china made bow

[menoluv]

recently, i bought a china made french bow. according to specs from my instructor, the bow was 'lively', and produced a very rich sound. however, the middle was bend such that it almost touches the hair, is it bad?
btw, i dont know what wood it is made of and, i still like the bow very much

[ClassicalBassNY]

Well a couple things could be going on.

First of all proper hair tension will allow just enough space for your finger to slide between the stick and the hair.

So you perhaps have the hair to loose.

But what I am concerned of because this has happened to me with Chinese bows is that the hair is pulling out of one end of the stick.

Basically if its too limp, tighten the bow hair more, if this doesn't change the hair tension, return the bow and throw a fit to whom ever sold it to you and demand they take care of you.

Hope this helps, cause your post doesn't make a lot of sense, you do know how to tighten the bow yes?

[menoluv]

sorry, for not giving details, and yes, i do know how to tighten it. but my point is, the middle of the bow was bend, and i have to make the hair quite tight, tighter than what you would do to a normal bow, so i was afraid of something, like the place the hair was glued would break?

[ClassicalBassNY]

Im sorry I didnt mean to imply you didnt know how to tighten a bow, Im just trying to get a grasp of what could be going on with your bow here.
My bow isent tight till I can bow with firm hair thats not right on the stick. If I am playing long tones for a warm up maybe my bow is not too tight(looser hair gives warmer tone).

Next say I want to run scales in staccato 16th notes, Its likely Im going to crank my bow a few more times, tighten up the hair...and get some bounce going on.

Also the way a bow is designed, as the hair gets tighter the stick straightens. It seems to me you just have to crank it tighter, I am fairly sure the stick will straighten out more and there will exist a greater distance between the stick and the hair before any glue will give way or damage will occur. And maybe someone can second that for us here???

It may just be a very stiff stick, or as anything is really possible, this bow may have been made entirely to the wrong proportions, or out of some strange wood.

May I inquire the price?(this is will give more insight to the wood likely used) Did you buy it from a reputable dealer?

I would like to see a photo of the bow loose, the bow tightened what you feel is enough, and the bow tightened a considerable amount more.

[menoluv]

I supposed it would be around 114.687 USD, since I bought it directly off a factory in china during my last trip there. maybe brazilwood? I supposed it would be a factory that supplies several other shops, which was quite reputable in China. I wasnt very sure of the name though....

[menoluv]

i coudnt upload the picts, but wad i can tell from my pict, is that mostly, they look the same, except the difference of the more tightened bow from the rest was still able to be seen

[ClassicalBassNY]

Take it to someone who works on bows.