Comments

Just use the screw from the bad bow in the good bow. The head was broken off the screw right? That's gotta be like a $5 repair. Not spoiled, just learnin the truth. The bow is your hand--it makes the sound. It is even more fundamental than a guitar pick in that sense, as it is an elastic structure with significant mass and is acoustically coupled to the strings. So *of course* it is more important than at first it may seem.

That being said, you might just go get yourself a glasser bronx classic fiberglass bow. It will not be like your good bow, but it will be much better than your bad one:-) And when you are done with it, you can sell it to me for $15.

Congrats on your discovery. Think of the bow as an extension of your own arm/wrist/hand. It really does make a world of difference. Sometimes I let my beginning students try one of my bows, and they're amazed at the difference between it and a cheap beginner bow. Get yourself a better spare -- you can pick up a reasonable bow for under $100 these days, the price of a couple of re-hairings. It sounds like you're ready to try anything to get rid of this old warped one! Well.....the nut is off the bow, but it was made in such a way that I can't just screw on another nut. The original was "set" onto the tip..or rather, the tip was set "into" the nut. There are no threads.
There are also some hairline cracks up at the tip of the bow. Which really don't look like much and are almost invisible....until you tighten the bow...and that is where it will let go if I continue to use it.
Lol Bill...yeah,I should go out and pick up a cheap bow as a spare....and at some point I will....but I'd like to wait until I get the better violin back so I can find something that will sound decent on that one...well, best I can for a cheap bow anyway...I don't know, I'm such a novice ! If you keep loosening the hair on the bad bow the screw will come all the way out. Use it on the other bow. Except the other bow is cracked too. So whatever:)