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What is your experience in playing old vs new Pernambuco bows?
So this thread is sort of a follow-up to the previous thread I started where I was asking preference between a CF or "real" Pernambuco bows.Thanks again for all your inputs and thoughts!
After testing a dozen (or so) bows within my price range - both Pernambuco and CF, I went home with 3 early 20th century Pernambuco bows - 2 Germans, and 1 English. There was a French bow that I really liked, but it was way out of my budget..lol.
No CF bow made the cut. No, I did not even try an arcus bow as I deemed it too expensive for a synthetic bow. But I did try some that were in the $1.5K range. The CF bows I tried in my opinion, did not perform any better than my $68 bow. If they did, the difference was not enough for me to jump on them. Again, this is my own subjective opinion, and nothing else. So please, no flaming required.. lol.
I liked the characteristics of the Pernambuco bows that I chose -- they're warm, I can easily draw colours with them, they're agile but controllable. The sound and the nuance that they produced was exactly what I wanted/needed in my usual repertoire -- Bach, Beethoven, Handel, Vivaldi. They also played very well when I play Bruch, or some parlor/salon violin pieces.
I did try violin bows made by two modern makers. These bows were very good, offering very strong, agile, and very good sound. But at least to my ear, and the ears of those with me when I was trying them out, they did not have the mature sound of the older bows. Maybe the ones I tried were not the best example of these makers? I don't know. But they did not make the cut.
I still have the 3 bows with me. I still have a few days before I decide which one would go back to the shop. But at the same time, I am also very, very inclined to just get all 3 bows... lol
I was googling the difference between old and new Pernambuco bows, and it seems the opinion for or against new/old is all over the place.
What is your experience in playing old and new Pernambuco bows?
As a side: It's been decades since I've shopped for my own violin bows again. But what I noticed is that some bow makers that I remember trying back in the day that cost under $2k, are now selling for much, much, much more. I don't believe it is because the bow improved with age.. lol
Replies (5)
One can argue that many fine new bows are made from old wood. However, like violins made from 100-year-old wood, I've still had the same impression: something "green" about the sound.
I've played sub par Sartory A. Lamy etc all the way to D. Peccatte, they still mostly has that old bow sound (and the D. Peccatte still sound like a Peccatte) but in some ways new and well made bows will offer better playability, and you'll save a bunch of cash too. And often the top dealers will carry specimens that has both playability and sound, and you'll pay a premium for them...
There are top notch soloists playing on new bows by contemporary makers who could play on just about any bow they wanted but chose modern. That essentially resolves the question if old bows are better than new bows.
Bows selection is highly subjective. I would bet that in a blind test of a mix of random new bows and random old bows that players would not be able to tell them apart by age.
I still use both bows on another violin, but for my main violin, I'm playing on a new Pernambuco bow. I don't think it's better because it's new, though. I think it's better because it just suits this violin better than those other two bows, which were bought for that other violin. They weren't a tonal match for this newer violin, which prompted me to go bow shopping.