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View Full Version : Ebay 'shakes head'


John Delventhal
04-06-2010, 02:45 AM
I posted this on TB because i'd prefer not to clutter up this forum with BS but, no one has answered. I saw this on ebay. It looks like a German bow with the wrong frog thrown on it and an ebony screw that may have been cut down as well. Am I right?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320510979101&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Here is a link to the sellers photobucket for when the auction ends. http://s396.photobucket.com/albums/pp41/dagamba/bassbogen/?action=view&current=IMG132.jpg

And the info from the ebay ad....

This old fine french full sized (70,6 cm) double bass bow is offered to the highest bidder with no reserve. I think the bow has been made in appr. 1930.


The strong stick is round with an excellent balance and a great quality, it makes a marvellous big and warm tone. The bow weighs 142 grams. There are no cracks or repairs to the straight stick and ebony frog. The ebony screw has a crack, view pictures.


If you require any specific close up pictures, please let me know and I'll oblige. The auction starts at just 1GBP with no reserve.

Please read complete description and bid with confidence. We have sold bows to numerous satisfied collectors, dealers, players and soloists from worldwide. Check out my other items! Shipping worldwide.


Good luck!
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John Delventhal
04-07-2010, 08:12 PM
This has been answered well enough on another forum. I guess that the lack of wire wrapping and grip combined with the ebony screw just really threw me for a loop.

Ken Smith
04-07-2010, 08:27 PM
How is the Bow being measured, from where to where exactly. If the measurement excludes the Screw than it is very long.

The bow looks odd and old, maybe. The head looks like it's for a French style bow but still, the pics are hard to go by. Reminds me of some older Bazin Shop Bows by the head but probably not.

What are you looking for? This bow is a odd ball with no real market value. It might play nice and it might be junk.

My suggestion, find something better to spend your money on and you time with. This is not worth chasing.

The pictures show the notches in the stick; l///, meaning #4 Stick. This is a shop made/assembled stick/bow. The Frog should have the same notches inside but it doesn't. That means they were not made together. Who knows where that Screw came from. It's doubtful that it's a match for the Frog. So, you have 3 foreign to each other parts. The Bow also is NOT Pernambuco. It is some other wood used back then like a Brazilwood of sorts, maybe even Ipe (aka Pau d'arco) which I think they used as well.

The Bow is in Germany. You are in NJ? Watch the Masters this week on TV. Better to spend time watching Golf than Ebay.. Let it go..

A re-Hair and Grip can run close to $300. Not worth it for this Bow. Trust me, dealers around the world are watching this and all other Bows worthy of investment. If you win the auction, you will either have over payed if it's of value or won it because no one else wants it or are willing to take a gamble with an unknown composite parts Bow.

John Delventhal
04-07-2010, 10:25 PM
Ha ha. I was never interested in buying this. I was just curious if I made the right assumption, that this bow is not a French bow. The fact that it has three different or as least possibly non-original parts, points a little more towards the possibility of me being correct. Just trying to get better at spotting stuff is all.

The Masters is a big deal in the golf world so you know I will be watching that. First round is tomorrow. I hope Tiger wins because it will anger a lot of people, lol. Ebay is good for killing commercial time. Especially UK Ebay, less of a chance of me spending my money that way.

Any chance this is a German stick? Have you seen many French bows that stay rounded like this all the way to the screw(except where the frog is attached). Looks like the Bazin on your web site does. Have you owned others? Thanks!

Ken Smith
04-08-2010, 12:55 AM
Any chance this is a German stick? Have you seen many French bows that stay rounded like this all the way to the screw(except where the frog is attached). Looks like the Bazin on your web site does. Have you owned others? Thanks!

This is hard to say. The Bow IS a shop bow. Many German makers trained in France. The Bazin family was quite famous and many copies were probably made in its time. I don't think round spells French 100%. They can make it anyway they like. This was a thick stick so round was probably what was best for this stick IF the shape itself remains unaltered since its birth.

This Bow here (http://www.kensmithbasses.com/doublebasses/bows/OldFrench/OldFrench.htm) I thought was German when I bought it. After Sue Lipkins got it for re-hair she corrected me and said it was a Mirecourt French shop bow by the workmanship. German she said would have been neater inside than this.

The shape and weight of a Bow does not designate where it was made. They all had access to the same imported wood. It's the maker that makes the bow, not the tree. The better makers usually selected the better sticks for their better bows but usually, not always.

I have bought a few non famous makers bows and some that were unknown makers because of the stick and its playability alone. Pedigree can help price a bow but attribution papers can as well. Not all great Bows are Pernambuco wood either. The wider more open porous grained Brazilwood (same tree?) can be as good a bow as any. Pernambuco in itself is not magic. It's just the modern standard.

Next time you come by, I will give you a few bows to play to compare Pernambuco with non-Pernambuco. Then you will see for yourself.