New bow or rehair?

[SteveFreides]

I have a Joseph Richter bow, German, I bought new for about $250 a year ago. The hair has never felt great - tension isn't even, for one thing.

I'm wondering if a rehair is in order, what that costs (I'm not too far from Kolsteins and would consider taking it there), and whatever else anyone would like to tell me on this subject. I play professionally only rarely but this bow in its current condition is, well, preventing me from playing my best. I've always believed in not spending too much money on gear that's better than I am, but I need a better bow.

I bought my bass from Ideal, it's a fully carved 3/4-size Eberle, and I love it - sounds beautiful, but sounds better with a better bow than I have, too.

This bow fits my hand OK although not fantastic, from what I can tell.

Thanks in advance - and if anyone's got something they want to sell me, as long as I can have a short eval period first, I'm game.

-S-

[MDEbass]

Depends on your budget...If you can afford a nicer bow, I'd say go for it. If your bow is keeping you from playing your best, get rid of it. You don't want to be held back by some equipment not as good as you

[ADissen]

I had been experimenting with French bow for about 2 weeks now so my teacher gave me a French bow from his studio to fool around with. Its a richter. When the next lesson rolled around we talked about me getting a french bow of my own to continue my studies with until i chose what i wanted to do with me bow hold. long conversation short is that for the money that he had purchased the Richter for, Shanks strings has some Carbon Fiber bows that play 10x better and cost less. I think that a CF bow could be a very economical choice in getting a new bow. i've had two rehairs and the average was 80 bucks. The CF bows from Finale that are available from the String Emporium are 340 dollars i believe and there is a link that i posted in another forum along similar lines to this one to a video Jason Heath made where he compared a 340 CF bow from the String Emporium to a 4000+ Bernd Dolling. The CF bow held its own very well and surely didnt sound 11.76705882352941 times cheaper. (4000/340, not just an arbitrary number ). I say check out CF bows as an economical way to upgrade.

All the best,
andrew

[Phil Smith]

I'd say stop by Kolsteins and ask Barry what he thinks and while you're there try some of the bows he has, not so much to buy be to get an idea of what the more expensive bows feel like.

[bass-me-up]

hi steve,

i had a similar problem. i got a very cheap student bow (german) i bought for around $100 years ago. i thought about getting a better bow and tried some very nice bows. but the ones i really liked where way over my budget. so i decided to go for a rehair (80$) (salt&pepper) and i'm very please with the result for now. i figured i take some more time, save more money a get a better bow some other time. until then i can live with what i got.

cheers

steffen
www.myspace.de/steffenknaussbass

[dchan]

A rehair can make a lot of difference, especially as the hair finally breaks in (a problem, apparently, with the salt&pepper hair, but I digress). If you simply start sounding better after the rehair, that's a good chunk of the battle right there.

But if your bow isn't great even with good hair, you might want to consider an upgrade. My old Upton wasn't cutting it for me, and I upgraded to one of Ken Smith's bows - it has served me pretty well since.

My high school bought some CF bows from Ideal which were under the C.F. Durro name, I believe. They were probably the best bass bows that my school had, save one (a great pernambuco stick, if I'm not mistaken, that had some crappy nylon hair on it). I don't think they were that expensive, either, but I can't be sure. BUT, this was about maybe 8 or 9 years ago, so you'd have to check them out yourself.

I'm sure David Gage carries a bunch of bows as well, as does Kolstein.

If you decide get your bow rehaired, consider getting it done closer to you - Kolstein is a bit far from NJ. I know that Manhattan has bowmakers who can do rehairs. There might be some in NJ as well.

[SteveFreides]

The carbon fiber bows from Finale sure look attractive to me - lots of very good reviews and the price is right. I may actually go for the rehair and the CF bow if I can swing it.

-S-

[jgbass]

Yes, definitely try the Finale. It is the best, and the price is right. The Finale really made it possible, with good practice, to improve my playing, meaing there is nothing about this bow that holds me back. Price is right too.

And, if you can swing it, its always good to have a backup bow.

[foilracer]

Well, here is a third endorsement in a row.....try the Finale bow.........

[Andrew McGregor]

A rehair is much cheaper, and if it solves the problem, good. If the hair is no good right now, you will at least be able to sell the bow as rehaired, and give the buyer a better idea of what it can do. So do that first, see what you really have. Then by all means check out one of the carbon bows... there's no rarity value in a carbon bow, only the making, and that makes them very good value for money.

[SteveFreides]

I've decided to give the $340 Carbon Fiber bow from Finale a try. After I get a chance to play that for a bit, I will likely send my current wooden bow out for a rehair and keep it here as well, also with the $65 Glasser fiberglass for emergencies, lending to students, etc.

Thanks to everyone the suggestions - very, very much appreciated.

-S-

[SteveFreides]

Finally order the Finale CF bow, and it arrived today.

My initial reaction: Oh My God, It's Wonderful! My bass has never sounded this good, even with a way-more-expensive wooden bow owned by a friend of mine.

The hair is salt-and-pepper, a first for me - seems to work just fine. (Or black and white, or whatever - not sure, but it's definitely more than one color.)

I asked for Pop's rosin, my first try with that, also seems to be good for me.

Ordered from String Emporium, cost was $360 which included the bow (choice of "nude", meaning the CF weave is visible, or black - I got black), a hard case, rosin, and shipping.

Wow, wow, wow, it really sounds good to me.

-S-

[Eric Swanson]

Congratulations! Having a bow that works for you is a great thing. I struggled for years with some club-like bows before I got one that really worked.

Those Finale bows look very appealing. I was very impressed with Jason Heath's review video, too.

Nicely done! Glad it worked out.