A common maxim you hear at violin shops is that violins bow should cost around 1/3 of the price of the violin. What madness is this? you reckon…its just a stick, all of the real workmanship is in the violin which is were the sound is made. This was certainly my view for a long time. That is until I made the step up from a student bow to a better student bow. Then as I was heading out to other music genres I started looking into carbon fibre bows…they have real advantages when you are cranking out the tunes…especially on electric violins…and also stand up to a lot more punishment both on string and on the stage (the orchestra is a pretty organised place ….rock bands less so).
But it wasn’t until I met my current bow, a serendipitous addition to a line up of various Coda Bows I was trying out, that all was really revealed about the violin bow costs. The bow every so subtly disappeared from my hand, as it became more of a part of me and less something I was holding. Yes this is a bit of “Harry Potters Wand“, but the translation to playing soulful pieces was immediate – it was one less thing to get in the way of expression.
Aside from the stiffness a more expensive pernambuco bow brings , which allows better transmission (and sensitivity) of power from the hand to the string there is much more going on Digging deeper into the science of the bow, you discover it does actually make half the sound through the grip-slip-grip of the bowhair and rosin…. through to the sympathetic vibrations down the stick itself. In a good bow you see all of the higher order tonal characteristics in a violins sound…in a less expensive bow you tend to see lower stiffness and less of these vibrations making them that much harder to produce on the violin.
A softer bow is great for beginners, its more forgiving of the nuances of technique so don’t worry about a more expensive bow till you feel you need something more from it.
Anyway your mileage may vary. if you in the market for a more serious bow, be prepared to take your time , a couple of notes won’t let you discover whats right for you. A part of a favourite song and a selection of bows to work through worked for me.
FWIW I stock mostly student bows ($50-75), picked from among a range of suppliers for the best price /sound trade off though, together with a few better quality (often European) fully mounted bows up to $250. I also keep a small stock of carbon fibre bows in the $150 range, that offer an increase in performance – but without the price tag you see on a lot of carbon fibre bows.
See All about bows for more on this topic.