Baroque Bows...

[Jamale Davis]

Does anyone have any experience with baroque bows?

[Ken Smith]

Does anyone have any experience with baroque bows?

Baroque bows? You mean the funny looking ones that no one uses today in Orchestra?

Or, one like the old French used 100 years ago or so?
http://www.kensmithbasses.com/doublebasses/Bows/Bazin/images/bazin_frog.JPG

[Calvin Marks]

There's a good baroque bow maker here in toronto.Look up Marvin Bows on google. I own a nice baroque bow by him.

[Katie Long]

*waves*

I can tell you about baroque bows, do a lot of period playing and myself have a lovely blackwood baroque bow made by an equally lovely man in Belgium...pics to follow if you like?

K x

[David Powell]

Pictures? Nah, nobody wants to see pictures. Second thought, show us some pictures (Please). Just the bow, not the maker.:o

And shifting the subject just ever so slightly. I am interested to know what kind of gut strings you prefer for period arco performances, Katie. I'm a big Baroque music fan, I even like the earlier Renaissance stuff too when I can find it recorded or scores for it. So I have been reading a good bit about gut strings but the perspective is mostly pizz. and I'd really like to hear something from someone with some arco experience. So tell us more, please.

[Katie Long]

From various conversations and lots of playing the great string out there seems to be the gamuts. I know that Pete, my teacher, uses Dglugolecki strings (probably spelt wrong, sorry, but what a crazy name!) and I have one of his old A strings on my baroque bass which certainly sounds very good indeed.

I tend to go for top two plain gut and then bottom two wound, silver on gut. There are camps that prefer copper on gut but for me they just don't hold the tuning as well as the silvers. Sometimes you get silver and copper wraps but again I'm not so much of a fan. The most important thing for me visavis guts is that the top two are WOUND gut rather than just plain (as I used to have, I think they were old pirastros) because it is vastly easier to centre the tuning and find much more centre to the sound with wound strings, for me they just work better. A friend in Europe is trying out the Aquila strings but he hasn't had them very long; I'd like to get some gamuts in the long run as they make them for you and your bass but I'm still in the process of having the actual conversion done and strings are something to think about properly later...I have a set of strings that Pete rather generously gave me to keep me going for now which are a mixture of brands etc, but when the bass is ready I'll be phoning Mr Gamut.

I've attached a pic of the bow. Obviously when the hair is tightened the stick bends the other way to modern bows ;) but this one was taken by my non-bass-playing father when it was first delivered to us. I'll get some proper pictures soon. It's a really lovely bow.

[Calvin Marks]

From various conversations and lots of playing the great string out there seems to be the gamuts. I know that Pete, my teacher, uses Dglugolecki strings (probably spelt wrong, sorry, but what a crazy name!) and I have one of his old A strings on my baroque bass which certainly sounds very good indeed.

I tend to go for top two plain gut and then bottom two wound, silver on gut. There are camps that prefer copper on gut but for me they just don't hold the tuning as well as the silvers. Sometimes you get silver and copper wraps but again I'm not so much of a fan. The most important thing for me visavis guts is that the top two are WOUND gut rather than just plain (as I used to have, I think they were old pirastros) because it is vastly easier to centre the tuning and find much more centre to the sound with wound strings, for me they just work better. A friend in Europe is trying out the Aquila strings but he hasn't had them very long; I'd like to get some gamuts in the long run as they make them for you and your bass but I'm still in the process of having the actual conversion done and strings are something to think about properly later...I have a set of strings that Pete rather generously gave me to keep me going for now which are a mixture of brands etc, but when the bass is ready I'll be phoning Mr Gamut.

I've attached a pic of the bow. Obviously when the hair is tightened the stick bends the other way to modern bows ;) but this one was taken by my non-bass-playing father when it was first delivered to us. I'll get some proper pictures soon. It's a really lovely bow.

Katie, that's a nice bow. I have a Snakewood Baroque Overhand bow by Steve Marvin, and I play with Dlugolecki Plain Gut G and D and Pirastro Eudoxa E and A, I really like Plain Gut A Dlugolecki and his wound Silver A. Who made your period bow?

[Matt Minteer]

From various conversations and lots of playing the great string out there seems to be the gamuts. I know that Pete, my teacher, uses Dglugolecki strings (probably spelt wrong, sorry, but what a crazy name!) and I have one of his old A strings on my baroque bass which certainly sounds very good indeed.

I tend to go for top two plain gut and then bottom two wound, silver on gut. There are camps that prefer copper on gut but for me they just don't hold the tuning as well as the silvers. Sometimes you get silver and copper wraps but again I'm not so much of a fan. The most important thing for me visavis guts is that the top two are WOUND gut rather than just plain (as I used to have, I think they were old pirastros) because it is vastly easier to centre the tuning and find much more centre to the sound with wound strings, for me they just work better. A friend in Europe is trying out the Aquila strings but he hasn't had them very long; I'd like to get some gamuts in the long run as they make them for you and your bass but I'm still in the process of having the actual conversion done and strings are something to think about properly later...I have a set of strings that Pete rather generously gave me to keep me going for now which are a mixture of brands etc, but when the bass is ready I'll be phoning Mr Gamut.

I've attached a pic of the bow. Obviously when the hair is tightened the stick bends the other way to modern bows ;) but this one was taken by my non-bass-playing father when it was first delivered to us. I'll get some proper pictures soon. It's a really lovely bow.


Yeah, going with what Calvin said. Who is the maker? Are french style baroque bows very common(for bass)?

[Calvin Marks]

Yeah, going with what Calvin said. Who is the maker? Are french style baroque bows very common(for bass)?

Yes and no. It really depends what treatise you read and who you talk to. A lot of overhand baroque bows for bass are actually Violone bows meant to be held underhand with viol style bowing. It's somewhat confusing since in the Baroque period (especially) there was a ton of confusion over Violones/Double Basses. If you take a look at a lot of photos you can find bass players from the 1600's using an overhand grip, but the majority of overhand bass bows are going to be from the classical era mainly due to the fact that the outward camber of the baroque stick made it somewhat impractical to be held overhand.