Double Bass NS Design bows

[Hendricks97]

Im picking up an NXTa 5 string this weekend and need to find a decent bow. I havent played upright since college and I just used whatever bows the school had. The NS design bow makes sense since it was designed with that bass in mind, but I cant seem to find any reviews on it. Has anyone here tried it?

 

[PaulCannon]

I haven't tried that bow, but it looks like a pretty straight-forward carbon fiber bow. In that price range ($200-300), carbon fiber is usually the best available option.

With EUB, I haven't noticed a big need for a high quality bow. A lot of the fancier classical strokes don't work quite so well. The strings are usually set very low, and have a thin gauge, so a heavy orchestral-style bow would be kind of pointless.

One thing that will make a difference is the quality of hair. If you have fresh, professional-grade hair, you will hear a massive improvement in sound. These cheaper carbon bows are normally sold with low quality hair straight from the factory. Even if you buy a $90 bow, it's worth it to immediately have a $60 rehair. Depending on how much you use the bow, you'll want to replace the hair every 6 to 12 months.

 

[Pat Harris]

If you're buying the NS with the stock NS strings on it, you'll want to replace those immediately because they're essentially super long round wound bass guitar strings, and they'll eat up any hair you pull across them.

 

[Hendricks97]

It has the traditional strings on it, so they are flatwound