Double Bass Curious Comment on Bow Weight

[tstone]

Over the weekend, at a used bookstore, I happened upon a somewhat battered copy of The Eugene Cruft School of Double Bass Playing [London: Oxford University Press, 1966]. Cruft was the principal bassist for the BBC Symphony for many years. He died in 1976.

In the introduction, he states:

"I have for some years used and recommended bows made by P. W. Bryant of Brighton to my own specification, as follows: length 67.5 cm, weight 2¼ - 2½ oz., balance at midpoint of the stick."​

The length and balance point sound reasonable, but that weight translates to 64 - 71 grams(!). I've never even heard of a bass bow that light, and I can't imagine how one might be made.

Do you suppose that's just a mistake, or a misprint? Or do you suppose he is talking about the weight of the bare stick, without hair, frog, or screw? I've never heard bow weights cited that way.

 

[PRUNEFACE]

Wow! I wonder too!

 

[Bowmaker]

Over the weekend, at a used bookstore, I happened upon a somewhat battered copy of The Eugene Cruft School of Double Bass Playing [London: Oxford University Press, 1966]. Cruft was the principal bassist for the BBC Symphony for many years. He died in 1976.

In the introduction, he states:

"I have for some years used and recommended bows made by P. W. Bryant of Brighton to my own specification, as follows: length 67.5 cm, weight 2¼ - 2½ oz., balance at midpoint of the stick."​

The length and balance point sound reasonable, but that weight translates to 64 - 71 grams(!). I've never even heard of a bass bow that light, and I can't imagine how one might be made.

Do you suppose that's just a mistake, or a misprint? Or do you suppose he is talking about the weight of the bare stick, without hair, frog, or screw? I've never heard bow weights cited that way.

Apologies for taking some time to reply to this query, I've only just seen the post when looking up Cruft.
I am fortunate in having access to a Bryant/Cruft bow (French style of course) and can confirm the measurements as follows. Cruft's quote reads as if it's actually repeated information from Bryant, being more bow makers information than a player's. The mixture of imperial and metric measurements is typical of the 1960's, later bow makers would use grams for weight.

1. Length 67.5cm. That seems to be the measurement of the finished stick in a straight line from point to root, excluding the nipple and tip (button). Mine is 660mm, or 685mm including the tip which is three part silver/ebony. The unsprung straight stick would be effectively longer, and may well be 675mm.
2. Weight 2.25 - 2.5 oz. This translates as 64 grams up to 71 grams, mine is 68 grams.
3. Balance at mid point of stick. This is for a bare stick only, with no lapping, and it's spot on.

Bryant's bass bows were very popular in the UK and doubtless the recommendation helped, but to be honest at the time (post-WW2) he was the only British bow maker a teacher could recommend! They were keenly priced compared to the imported bows of similar quality, but Bryant never advertised other than the mentions in this book and in Raymond Elgar's - he didn't need to.

I hope that helps any intending bass bow makers, so good luck.

 

[LouisF]

Just for what it's worth, here are two Bryant "normal" bows:

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[Calvin Marks]

Over the weekend, at a used bookstore, I happened upon a somewhat battered copy of The Eugene Cruft School of Double Bass Playing [London: Oxford University Press, 1966]. Cruft was the principal bassist for the BBC Symphony for many years. He died in 1976.

In the introduction, he states:

"I have for some years used and recommended bows made by P. W. Bryant of Brighton to my own specification, as follows: length 67.5 cm, weight 2¼ - 2½ oz., balance at midpoint of the stick."​

The length and balance point sound reasonable, but that weight translates to 64 - 71 grams(!). I've never even heard of a bass bow that light, and I can't imagine how one might be made.

Do you suppose that's just a mistake, or a misprint? Or do you suppose he is talking about the weight of the bare stick, without hair, frog, or screw? I've never heard bow weights cited that way.

Eugene played with raw gut strings - you don’t need a heavy bow here. You need to just “pull” the sound out of the string and a light bow works well for that. Still, I have never heard of a bass instrument bow under 90g so this is interesting. Eugene was also not a big man - there is a photo of him on the Contrabass Shoppe website.