Kolstein Bow Questions

Masters2010 · #1 09-14-2006, 08:04 PM

Anyways, I bought a Kolstein and Sons bow (one made by the older Kolstein) about 8 months ago for around 2,500. I tried a bazillion bows there and I found I liked the feel most with this particular bow. However, lately I really haven't liked the tone, and I don't know what to do about it. I'm thinking I may need to rehair it, even though there is plenty of hair on it. If so, do you know of any good luthiers in the Boston area, preferably around NEC?

Also, I was wondering how bows usually resell. If I were interested in selling it and trying something else, what would be a reasonable price? Chances are I wont sell it, but I still have my first bow which is a 600 dollar bow and at the moment it seems like it gets a better tone from my bass.

sibass89 · #2 09-14-2006, 09:22 PM

Just because the bow has enough hair doesn't mean that the hair isn't done. There are a lot of times when you just need a rehair and if you haven't rehaired your bow in 8 months, I definately reccomend getting it rehaired now. I get mine rehaired every 4 - 6 months depending how much playing im doing (generally 2 times during school and the later lasts me through the mid summer).

Bows generally tend to lose value if there are any dings on it. If it is perfect condition you would probably be able to get about 2,000 to 2,250 for it depending on whether or not you sell it on commission or by yourself.

-Nick

bribass · #3 09-15-2006, 01:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Masters2010

Anyways, I bought a Kolstein and Sons bow (one made by the older Kolstein) about 8 months ago for around 2,500. I tried a bazillion bows there and I found I liked the feel most with this particular bow. However, lately I really haven't liked the tone, and I don't know what to do about it. I'm thinking I may need to rehair it, even though there is plenty of hair on it. If so, do you know of any good luthiers in the Boston area, preferably around NEC?

Also, I was wondering how bows usually resell. If I were interested in selling it and trying something else, what would be a reasonable price? Chances are I wont sell it, but I still have my first bow which is a 600 dollar bow and at the moment it seems like it gets a better tone from my bass.

Is the bow German or French grip? If it makes you feel any better about 6 months ago I tried a whole mess of German bows at Kolsteins that were in that same price range. A bunch of them were older Kolstein made bows as well and many or most of them seemed to have hair that was pretty beat. Some of them I thought I may like , but I couldn't give them fair evaluations w/ the hair they had on them.

BG

arnoldschnitzer · #4 09-15-2006, 07:14 AM

See if you can locate Tom Dignan in Boston. He is a fine bowmaker and I think he does repairs.

Heifetzbass · #5 09-15-2006, 10:26 AM

Eric W. Lane is the bowmaker/restorer at Reuning and Sons in Boston. He is an very good bass bow maker and does some really high end restorations.

There are a lot of his bows being played in professional orchestras and his rehairs are incredible. I would ship my bow from here!

Website:
http://www.reuning.com/

BG

robobass · #6 09-19-2006, 06:03 PM

You should probably get a good rehair first to be sure, but why not go back to Kolstein and ask if you can trade it in for something else? Even if you didn't buy it from them, they back their brand and want players to be satisfied. They may be willing to let you take a few bows out on trial. They are tough businessmen, so beware, but they have a lot of good product.
Robobass