Purchasing new bow
I'm on the verge of purchasing a new bow, but only have about $2,ooo to spend, a little more if I stretch it. Recommendations? I've heard good things about the Lev Sobol bows at K.C. strings; could those of you who have played them weigh in on this? And if I stretched my budget to accomodate their $2400 gold bow, is it that much better than their silver bow for about a thousand less? Any other good makers in this range I would really appreciate hearing about also!
Replies (15)
I work for K C Strings and am currently saving up for one of Sobol's bows, not just because we carry them, but because many of the high level players who come into our shop speak very well of them. I'm moving up from a couple of silver mounted bows from Eugen Meinel and Franz Winkler, both made in the 1920's or 30's.
They seem to best suit confident players with fairly aggressive bow technique. Many of our customers are Russian trained, and Sobol works out of Moscow.
The match between player, instrument and bow is a very individual thing, but if you have a strong bow hand and like a big sound, I'd say they were worth a look. Price ranges from $700 to $3500. The one recommended to me is right around $2000.
You can also try Roger Treat, whose bows are from $2400-$2500.
Excellent for the price.
Just wondering, at the same around $2000 range, how does it compare with the bow you guys mentions and the Arcos Brasil's Gold fitting bow?
F. Schaeffer is the son of one of the owners of Arcos Brasil. His father Floriano Schaeffer was featured in Smithsonian magazine on an article on Pernambuco and is considered the leading expert on Pernambuco wood.
Gary Leahy might be selling bows at that price- incredible bowmaker!
Martin,
I think you are forgetting the currency exchange:
US$1 = 1.35 / 1.37 Euro (depending where you exchange the funds).
And yes, he is a very talented maker.
Cheers Gennady- heard you bought one, congratulations
Hi everyone,
Does anybody here have a Hill bow?
I do.
A gold mounted one Henryk Szeryng used.
It's No:14
My teacher is borrowing it to me for a while!
you mean your teacher is lending it you....or you could say you are borrowing it from your teacher.
Incidentally, Szeryng's favorite bow was a Dominique Peccatte (which is now in the Fulton Collection) and he also had a nice Maire.
excellent point.
I am also looking for a bow in this price range (i dropped and broke my chagas, so now I need a new reliable performer). My back-up is a Lima and I have been very happy with it. I only spent $600 on it, but when I took it to a festival in Europe a teacher played it and was shocked that I'd gotten such a great deal. Look into Lima if you can find one. My Chagas was wonderful and even after being repaired is a great bow.
You should still have good luck finding a Lima (Silver) in the mid to high $600's or low 700's. Chagas has now finished training with Pierre Guillaume and now is only making Silver & Gold "Special Edition" Bows for Arcos Brasil which retail for around $1500. Better wood than normal Silver bows and with the Guillaume training a better made bow. Lima also makes an occasional Nickel Silver Bow which retails for (typically) $425 to $475. The difference is in the grade of the wood. I've had Gold Lima bows which retail for $2000 and have the highest graded wood and have had Nickel Lima (and Chagas when he still made them) bows. I tend to like Lima because his bows are (usually) slightly stiffer and I like Chagas because his bows tend to always be very playable with good sound.
I know that I currently have 4 Lima bows and 2 Chagas bows, so your local shop should have no problem finding a decent selection for you to choose from if you go in this direction.
I think you should hold off and wait till you have about 1500 more, then you can get a wold-class bow by many of the guys mentioned in the previous threads. The difference between what you can buy for 2000 and 3500 is night and day.
In general I would agree with that concept, but since the perfect triangle of player, instrument, and bow is unique to everyone, occasionally you can find a good bow that fits you (and your instrument) better than a very good bow (and might fit your pocket book better also).
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May 28, 2007 at 05:35 PM · In this price range you can go one of 3 ways, either hunt for an older French factory bow (occasionally LaBerts's and Morizot bows will fall into this price range), go with a good current factory bow. I would recommend either a J. P. Bernard, or go with an upcoming maker, I would recommend F. Schaeffer. Both the J. P. Bernard bows and Schaeffer's silver bows fall into your price range and Schaeffer's gold bows typically sell for between $2200 to $2600.