Materials

While fine bows have been made of one wood, pernambuco, for the last 200 years, bows for the beginner come in a variety of materials. Pernambuco is prized for its beauty, resilience, and ability to draw tone out of an instrument, but it is also expensive and increasingly endangered. A number of less-precious materials are suitable for beginners, who may not be ready to handle the liveliness of pernambuco.

Leon and Ray Glasser invented the fiberglass bow in 1962, ushering in the use of synthetic materials for bow making. Fiberglass is a composite of lightweight plastic reinforced with fine fibers of glass that can then be molded. The resulting bows have a brighter, less complex sound than wood, but have the advantage of being consistent, inexpensive, and virtually indestructible.

Brazilwood is a generic term for hardwoods from Brazil. Pernambuco is a single genus of brazilwood and grows only in the endangered Mata Atlântica rainforest on the coast of Brazil. Other brazilwoods grow more widely and make successful student bows. Excellent quality brazilwood can be as good or better than low-grade pernambuco, according to Richard Ward of Ifshin Violins.

Carbon fiber is a more recent addition to bow making. Carbon fibers are extremely strong when pulled, but relatively flexible. These fibers can be set in a matrix of resin by various processes to create a composite material that is both strong and flexible. The mix of materials can be controlled to achieve specific results. Carbon-fiber bows vary greatly in price and sophistication, and are typically more expensive than fiberglass or brazilwood, but have recently entered the beginner price range.

The frog, where the hair attaches, is traditionally made of ebony. The very inexpensive bows sometimes have plastic frogs, while others are made of less expensive hardwoods. Quality of workmanship varies a great deal. Student bows are usually “nickel mounted,” meaning that the metal parts are made of “nickel silver,” an alloy of nickel, copper, and zinc. Frogs are described as “fully-lined” if they have metal pieces behind the pearl slide and down the back of the frog. Inexpensive “half-lined” frogs do not have metal behind the slide resulting in a lighter weight frog, which could leave the bow feeling tip-heavy.

Bows with poorly made frogs are time consuming or impossible to rehair. Workshops are very busy, so cheap bows are often turned away. (A better replacement can often be purchased for $50 or so, about the price of a rehair.) Choose a decent quality frog unless you plan to consider the bow disposable. Also, some violin shops do not work on instruments or bows they did not sell and may refer you to the company that sold it to you, something to consider when shopping.

Online retailers tend be less expensive and are certainly a blessing to those who live in remote areas, like the Sears Roebuck catalog of old. Violin shops usually maintain a repair shop and priority in the workshop is an unspoken part of the retail price of goods.

Shopping!

Bows interact differently with different instruments, so bring your own violin to find the best match. Even among the least expensive wooden bows there is a great deal of variety. Some will be better than others. Ifshin suggests playing as many bows as possible.

“Don’t get too hung up on a particular price range,” he advises. “Try lots of bows. Come in, try a dozen, take them home for a week, trade them in.”

There is no substitute for trying out bows and instruments with the help of a knowledgeable dealer, teacher, or more experienced friend. Every bow is a little different. Learning to see, feel, and hear increasingly subtle differences in quality is also an important part of the progressing player’s education.

Pricing of student bows varies greatly. Prices at the low end of the market are highly influenced by market forces such as the cost of labor, currency exchange rates, the purchasing power of the individual retailer.

Minimum Standards

Val Jaskiewicz, general manager of Shar Products, a longtime mail-order retailer, suggests the following minimum standards for any bow.

The stick should be straight.

It should be strong enough to stand up to normal playing pressure without “giving in” or breaking.

The screw should turn easily.

The hair should be real horsehair and not too long. There are synthetics but they don’t work as well. If the band of hair is flapping, it will not tighten to playing tension.

How to Look at a Bow

Sight down the bow to see that it is reasonably straight. Tighten the hair. Does the screw turn smoothly? Does the frog move along the stick without twisting from side to side? Does the hair reach playing tension? Is the stick still reasonably straight under tension? If so, you at least have a bow that works.