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My feelings of the avanti

May 27, 2006 at 1:41 AM

Hi all,
I've had the Avanti for a week now. I quite like it, for it does play well. My tone (I feel) has a bit of a darker character to it, but it's a more powerful tone. I'm able to get much greater change in dynamics and still have lots of control. Response for sforzandi and pianofortes and the like is much more instant, and there is little noise at the extremities - it still produces a good tone.

Things I don't really like about it - the colour. It says it's supposed to be burgundy walnut diamond, but for me it doesn't look that nice. I think it's too flat (the colour that is), and doesn't look great in direct sunlight. I think some variance in colour added into the mix would've been nice.
Also, the feel of carbon fibre in your hand is different to wood. And I still feel I'm getting ripped off for the price. I had a look around at other dealers on the net, and think I could get it just under AUD$1000, which would mean that I don't have to pay anything at customs - but this all depends on the conversion rate at the time of payment.

But I'm not going to think about that just yet. I've got two bows coming in on Monday which I will try out and see how they compare to the Avanti - and then make my decision.

Ben, I believe that you really are being cheated on the price of the Avanti. If you decide to buy it, see whether you can get if for less -- a LOT less -- than what you've been quoted. I've been test driving a few Coda bows which are much less expensive than the Avanti. I've never used a carbon fiber bow before, and I really like the Coda Conservatory bows. They feel very light in my hand, and they're so easy to control and so responsive. The thing I like the most is something I didn't expect -- the dynamics. The bow goes from 0 to 60 mph (pp to ff) so quickly and smoothly. I also didn't expect the pp to sound as sweet and steady as it does. I had read that Coda bows are pretty consistent with other Coda bows, but I was surprised at the variability of one bow to another. I'm enjoying reading about your bow quest, and I look forward to hearing more from you.