Bow Trial: Marco Raposo vs. Juliano Oliveira

[MDEbass]

I've had some bows on trial for the past couple weeks. In the next week or so I should have more coming in, but so far, I've narrowed it down to two bows:

1) Marco Raposo - very nice pernambuco stick, 135 g, well balanced, very dark tone, good orchestral bow, but a little too mellow up in the high register for solo.

2) Juliano Oliveira - pernambuco stick with snakewood frog. I don't know the exact weight of this bow, but its the lightest thing I've ever used. Very noticeably lighter that the Raposo, which is on the lighter side, itself. Brighter sound and clear articulation, great for solo, but the light weight makes it a little more difficult to dig in for orchestral playing.

I do a pretty even balance between orchestral and solo playing. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with either of these bow makers, and what your thoughts on them are. Also, I've got more bows coming in later to try, but these are just the favorites so far.

Thanks!

[stefaniw80401]

Originally Posted by MDEbass

Very noticeably lighter that the Raposo, which is on the lighter side, itself. Brighter sound and clear articulation, great for solo, but the light weight makes it a little more difficult to dig in for orchestral playing.

Bow balance is what is really key. I don't buy into the "not heavy enough for orchestra" rationale. Our arm contributes 99% of the total weight, and the bow shouldn't/doesn't matter .

I bet if you work with this bow a bit, you'll see that you can pull a big sound out of your bass. You might just have come across your first great bow in disguise!

Who/where is your bow source, and what are the price ranges of these bows?
- Mark

[MDEbass]

Originally Posted by stefaniw80401

Bow balance is what is really key. I don't buy into the "not heavy enough for orchestra" rationale.

You're right. After a using it a bit more, I realized how the light snakewood bow isn't going to cut it. So far now its narrowed down to the Marco Raposo, which I'm loving for orchestral playing. So far, these have been from local shops in Houston, but next week I'll be trying out bows from Robertson's in NM.

These bows are around the $1K range. I talked to the owner of the shop where I'm getting the Raposo bow from, and he is selling it for $850. He says this is the price he was selling it for from a few years ago, and he says these days the value of these bows are about double that. You guys have any thoughts on this? I looked around the internet for other Raposo bows, and didnt find anything short of about $1500. So far the Raposo has beat everything else in the price range I'm looking at, so this isn't much of a surprise. It really is a great bow.

I'll post updates later next week when the bows from Robertson's come in.

[stefaniw80401]

Originally Posted by MDEbass

You're right. After a using it a bit more, I realized how the light snakewood bow isn't going to cut it.

Actually, my previous post was rooting on the lighter bow, not the Raposo. Since light bows are so "different", you really need to spend some time with it to appreciate what it can (and cannot) do.

Take a look at this TB thread: Bow Weight?

[MDEbass]

Oh sorry....i misread your previous post. Just comparing these bows so far though, the Raposo bow requires far less effort from the shoulder. My first thought was to think that this was due to the light weight, but actually, I just tried my teacher's bow, a heavy 159g, and found the Raposo still easier to use without as much effort. Any ideas on what the factor could be?

[stefaniw80401]

Factor? Yeah -- it's called the "better bow" factor. Seriously, when you find a good bow it sort of plays itself and pulls a big sound with little effort.

You've got to test your bow trials "scientifically" though, playing each one of them through the same test ranging from Bach to Beethoven and Mozart, and some lyrical stuff too. Pay attention to how it grips or sticks to the string at the tip. Many bows poop out in the upper 4-6 inches.

Good luck, have fun.
- Mark

[Phil Rowan]

I tried a Raposo bow down at Gage's a while back. I thought it was a very nice bow and almost went with it, but ended up going with a Marchand bow (from Thomas Martin). If I remember correctly, the Raposo was going for about $800.

[MDEbass]

I just bought the Raposo yesterday!