Modern CF bows?

June 25, 2023, 3:11 PM · Hello,

The last time I was shopping for a bow, I tried almost 100 bows and I settled with 1 fine pernambuco bow, 1 fine snakewood baroque bow and a cheap CF bow from Yitamusic.

The cheap bow stays out on my table along with my Yamaha YSV 104 for my "grab and go" practice.

I have tried many bows back in the days, I once won at an e-bay auction a JonPaul rose gold bow (Vetta), literally the best CF bow I have ever owned, which I had to sell to prepare for a funeral, I have tried many Codabows at stores and I never liked any of them to be honest. I also have tried many not so well known brand CF bows.

My current Yitamusic CF bow is starting to shed its hair, and it is simply not worth rehairing which means it's time to replace it.

I am looking for a CF bow that is virtually "indestructable" to play on my electric violin, something is that is worth re-hairing but not costing a fortune.

I am looking at the lower end Jonpaul bows, but it seems that I have no dealers near by (Switzerland) and even Codabows are very rare to find. In fact, there is a huge abundance of wooden bows with less well known artisan's names but CF bows seem extremely rare in music stores.

I wanted to know what new brands and models arose in the past 5 years and what is popular now days.

Replies (7)

Stephen Symchych

Edited: June 25, 2023, 4:35 PM · Not quite 5 years young, but Cleveland Violins had a great source in China. $500, and the best are remarkably good. Handle well, sound good, and only lack for some flexibility that makes quiet passages so their best.

Oh, wait. Cleveland is a fair distance from Switzerland.

Andrew Victor

Edited: June 25, 2023, 5:49 PM · "Back in the day" I bought 3 C.F. Durro bows, one each for violin, viola and cello. They all turned out to be cheaper and better (in my opinion) than the 3 Coda Classic bows I subsequently purchased.

It might be worth seeing if you can find a used one. They seem to be scarce now.

Marco Brancalion

June 25, 2023, 6:57 PM · >> "something is that is worth re-hairing but not costing a fortune"

What is the max price that you can afford?

Christian Harvey

June 25, 2023, 9:40 PM · Yes, without knowing your price range it would be pretty hard to make any recommendations.

That being said based on you looking at lower priced no Paul bows I would assume you’re looking for under €1000. You could make a trip to Germany and check out arcus’s line of Müsing bows. There’s also Eureka Instruments that carries Codabows, but you did mention your dislike of them. Which models of Codabows have you tried?

I also must say that you’re probably not going to find what you seek in the cheaper JonPaul bows given how much you liked your JonPaul Vetta. You’ll likely have to make some compromises, get lucky, or raise your budget.

Steven J.

June 26, 2023, 2:33 AM · I think the budget for this particular bow is at around ~500USD. I am not looking for an amazing bow like the JonPaul Vetta, I am looking for something that is exclusively for practice, strong, and won't build a bad habit due to bad balancing.

I will look at some of those Durro bows.

Codabows, I tried everything from Prodigy to Diamond GX, I just did not like the sound they projected on my violin, handling and balance were excellent, but not the sound. I guess that doesn't matter so much if I am dedicating the bow to be for practice/electric.

Christian Harvey

June 26, 2023, 6:28 PM · For 500 USD I would try to get ahold of some Codabow Diamond NX bows and try a bunch. Even bows with the same name can vary in sound and feel. I would also see if you can try some Musing C2 bows somewhere. Like I said Arcus is north of you in Germany so that might be a place to start if you don't mind a trip. You could also email them and see if they would be willing to ship you some Musing C2 bows for you to try. Codabow does trials as well, but I think they only send you 2 at a time.

The Diamond NX bows go for about 455 USD while the Musing C2 bows go for about 495 USD. I understand your opinion on codabows I'm not too crazy about them either. They handle like a dream but their sound just doesn't do it for me. If you can deal with the worse sound the Codas aren't bad, but I do prefer the Musing line to the codabows.

Paul Deck

June 26, 2023, 10:17 PM · I like the Cadenza Master. One of the teachers in my area likes this bow to teach with, and he recommends them to his best students -- and he is a connoisseur of fine instruments and bows.

https://www.jrjuddviolins.com/product/cadenza-master/

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Modern CF bows?

Replies (7)

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