Snakewood Vs. Pernambouco

[jonroxursox]

I was wondering if anyone could provide any information as to the advantages/differences between a snakewood bow and a pernambouco bow. I've noticed snakewood bows tend to be more expensive, yet is there any advantage other then the natural beauty of the wood I.E does it bounce better, different feel etc.

Thanks a bunch,

Jon

[Adrian Cho]

I have never tried one myself but I have heard that they are loud and that the tone is dark. I am very interested in trying one myself.

[Ashley Long]

My Viola da Gamba bow is made of Snakewood and that has a nice dark sound, as for double bass though I have no idea.

[Pete G]

I think I recall Sue Lipkins saying that snakewood is a better choice for German bows than for French bows. I'm not sure why, though.

[anonymous12251111]

Snakewood is VERY dense, they are actually very bright sounding and are incredibly stiff. My main bow is a Snakewood Walke Bow (Fr). Keep in mind that Snakewood amplifies your sound to the 9th degree, it ALSO amplifies your mistakes much more so than Pernambuco. Some people find them a bit too heavy so it definitely also is a big change, I've found myself really having to relax and let the bow do the work. Overdoing it can crush the sound.

Also, they're not very flexible so Spicatto requires your arm to be much much more relaxed and less motion is required. (Which most people find difficult)

[jmears]

I had a collection of bows on trial a while ago, including a number of pernambuco, one snakewood and a carbon fibre bow.

I found the snakewood bow heavier than the pernambuco ones, and it tended to kill the tone resulting in a slightly muffled sound.

But that is only one bow.

John

[robobass]

Originally Posted by Calvin Marks

Snakewood is VERY dense, they are actually very bright sounding and are incredibly stiff. My main bow is a Snakewood Walke Bow (Fr). ...Also, they're not very flexible so Spicatto requires your arm to be much much more relaxed and less motion is required. (Which most people find difficult)

I would agree with most of this. I had a snakewood french bow made to my specs by Yitamusic in China. It turns out not to be any heavier than the pern. bow it was patterned after (~149g), but the response is VERY different. I find it is brighter and louder on stiffer basses, i.e. a modern 5-string Poellmann, but on my soft 4-string Pfretzchner it actually draws less sound, and the tone is rather thin.

As for spiccato (spelling?), I think I actually use less arm but a looser grip. I find that overall I use less hair length when playing faster passages, as Calvin said.

The biggest difference I find is that when I'm playing fast loud stuff on a stiffer bass I can really hammer on the string right at the frog - and I mean RIGHT at the frog! For me this means that I can send the energy more from the wrist and forearm, and less from the shoulder. I'm not a big guy and have a tough time reaching around a 4/4 bass, so for my orchestra work this bow has been a big help.

In the end, I'm very happy to have the bow, but it isn't good for everything. Do I recommend snakewood? There are just to many variables to say yes or no. Try one. No, try several!
Robobass

[David Kaczorowski]

I believe snakewood was the norm before the discovery of Pernambuco's superiority. I think the only reason people are going back to snakewood is because of Pernambuco's relative scarcity.

[robobass]

Well, that might be a factor, but I think it's not so simple. Snakewood and pernambuco respond very differently. Is pernambuco superior? I find in some cases yes and in others no. There are many more choices in strings than there were 30 or 50 years ago, for example, so naturally we should be experimenting with more than one bow material. And, just because pernambuco dominated in the 20th century, does that mean it was the best choice? there are lots of examples of longstanding trends in the world that eventually fell from grace once people started looking at them more critically. Let's not get into economics or religion or anything!
Robobass

[Basschair]

Great discussion!

IIRC, one factor in the prevalence of the use of pernambuco was the fact that it was imported heavily into European countries as material for dye. The wood became commonplace for a time, easy to get, and was found by bowmakers to be a great wood to use for bows. It's not as if bows didn't exist before then: there were other woods being used. Pau d'Arco (wood of the bow?), Snakewood, Bloodwood, Wamara, Massaranduba, and probably others I've forgotten.

I think that the trend of Snakewood being more commonly used is related to the fact that it's become easier to purchase bows from foreign countries that have easier access to it, it's something of a novelty to have that amazing design on a well-figured bow, and because of its historical significance...not to mention that it can have a great sound for some. Then again, I could just be speculating (out of my behind).