bow disappointment

Stereo Joe · #1 11-06-2008, 12:44 PM

I need to complain because I'm feeling disappointed right now..

I've been waiting for almost 2 weeks to get my new bow. Yesterday, I got the delivery notice and today I picked it up at the post office.

I opened up the case, tightened the hair, put a little bit of rosin on and had just started to play when I noticed this:

I'm waiting for a return call from the dealer I got the bow from. I'm 100% certain I'll be well taken care of and will hopefully have a new bow soon but I'm still grumpy about not getting to spend my day off playing with the new bow. I just had to share my disappointment with my bass brethren!

Stereo Joe · #2 11-06-2008, 01:43 PM

Quick update for anyone who happens to be interested:

This was a Finale bow that I had ordered from Steve at the String Emporium. He just called me back (within 2 hours of my calling) and expressed his apologies (even though it's probably the fault of the shipping company). He offered to express ship me a new bow as soon as he can and give me some free rosin. He told me to hang on to this one and play it for the time being anyway so that I won't be without a bow.

Anyway, just wanted to post this as an example of excellent customer service and communication. Steve is a stand-up guy (no bass pun intended) and I will definitely be giving him my business again in the future.

reedo35 · #3 11-06-2008, 02:04 PM

Wow, I'm sorry to see that, but glad you got a good service guy.This is the first time I ever saw a cracked carbon fiber bow!

Has this happened to anyone else?

mjt0229 · #4 11-06-2008, 02:19 PM

Was the packaging damaged? I have a hard time imagining how that could have happened in shipping without the packaging being squashed. If you do get a shipment like that, often the best thing to do is to refuse the shipment; it's often actually better on both the merchant (who's blameless) and you (who is potentially about to get screwed, at least temporarily).

**Bob Gollihur** · #5 11-06-2008, 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reedo35

Wow, I'm sorry to see that, but glad you got a good service guy.This is the first time I ever saw a cracked carbon fiber bow!

Has this happened to anyone else?

I think the key phrase is (even though it's probably the fault of the shipping company). I imagine that our experience is much like the rest of the world-- the major carriers out there are consistently very good and seldom damage anything.

However, there exists an small but extremely talented group that do amazing things to packages. Every once in a while they surprise us with their special abilities and outwit our finest packaging efforts.

I purposely do not label most packages with a FRAGILE sticker for fear that some might view that as a personal challenge.

Stereo Joe · #6 11-06-2008, 02:29 PM

The packaging looked fine - it was shipped in a cardboard tube container with metal ends. The cardboard wasn't bent or deformed or anything. The bow was inside a hard case and the hard case was packed with newspaper into the cardboard tube.

When I spoke to Steve on the phone, he said that a while ago some of the carbon fiber bows would occasionally not be finished properly and you'd see some cracking. According to Steve, this was taken care of by the manufacturer and hasn't been a problem since. I guess it's possible a bad bow just got through quality control. The crack is quite hard to see unless you are looking right at it. I didn't notice until my finger happened to graze over the cracked area and I felt the flaw.

Either way, the bow still seems structurally sound and I can tighten up the hairs without any noticeable change in the crack. For now, it's playable, anyway!

doo-bop · #7 11-06-2008, 02:52 PM

hi,
what was the price of this bow?
are you happy with it?
i'm about to buy a new bow, but not so sure about this carbon thing (:

thanks

Andrew McGregor · #8 11-06-2008, 03:29 PM

That crack should be fixable by someone who knows their composites. It looks to be only cosmetic anyway, but it's worth fixing.

May I suggest you find your local radio control model aircraft club, and find someone who is in to composite competition sailplanes? They'll be able to fix it without much trouble... then you'll have a spare bow.

I like carbon as a bow material... especially when you see things like that and know they're repairable.

