Bow Hunting II

I have been to my violin teachers house twice. This is how it went the first time I went to his house. I showed up with the bows. He took one look at the black bow, announced that it was carbon fiber (not at all pernambuco wood which is the best wood to make bows with) and that It would most likely sound like crap. What did I say in reply? "Crap!" I played the bows for him. He decided that the one from Fred's shop that is not the fat one was the best. I agreed.  We decided to look a while longer, but still hold onto it

 About a month later, we had gone to Elizabeth's and Fred's shop again. I picked out 3 bows at Elizabeth's shop. One was made of a wood that she had no idea what it was. It had a very pretty ringing tone, and was very loud. One was made of pernambuco wood, grown in Brazil. The very best wood you can get. It had a very pretty melodramatic sound on the lower strings, and an energetic sounds on the higher strings. It rung allot on the lower strings, but not very much on the higher strings. The third bow was one that Elizabeth made herself. It was made to sound and act like a $30,000 bow that some really famous bow maker made. It was my favorite. It had a beautiful ringing sound on every string, and was very nimble. I also picked out 1 more at Fred's shop. It have a creamy sound to it, but didn't ring very much.

  

     My mother called my teacher and told him about each bow. From the sound of it, he said not to get the bow Elizabeth made. She is not well known enough to price her bows that high, plus it didn't even have her frog on it, which she said she would make for us for another $2,000. We didn't care about the frog. It is just valuable on the artistic side of bows.  It does not change the sound at all. But it does take away from its value. My teacher also said not to get the bow that we don't know what kind of wood its made from. He said that she is a bow maker, she should know what kind of wood it is, and the fact that she doesn't is a really bad sign. So all that was left was that pretty bow. 

    Here is a link to a diagram of a bow to help you out! Click   HERE.

 We went to my teachers house, and I played all the bows for him. He said  that he wasn't impressed with any of them, that they where all run of the mill, and not to buy them. He know has some of his friends looking around for me. So all in all we are back to square one.     :(