Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Holden
I agree, and I think that's where 90% of the debate comes from when it comes to bows. If you take one bow and play it on one bass, it could some great... take the same bow and put it on a different bass, and it sounds like crap. Now take the same combination, put it in a different bass player's hands and it will sound 100% different, that is my point. Ken, if you were to give me a sartory bow, and a $20k bass. I'd sound like me, now if you gave the principle bassist in the NY Philharmonic, a palentino and a $50 chinese bow... he's sound completely better then me. There are way too many factors to say "This bow is better" or "this bass is better" .. it's whatever works for the individual musician.
I don't mean to beat the proverbial dead horse... but isn't Edgar Meyer's bow a cheapo? I don't know about you.. but I think he's a decent bassist...
and I hate to start another debate, but I also think the hair on the bow plays a larger part then most musicians admit to.
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I do not agree with you. A good sounding Bass or Bow is just that. Sure a better player can make a bass sound better but a lesser player sounds better with better equipment and will develop better technique as well. I don't know where you get your ides from but in my world sound is sound. On the Hair, yes it makes a difference but a Bow can sound its best only with good hair. White or Black sounds different but matching hair as a bit like matching strings but with less choices.
On Edgar's Bow costing $10? Where and when did he buy it? I heard that Bob Riccardi (former owner of my Cornerless Bass for 40 years who died a few months ago) once found a Sartory Bass Bow at a flea market for a few bucks as well? Does that make his Bow a $10 Bow too? What a Bow costs and what a Bow IS is not always the same thing.
I paid $400 for my Sartory! Does that make it a $400 Bow? Now it's 10-15k. The previous one sold in NY b4 mine was $200 a few years earlier.
$5-$20 was the going rate for German Shop Bows in the mid to late '60s into the '70s. These included the Bows from Juzek/Metropolitan Music. My Roche Bow was $60. My Vitale was $75. It broke at the Screw end a few years later, was fixed and sold a few years later. Repaired, I sold it for $125 to a VERY famous Bass player who wasn't famous then. All this before 1972 in case you are wondering.
I am sure that if Edgar used a Sartory or Bultitude, he and his Bass would sound better. I too can use a cheapo Bow on my Basses but that doesn't mean it's the best I can sound. I can also play a piece of crap Bass and make it sound but polishing a turd is not my way of making music.
Bottom line, get the best you can afford and keep it well repaired. Don't get caught up on who can make what piece of junk sound better than a beginner can make it sound. Where does that theory get you?