bow selection advice

[jmears]

Recently, bored in a rehearsal, I swapped bows with my desk partner who uses the same rosin. I was amazed to find that I could produce double my usual tone, while my partner was struggling to be heard.

So now I have a few bows on trial to try out. I am aiming to get a fuller tone, but without compromising on tone quality, of course.

A couple of questions:

1) What are advantages and disadvantages of different widths of bow hair?

2) Likewise what are the advantages and disadvantages of different tip weights? The bows I have on trial have a wide range.

Thanks
John

[littlekatie]

Just my two cents but it's much more to do with the balance of the bow than the weight of the tip. Probably likewise with the width of the hair, if the hair is wider then would the tip be bigger to allow this, probably the bow would have to be a bit chunkier, etc etc? The main difference I noted when I upgraded to my current bow is the fact that I don't have to work or struggle to make a good sound, the balance of the bow does means that I work less hard and produce a better sound. Word of warning, be careful that if the stick bends at all (which most bows do) that it doesn't incline to the wrong direction. I was really lucky to find my perfect bow on my first trip to the luthier (thank goodness!) but its really important that you find the perfect one for you and try as many bows as you possibly can - maybe ask your desk partner who his is made by and if you really like his, take him shopping with you. Sometimes its good to have another set of hands to try out things with (or to hold the ones that you aren't trying out while you play with one!). Good luck & happy shopping! x

[jmears]

I now have a selection of bows on trial and its proving very interesting. I've tried them out in my living room and also in orchestral rehearsals over the weekend.

In my living room, it seemed as if I needed two bows: one to produce a focused beautiful tone for playing solos, and one to make lots of noise. But trying them out in an orchestra, it turns out that the focused tone of the first bow projects best, and the (as I thought) loud bow is not so audible. So the same bow wins on both counts.

I will keep trialing the best of batch, and get some others on loan to compare.

John