Weekend vote: Do you have a carbon fiber bow?
Traditionally, bows have been made with wood - more specifically, the best ones tend to be make with a rare Brazilian wood called pernambuco. In recent years, this wood has become even more rare, and in fact it is endangered.
At the same time, carbon fiber bows - first introduced in the mid 20th century - have improved in quality and become much more commonplace.
When it comes to bows for children's (fractional) violins, it's hard to argue with the price and durability of a carbon fiber bow. Plus - they do not put pressure on already endangered supplies of pernambuco wood.
Of course, not all carbon fiber bows are created equal - they range from absolutely beautifully balanced at the higher end, to a complete mess at the lower end.
My first reaction to carbon fiber bows was to reject the idea, but then I found a few carbon fiber bows that I liked very much. In addition to several wooden bows, I have two carbon fiber bows in my possession - a nice Coda bow that I use very frequently, and a generic carbon fiber bow that would probably make a better club.
Do you have a carbon fiber bow? And if you do, is it your primary bow? Secondary bow? Something that sits unused? If you don't have a carbon fiber bow, have you ever tried one, and would you ever consider using one? Please participate in the vote and then share your thoughts and experiences about carbon fiber bows.
Thank you to Susanna Klein for this idea for this week's vote! If you have an idea for the Weekend Vote, please e-mail Laurie!
You might also like:
- High-End Composite Bows in a World of Endangered Trees
- Discussion: High Quality Carbon Fiber Bows?
- Baroque Bow Basics with Tafelmusik's Tricia Ahern
* * *
Enjoying Violinist.com? Click here to sign up for our free, bi-weekly email newsletter. And if you've already signed up, please invite your friends! Thank you.
Replies
I have a CODA Bow I used for some time. However, one day a luthier suggested I try a wood bow and gave me one to try out. The difference was astonishing. The wood bow is so much more responsive and I am able to play very fast passages with it. With the CODA I struggled. Of course, I always blamed myself but now realize the wood bow is far lighter and far more responsive. My CODA Bow is now a wall ornament!
Laurie, what are the sinister-looking bows in the photograph?
After using a pernambuco bow as my primary all my life, I recently purchased a used Arcus Cadenza and have been using it as my main bow for the last few months. I’ve been quite happy with it! I’ll add that I have owned a couple of CodaBows (Diamond GX and Joule) for many years but never liked them enough to use as my primary.
I have one— a Chinese one imported by Cleveland Violins and which cost $500. Supposedly the Emersons use this brand; I heard about it from one of their cousins, also a fine musician. It is surprisingly good-sounding, and handles very well. I sometimes use it in opera pits or if I am traveling and don’t want to risk a rare pernambuco stick.
Arcus S5 has been my primary violin bow for 4-5 years now. It's extremely light -- 48 grams compared with 60-62 for a typical wood bow.
When you first hold one it feels like it would float away, but you get used to it. It allows you to hold the bow with a very soft grip. Action is extremely quick so it's great for baroque playing -- in some ways resembles a whippy Italian-style baroque bow but it's full length and very strong.
The Arcus S-series is on the stiff-strong side of the scale. The sound is powerful and brilliant, and it's almost impossible to bottom it out. I would think playing sautille might be more difficult for beginners used to a very bouncy wood bow, but if you have good technique, off the string playing and brush strokes are really not that different.
The other benefit (as someone who is over 60) is less fatigue in arm and shoulder. You'd never guess 12 grams would make that much difference but it does.
Arcus is expensive for carbon fiber bows but my S5, which can be bought for around $1600-1700, absolutely creams any wood bow in that price range. Still, these are not bows with any investment value, they will not appreciate like rare wood bows might.
Arcus bows range in price from $1500 to around $8000 but you really don't have to spend at the high range to get the benefits. The difference between lower level and higher level ones is fairly subtle.
No, I don't have any carbon fiber bows. It has nothing to do with a like or dislike for carbon fiber bows, I just happen to not have one. Yes, my bows are all pretty inexpensive, the last time I went shopping for a bow, I ended up with a wooden one and I didn't know what the bow was made of until I went to pay for it.
My primary viola bow is a hybrid: a carbon fiber core with a wood sheath around it. It's a C.F. Iesta, which is now sold under license in the US and UK as the JonPaul Fusion Silver. It was under the Iesta name in the US when I bought it. I paid about $500 for it; when I was bow shopping I tested both wood and carbon fiber bows up to $2500 and it came out tied at the top with a $2500 wood bow. It still handles beautifully for any music I play with it.
