make an S9 ( gold trimmings aside ) than an S4 ... you're paying for rarity... so there's his mark up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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