For the past two days I have had a Marco Raposo nickel mounted bow on trial. This is a fabulous stick. Having just sent back three Prochownik bows that I had on trial for about two weeks, I have to say that the Raposo beats them all hands down. The real difference between the bows is the bounce; the Raposo bounces very easily. also, the Raposo draws a much larger sound. Bonus, the Raposo is $400 dollars cheaper. If you're looking for a great bow in the $1000 dollar price range, check out this maker.
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Double Bass Raposo Bows
- Thread starter ajbass
- Start date
I was curious to read this post . I was taking a lesson this summer with a symphony bassist who suggested I should upgrade my Raposo (german)to a Prochowik.He said the Prochowik would handle faster passages better, and would be a definite step up overall.He was also of the opinion that the Prochowiks are a very good value for the money.
That's really funny. The Raposo was much better in fast passages ( Mozart Requiem, Tchaik 6, Brandenburg 3). I also play french so maybe that has to do with the difference. Other than on the g-string, the Prochownik bow produced a much weaker sound than the Raposo. Then again, it's all subjective.
Another cool thing about Raposo Bows is that Marco Raposo is an environmentalist. He grows his own trees, makes sure not to deforest and etc. its all on his website and is very interesting. It made me feel even better about buying one of his french bows, which by the way plays and sounds better than many bows 2 or 3 times as expensive.
For what it's worth, I swear by my Prochownik bow -- the only (slight) negative would be on volume.
Comrade Lewis said:
You mean he plants pernambuco trees for every tree he uses? Or he actually harvests wood from trees he has planted in the past?
It's not actually clear on his website whether or not he currently makes bows from trees he has planted. He does say that he has planted trees for the future and has enough planted at this point to last him 380 years. He only makes bows from mature trees (30+ years old) and some bows are made from wood reclaimed from colonial fenceposts.