My backup viola bow is a wood bow, as are both of my violin bows, but those are all student-level bows that cost under $300.
My main bow is a Pernambuco, but I have a CF Hybrid and a CF Weave bow as spare bows that enjoy as well. I bought the hybrid before I bought my Pernambuco bow.
I use a JT Jet Deluxe for jazz and a Presto Spark for bluegrass, but for classical, I have yet to find a CF that's comparable in price and performance with the 20th c. pernambuco bow that I got for under $500 some years ago. These are all viola bows.
As a side note, I inquired with Shar about their budget-priced CF bass bow and was told these are designed to only last for about a year.
For the last 10 years I’ve been using a carbon fibre bow, however, I recently acquired a Hills bow which, once repaired, will become my main. It’ll be nice to play with a wooden bow again.
That said, carbon fibre is ideal for outdoor playing and the like.
As so often happens, none of the four responses fits my circumstance. I can't say that my carbon fiber bows are primary or secondary. I have wood bows that I use, and I have carbon fiber bows that I use. Specifically, I have three Arcus violin bows, M3, S5 and A6, and of those it's the A6 that I mostly use when I'm using an Arcus. I keep pondering selling the other two but never seem to get around to it. All three are all good bows in my opinion. And I have an original Codabow, the first model they made, which they later named the "Codabow Classic" when they started expanding their line. I don't use that and I really should sell it too. I also have a hybrid wood bow with a carbon fiber core. You'd never know that it has that carbon fiber core from examining it, it just looks like a wood bow. It's an "E.Jumeau" made in the Swiss Finkel shop, and I confess that I don't use it much but I like it when I do. I won't sell that one, not now anyway.
I once read a transcript of an interview with Christian Tetzlaff where he said that he would switch between his Arcus and wood bows while performing concertos, depending on the movement.
I have a Jon Paul carbon fiber bow that looks like a wood bow that I use for teaching and gigging, and also a Baroque carbon fiber bow, for fun!
I own three fine French bows, (Simon FR, AE Ouchard, Louis Bazin) a very fine American bow (Samuel Kolstein) - all made of parnambuco wood. But for anyone with a limited budget or someone wanting a really good secondary bow, I highly recommend Artino Aria carbon fiber bows. I have seen them sell for over $300 but you can get one for $175-185 from International Violin Company. With my large collection of instruments and cases floating around, I currently have three such violin bows and one viola bow.
Btw, nobody is compensating me for this recommendation. [EDIT]
I use Cadenza bows for violin and viola. I recently bought a viola from a gentleman who can no longer play. It came with a pernambuco bow for an extra $500 and then I spent another $200 on rehairing and restoration (polished silver bits and put in a new MOP slide) and I can't use that bow. It's terrible. Fortunately the viola is wonderful.
I love my Coda Diamond GX, but it is my secondary bow. It's reliable and very predictable. I use it when things are tight at orchestra and anytime I don't want to risk damaging my good bow. Occasionally it will be my performance bow.
The Shar Presto and it's Johnson counterpart I've recommended to beginning students because both are sufficient and a significant step up from most bows included in any rental or outfit. This would be their primary, and possibly only bow. Recommendations obviously shift once they're ready to invest in a better full-size instrument.
My main bow is a JonPaul Carrera flexible. My spare bow is a Coda GX. My spare spare bow is a Delille hybrid.
Claire, where did you get a Baroque carbon fiber bow? (!!)
I bought my DeLille viola bow (less than €300 !) as a backup, but now I use it all the time. Compared to my wooded bow, it is heavier and "livelier".
I tighten it noticeably less than my wooden bow.
This article has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.
Violinist.com is made possible by...
Dimitri Musafia, Master Maker of Violin and Viola Cases
Elmar Oliveira International Violin Competition
Johnson String Instrument/Carriage House Violins
Subscribe
Laurie's Books
Discover the best of Violinist.com in these collections of editor Laurie Niles' exclusive interviews.
Violinist.com Interviews Volume 1, with introduction by Hilary Hahn
Violinist.com Interviews Volume 2, with introduction by Rachel Barton Pine
February 9, 2025 at 08:49 PM · Over the years I've tried several different carbon bows. I find them all too stiff and unresponsive. Almost as if they have violin rigor mortis. I'm not opposed to the idea, just haven't found one that knows how to dance.