Double Bass Bow Weight?

[Ashley Long]

My main bow is a snakewood bow weighing in at 153 grams. I use this bow for solo work and chamber playing as it is amazingly articulate and projects very well. I've also found that due to exceptional clarity of the bow that the variety of timbres and sul pont differentiations etc. come across much more clearly. The weight really isn't an issue or noticeable as the balance is fantastic. It allows for a much more celloistic quality even in the extreme low register.

For orchestral work I use a lighter pernambucco bow of 135 grams on which I use a much stickier rosin, seems to do the job.

I would recommend at least trying a snakewood bow; Ive owned several bows over the years by Bazin, Pfretchner and Bryant but the snakewood bow a bought as an experiment seems to be the best of the bunch. It takes a while (took me a good two years) to fully adjust to the bow and to get the sound I wanted but once I got it I was very happy and although the initial impression is that the sound is much darker, you can easily get pretty much the same sound as a pernambucco bow. Just my thoughts and experience!

 

[fergus currie]

Yes, my friends with heavy bows who studied with Rolefsen use Snakewood bows and cello rosin. The sound is quite dusty though and not to everyone's liking. Indeed articulation seems to be very clear and sul ponticello is quite extreme with these systems but the main sound tends slightly towards ponticello anyway.

 

[emilio g]

I really have no budget for a new bow right now, but sometime in the future I'd like to get a heavy snakewood bow, because its completely different from what I have now. That, and I tried one, and liked it very much.

Probably nearer in my future, I might get the worldofbow.com, $100, carbon fiber bow as a backup/outdoors/col legno bow. I haven't got my hands on a German one, but a friend let me try his french bow and its unbeatable for the price! Nice weight, fairly even sound from frog to tip...the only gripe was it doesn't come with great hair. Its good enough where I'd be curious to try it (after a rehair) next to Gage's Metropolitan for comparison.

 

[CPike]

My main stick is 127 grams, and it's longer than average so that light weight is distributed further - making it feel even lighter. When I'm tense or stiff, the sound gets choked and then I overcompensate by using more muscle, which just makes things worse. If your technique is good, and you achieve that right balance of pressure and arm weight, then you can get a good response from any bow, heavy or light. So to me, it's about chops and preference. Of course the overall setup condition of your bass has an impact on how the bow does it's "thing".
Chris