Need Help Identifying Japanese Bow

[138BASS]

Ok so I got a call from a buddy of mine that owns a local music shop asking me to come by and take a look at an electric upright bass he had gottin in on a trade. He wanted to see if it could refinished and made to look a little better, well long story short it was almost completely home made (including the pickups and bridge) and not really worth putting any trouble into as far as the finish goes, if some one wants that their not going to care about the finish. Anyway the thing I found most interesting was the bow that came with it. . .it's a pretty large bow, with a long cone shaped screw that looks to be made of walnut, has a huge frog(at least compared to what I've seen personally, being a relative newby to double bass and bowing) and has "japan" stamped on the side of the stick right above the frog. The guy my buddy got the bass from said it was from around the early 1960's or earlier but we all know how true some stuff turns out to be. The Frankenstein stick bass it was with did seem to fit the 60's era pretty well. I have a few pictures and was planning on taking more when my battery died I told my bud that i might be able to find out some info from the good guys here on TB since i've gotten allot of help on the electric side of TB before. We're just looking to see what this is and a ballpark figure of what it would be worth. It would definitely need a rehair but seems in decent shape. any info is greatly appreciated and thanks in advance. I'll try to get back to the shop and take some more pics of it and maybe the crazy bass it came with.

Here are the bows measurements:
tip to end of screw-29 1/2"
bottom of frog to top of stick at widest point-2 1/2"
screw-2 3/8"
tip to pad winding-19 1/2"
front of tip to back of tip-1 1/2"
and i just realized i didn't measure the frog from front to back

[LouisF]

The leading Japanese bow makers are the Sugito family - http://www.sugito-bow.co.jp/profile_en.htm -

but my hunch is that they would stamp their bows with a traditional Japanese character "name stamp". It might have been a factory like Yamaha


Yuji Taki might have ideas at his website: http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/1470/index.html

Louis

[EggyToast]

The "huge" frog is because it's a German-style bow. Which is also why the screw is much longer than what you'd expect. I take it you play French style ;D

They're held differently; you should mention that to your friend so he doesn't try to hold it like a french bow (it'll work, hair & rosin still makes a string vibrate).

[Andrew McGregor]

I've seen one like that before, although I have no idea who made it either. Yamaha or Suzuki might be reasonable guesses. I'm pretty sure that screw is not original, as the one I remember had an ebony screw that matched the frog. If the screw doesn't fit well, don't be scared of replacing it. In any case, looks like a serviceable German bow (once it has been rehaired and maybe the screw replaced), so it will have some value.

[138BASS]

Thanks for the input, sorry I haven't responded in a very timely manner. I figured it was a german style bow, but i do indeed play a french for what little I play arco. The screw actually seems to fit tightly and works well. Anyone have an idea what this would be worth once it is re-haired??

Thanks again for the input