Thinking of getting a Carbon-Fiber Bow

[bejoyous]

I'm thinking of getting a carbon-fiber bow. One of the violinists in my orchestra has one and says they're great. I've been considering the Glasser braided CF bow. It appears to be their top-of-the-line. It's about $600 USD

Any thoughts?

[jfv]

Originally Posted by bejoyous

I'm thinking of getting a carbon-fiber bow. One of the violinists in my orchestra has one and says they're great. I've been considering the Glasser braided CF bow. It appears to be their top-of-the-line. It's about $600 USD

Any thoughts?

My teacher has a carbon-fiber bow, I'm not sure of the
make. Her's is light, it has great balance, she knows its
limitations and is willing to live with it. HOWEVER, when
you listen to her bow play my bass, and then my
pernambuco bow play it you can immediately tell that
you've lost a dimension in sound, the wooden bow is
just richer, the fiber sounds kinda stuffy.

I think its a personal choice thing, but I would make
sure you do some listening and comparison before you
plunk down your money.

Good luck,

[KSB - Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by bejoyous

I'm thinking of getting a carbon-fiber bow. One of the violinists in my orchestra has one and says they're great. I've been considering the Glasser braided CF bow. It appears to be their top-of-the-line. It's about $600 USD

Any thoughts?

The few that I tried and some were even more expensive, all felt terrible. They seem to have no clue what size the Frog should be either. At one show, the company was trying to tell me it's better and I will either change how I play or learn to like it. I had my Bultitude with me and thought the guy was a joke.

In your price range there are some good wood type Bows that play and feel like a real Bow should.

[jallenbass]

I have a Carbow Jean Grunberger and am very happy with it. They are around $1000. I haven't seen many wood bows in that price range that would beat it. I have since sold my DeLuccia ($5000) and haven't looked back. IMHO if you can't make a bass sound good with the Carbow then a far more expensive bow isn't going to do it for you either.

[toman]

In my opinion, for $600-$800 you can get good wood sticks that are much better than any carbon that I've played, especially if you're patient and willing to travel around a bit or have lots of bows sent to you for demo. One of the best bows I've ever played is the one I have now; It's an oddly proportioned, ugly looking thing that's so worn the stamp is unreadable, and it apparently belonged to a school or opera at one point, because it has a number engraved under the frog. I found it laying at the back of a bench in a well known shop, where they had no idea what it was. Got it cleaned up and rehaired, and for $800 I now have a bow that's better than many I've played costing over $2000. In my experience, getting a good instrument or bow doesn't always have to cost a lot, if you're willing to put time and effort into your search.

[bassist14]

i have a arcus sinfonia carbon bow. since i have it, i don´t use my old kurt dölling and my old albert nürnberger any more.
for my needs the best bow i have.
last month i checked an old h.r.pfretzschner, but liked the arcus better.
just my 2cents

edit: i´m talking about german bows

[Anonymous75966]

I've got a Coda, which I think is great value for the price ($750 CDN at L & M, of all places). It is a very rigid, focused, dry-sounding stick compared to high-end wooden bows that I've used, but I don't mind that so much.

[JoeyNaeger]

I've tried a couple of those glasser bows and like them a lot. You might be able to find a better wood bow in the same price range though. Shop around, don't narrow yourself down to carbon fiber just yet.

[Machina]

I am against the carbon fiber bows in all price ranges.

There is a reason why Orchestra use Pernambuco and Snakewood and have not switched over to carbon fiber.

[jallenbass]

There are string players in major orchestras that use CF bows. Let's avoid sweeping generalizations.

[Kam]

I just trialed a Coda Revelation this past week. I liked the feel and performance, but the sound was a bit thin. I'll be directly comparing it to some wood bows my teacher ordered in from Kolstein pretty soon..

[Alex Scott]

I've a grunberger carbon fibre, pre-carbow, that is very nice, I could let it go for $800 if you want to try it, brand new hair.

I have a wood grunberger, and I like it more, and might consider replacing this carbon fibre with a Prochownik wood bow for a backup.

[vier-personen]

Here is my experience with carbon bows:
I had a Carbondix german bow. It played quite ok, especially for the price (300€), but the sound was very nasal.
And the tip broke of the stick after 6 months. No big accidents, it just came loose over the time until it was impossible to tense the bow anymore. I got it replaced, and the same happened to the new bow. I got my money back. I now have a very good pernambucco Bernd Dölling bow, which sounds and plays A LOT better.

[Machina]

Originally Posted by jallenbass

There are string players in major orchestras that use CF bows. Let's avoid sweeping generalizations.

I speak from experience with these bows, having played one for several months at college when my bow needed to be worked on. The Carbow I used not only brought out a rather nazal like sound of several basses it was played on, for me personally, it was too light and not nearly loud enough. Just my personal opinion with them.

While others might use them, I say avoid them. If your going to spend enough money for some of the more expensive ones out there, for example $900, I just think you should look at wooden ones also.

[cpete430]

In the $600 price range, I think you should spring for a pernambuco bow. I have one that cost me exactly $600 and it plays like a dream. I also tried two carbon fiber bows (one being a Glasser, the other Arco Nouveau) before settling on mine and the wood one sounded a lot warmer and fuller. If your price range was say $300 I would go with carbon fiber over pernambuco, but in the $600 range I think the wood stock is good enough to warrant getting one over a carbon fiber. Cheers!

[damonsmith]

I just got a CHEAP carbon fiber French bow from ebay. I wanted something I could throw in the case with my EUB for travel and that I would not have to stress about if something happened to it.
It plays just fine and projects well with a full sound, easily better than a cheap wood bow not as good as a fine wood bow.
I'd be curious to see how much different the expensive CF bows sound from the cheap ones.
Even with my wood bows I have had to balance between getting a good tone and having something I can abuse due to playing improvised music.

[Reuben]

I have tried many of the better-known CF german bows, and have found several I liked a lot. I agree with the sentiment that they are better than many cheaper wood bows and that they are not as great as really fine wood bows. However, I will say that my Carbow (Gary Karr model) plays as nice as some of the nicest wood bows and only is lacking a little in tone. A little crispness of attack is lost compared with my Seifert pernumbuco. CF has become a really viable bow for many of us, and it sure is nice to not worry about.

That said, I messed mine up pretty good on a gig a couple months ago...

[Johnny L]

I've tried one of the Metropolitan french bows and thought it was awesome. When I can afford it, I'm getting one.

[BassicsMan]

I have no opinion on CF bows and have never played one. However I have played many wood bows. The bows I preferred the most provided a vibration that could be felt and responded to in the bow hand. It was possible to tell if I were using too much
weight or too litle simply by vibration (sound too of course) Do CF bows have this vibration? Just curious

[pjwolf]

Bejoyous........if you want to spend $600 on a good pernambuco bow, you should talk to Ken Smith...he has some great French & German pernambuco bows for that price and less....I bought one recently and it plays as well as bows that cost 2-3 times the cost!