Stereo Joe · #9 11-06-2008, 03:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by doo-bop

hi,
what was the price of this bow?
are you happy with it?
i'm about to buy a new bow, but not so sure about this carbon thing (:

thanks

It was $340 + shipping from the String Emporium. That includes a case and your choice of rosin. I'm happy with it (despite the crack), but there are people much more qualified to give a review. Check out this:

Finale Carbon Bow

and this:

Finale review

Eli_Upright12 · #10 11-06-2008, 04:00 PM

I actually had a similar thing happen recently, except that there were four bows and only one was damaged. Packaging was fine, everything turned out all right because of similar excellent service. The explanation the person I was working with offered me is that even if they are well packed some times the bows shift or slide and hit tip first against something. This can cause that kind of crack and it only need so to have a tiniest amount of room to move.

dchan · #11 11-06-2008, 04:04 PM

My high school had a carbon fiber French bow that was cracked all the way around, not that comparatively little blemish on your bow. The bow played fine all the way, and was close to the best bow they had.

pH14 · #12 11-06-2008, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew McGregor

That crack should be fixable by someone who knows their composites. It looks to be only cosmetic anyway, but it's worth fixing.

May I suggest you find your local radio control model aircraft club, and find someone who is in to composite competition sailplanes? They'll be able to fix it without much trouble... then you'll have a spare bow.

I like carbon as a bow material... especially when you see things like that and know they're repairable.

Ouch! That hurts to look at...

I got a fair bit of practice doing graphite/epoxy lay-ups when I was in grad school, and some of my colleagues were doing research for the Air Force on techniques for repairing composites. Typically, diagnostic methods like radiography or ultrasound (C-scans) are used to determine how far the cracks extend below the surface before deciding on a repair approach.

A patch can be used to repair a surface crack. A thin patch of "prepreg" (graphite cloth pre-impregnated with epoxy) can work well, but for optimal strength, the excess resin should be squeezed from the patch before curing the resin. This is generally done with a press, or a vacuum bag in the case of complex 3-D shapes like bows. However, even a thin prepreg patch would probably weigh down the tip of the bow enough to effect its response.

On shipping bows: Several years ago, a friend convinced me to send a violin bow for rehairing to a luthier in another state. The luthier suggested that I ship the bow in a carboard tube, so I found a stout cardboard tube with a 1/2 inch thick wall. The luthier called me to tell me that he received the bow fine, but when I got it back, the cardboard had gotten wet, and the tube was bent at a shallow angle. My heart sank, but miraculously, the bow was okay! Never again with the cardboard tube...

jbo · #13 11-06-2008, 09:42 PM

Sorry to hear about the bow! Glad everything has been taken care of though!! I'm actually wanting to buy one of these soon and was wondering something...I noticed that the hair is salt and pepper, was that by request or do they come like that?

Andrew McGregor · #14 11-06-2008, 10:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pH14

Ouch! That hurts to look at...

I got a fair bit of practice doing graphite/epoxy lay-ups when I was in grad school, and some of my colleagues were doing research for the Air Force on techniques for repairing composites. Typically, diagnostic methods like radiography or ultrasound (C-scans) are used to determine how far the cracks extend below the surface before deciding on a repair approach.

A patch can be used to repair a surface crack. A thin patch of "prepreg" (graphite cloth pre-impregnated with epoxy) can work well, but for optimal strength, the excess resin should be squeezed from the patch before curing the resin. This is generally done with a press, or a vacuum bag in the case of complex 3-D shapes like bows. However, even a thin prepreg patch would probably weigh down the tip of the bow enough to effect its response.

I'm not an expert on fixing rc sailplanes... but I do know they have a whole repertoire of tricks for fixing them that add very little weight, which for them is absolutely critical (and given that a high-end competition sailplane is a few thousand dollars, they're worth fixing). Certainly vacuum bagging could come in to it for this one, but there's more to it than just that... capiliary action can be called into service to get resins into cracks, for example. I just don't know the tricks myself... although if it was my bow, I'd be learning.

John Perrin · #15 11-06-2008, 10:03 PM

I've got one of those Finale bows and it came with the salt and pepper hair as well. I'm loving mine by the way.

Stereo Joe · #16 11-06-2008, 10:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbo

Sorry to hear about the bow! Glad everything has been taken care of though!! I'm actually wanting to by one of these soon and was wondering something...I noticed that the hair is salt and pepper, was that by request or do they come like that?

I didn't actually make any request or inquiries about the hair when I ordered the bow. So I would assume this is the 'stock' option...