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Double Bass Need help picking the right bow

apguy13

apguy13

Aug 1, 2014
4
0
36
#1
Well, first of all let me say that I have been scouring the talkbass forums the past couple of days for information and guidance on buying a bow and am need of further insight. I am a college jazz musician that plays pizz, but I practiced arco for about a month while I was able to borrow my teachers $800 Glasser N.Y. CF french bow. I'm no pro at it yet, but I learned fast with that bow enough to consistently draw a nice sound. I am definitely not looking to spend more than $400 because I am still fairly new to the instrument. (I got a '53 Kay bass a few months ago and couldn't be happier with it) At the same time, I am looking for a quality bow that will last.

I read that the Gollihur and String Emporium have great brazilwood bows. Can anyone say which bow is better? I am tempted to buy one of the brazilwood bows because of the great deal and reviews, but I also read that the Finale is the best "feeling" bow for under $400. I heard Steve from String Emporium playing the finale alongside a PW Bryant, and I hear the subtle difference in how the wood sounded a bit more alive with a touch of warmth. Even still, the difference is subtle, which is impressive to me. Will the Brazilwood bow sound better than the Finale at the cost of "feel," or will the Finale just generally smoke the brazilwood sticks in the sound and feel categories? I figure if the performance difference is significantly substantial, I don't mind spending the extra dough on a Finale bow.

I'm just looking for some honest answers, I know this site is full of great players with brains I can pick.

Thank you for the help.
 
#2
I'd say the best thing you could do in your position is to go and try different bows out. It would be bad to order a bow online, get it home and find you are not satisfied with it. If you cannot make any trips to try out different bows, call different places to send you some bows to try out. Buying online is not always the safest route either!

-Landen
 
#3
Thanks for the advice Landen. I think I might have to go and do that. Definitely the safest route to a comfortable bow. I have been considerably reluctant though considering I would have to drive into Manhattan with my Kay. Tolls and parking will probably be as much as shipping a bow back to Gollihur or String Emporium. Not to mention, the idea of carrying my bass in the streets of Manhattan has me a bit uneasy to say the least. Regardless of what I do, I am still curious about the level of sound difference between a quality brazilwood bow, the CFs, the not so expensive penambucos (@Gollihur), and the super expensive pernambucos. I hope to go and "hear it for myself" soon, but in the meantime, can anyone enlighten me?
 
#4
Have you tried contacting the Golilhurs to see what they might think? They might be able to send you some bows for trial, you could also try lemur and string emporium, they are usually willing to send bows out for trial. If you're near Manhattan talk to the guys at Gage and Kolstiens, you might be able to arrange for trial by mail or borrowing a bass from them to try.
 
#5
CF bows, Brazilwood bows, and pernambuco bows all different bows with different types of sounds. In my experience with trying out different bows the carbon fibers I have tried out did not have the same warmth to the sound as did the wood bows. However, the nice thing I liked about the CF bow was it was well balanced throughout, quick and light. Although in the end I liked the wood pernambuco bows better because they were more complex in their sound.

Hope this helped, Landen
 
#8
Shops/Makers shipping bows out for trial is extremely common. Not everyone is located within travelling distance of where the bows are. Typically you are given a week or two trial period. If you like the bow(s) you buy, if you don't, you ship back (overnight/fastest shipping during the week, insured etc.) at your expense. If you are trying a lot of bows from a lot of different places it might cost you a bit of money to send most of them back, but it is usually far cheaper than travelling to those places and if you time the trials well, you can have bows from multiple places in order to compare them side by side in your usual environment(s).

For a bow in this price range, it might not be feasible as you could easily spend more money on shipping/insurance than you intend to spend on a bow if you get a few from multiple places, but if you are thinking just one or two places, it could be a great way to do it. It is up to you where that cost/benefit threshold is. I take the subway/drive in Toronto with my bass on more occasions than I can count and there are tons of bass players in NYC who do the same, but it's up to you if you feel comfortable/brave enough to tackle that. It isn't for everybody, but it isn't a complete nightmare. I suggest avoiding rush hour the first couple of times though.
 

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