I'll cross-post this from my review over on "that other website"
I'll come back to this thread as time progresses to give my input and feedback as the bow breaks in and matures.
So-(unbeknownst to my wifey
) I just got a new bow from Ken. It's the Napoli model. It weighs in at 134g, and comes with black hair-which is a switch for me, having had white on my previous two bows (one crappy one that came with the bass and a much better Glasser Carbon Fibre from Lemur).
Also included in the package was a cake of Kolsteins All Weather rosin, so I'll be reviewing that here as well since I've been a Pop's man up till now. Although my teacher loaned me 3 cakes of stuff to try-carlsons (too powdery, but SMOOTH tone-quite a diff coming off the pops to the carlsons!), some cello rosin(WAY too powdery), and some other stuff that I'll have to look for as I can't remember the name right now.
I only had a chance to play it for a little while last night, but thus far I really like it. The bow has a quick voice, and is genuinely warm. The playing length is about 1" shorter than my other (carbon) bow, and I was worried about that at first, but I didn't notice that I was running out of bow too quickly in any passages.
Construction-the bow is brazilwood, and less "red" than the images on Ken's website suggest. The frog is a good, very black ebony and the mother-of-pearl inlay is even more figured than my more expensive carbon bow's. I was very intrigued by the amount of camber to the bow. It's more than I am used to, and I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. Side to side the stick is straight as an arrow. Finish is excellent. The bow also "rings" when tapped, which I think is a sign of the quality in the materials.
I'm going to bring my bow to my lessons this weekend and see what my teacher says. I'll get back to this thread in a couple of weeks when the hair and stick have had a chance to "settle in".