Bow lockage

[MisterBeagle]

Hello all!

This weekend at a Senior Regional rehearsal, my bow's tightener pin (that's what I call it, the part you turn to tighten or loosen the bow) locked up, (still is) and is unable to tighten or loosen. I was tightening my bow before tuning, and it just stopped.

It was a Glasser bow, the low-end models (school bows). I only bought it as a replacement for a bow that became unusable this summer. I also got it at a really cheap price for the sale at my local music store. I'm probably going to have it fixed or replaced. This has happened before, though, with other Glasser bows I used in middle school (the french bows, before I switched to German). I would really like to know it this is typical with Glasser bows, or if I had inadvertantly done something to cause it to lock up.

If it helps, the bow was German, and had a small crack in the frog.

Thank you!

[Basschair]

I have a few ideas, but regardless...I've heard that Glasser is really cool about repairing their bows for little money. You may just want to get ahold of them and send it in.

[mccartneyman]

Not too uncommon. It should be an easy fix for any string repairman. The frog cracking is rather common. Whether it affects the bow is something a repairman will tell you. Most music stores will replace the frog or the entire bow if the frog cracks relatively soon after you buy the bow -- probably no more than 6 months.

[dchan]

I'd say ditch the Glasser if you have the money. There's no real sense in putting money into fiberglass bow unless it has some sentimental value. Plus, playing a fiberglass bow for too long can potentially hurt your technique. But if you don't have the cash and the repair doesn't cost much, then go for it as a temporary solution.

[damonsmith]

Not even if you have the money, you can get a cheap wood bow on ebay for $50 or so.
It won't be a great stick, but will be worlds better than a fiberglass.

[MisterBeagle]

Plus, playing a fiberglass bow for too long can potentially hurt your technique.

How so?

[Silversorcerer]

Originally Posted by MisterBeagle

Plus, playing a fiberglass bow for too long can potentially hurt your technique.

How so?

Once upon a time someone posted that they felt it was cruel to make neophyte children learn with fiberglass bows. I tend to agree, but then children can be destructive so give them something that suits the purpose.

I used one for almost a year until the plastic frog split into an unusable piece of junk. OK, I'm being too hard on these. They'd probably make a good stick to beat something already dead with. Where's that dead horse?

Tension. Way too much tension to get these things to work. So much tension that you might tend to torque it enough to split the plastic frog (like I did). The inexpensive brazilwood bows from Gollihur are a major upgrade over fiberglass and these are not really "good" bows, just good beginner bows. As one progresses, one learns that a good bow works with much less tension and pressure than a "bad" bow. In the beginning, it could just be about how you hold it and get a sound. That's about as far as fiberglass takes you. When you get a snoring tugboat kind of tone consistently, it is time to upgrade to a wooden bow.

[dchan]

Originally Posted by MisterBeagle

Plus, playing a fiberglass bow for too long can potentially hurt your technique.

How so?

Do you have a teacher? If so, have you every played with his/her nice bow and noticed that you suddenly played so much better?

If your answer is no to the first question, I really don't know what to say. If you said yes to both questions, there is a reason why you play so much better with your teacher's nice bow. A nice bow is one that is well balanced, allows you to play with almost no effort at all, and plays from frog to tip consistently. Frequently this kind of bow is described as feeling "light as a feather" or as if it "plays by itself." You can do all sorts of technical tricks with it not only because it is so easy to do, but also because the bow allows you to do it without skipping, missing the string, etc.

Basically these bows are far more expensive than your normal bow, usually costing in the thousands. Some bows like that will cost less, but they can't really do all of those tricks that the more expensive ones can do. But for less technically challenging purposes, they are fine. No fiberglass bows that I know of fall under this category. I find them to be okay for longer notes, but they stink at spicatto. They're terrible at the tip generally and they're too flexible for anything demanding. And their tone (yes, bows do draw different tones) leave much to be desired. All in all, you end up "compensating" proper technique with bad habits to draw a decent sound while playing passages.

I have a bassist in my orchestra who plays on a fiberglass that came with the school's rented bass. I must say that it is the best fiberglass bow I have ever played, but not saying much. I think that it's a combination of a few things. First is that my technique got much better since I last used a fiberglass bow. This came about because I finally had a teacher for the first time in a while. The second is because I got a much better bow that blows away the other bows I was using. It cost a good deal more, but it wasn't terribly expensive and it has kept me from resorting to bad habits that my other bows had made me do.

So my advice is to ditch the fiberglass bow if you can afford it. You will be better served in the long run. I recommend Ken Smith's KSB bows from first hand experience:
http://www.kensmithbasses.com/double.../KSB_bows.html
The brazilwood bow (lowest priced one) that I played was the best one that I have ever played. I had second thoughts about buying the more expensive pernambuco bows because of it was that good. But all bows are different, so I suggest you give Ken a call and ask him to recommend you one.