Carbon Fiber Bows

[Benjamin Bates]

Thanks for your reply, Ken.

I feel I'm still a bit new to bows, even though I've been playing with one since 1992. I borrowed a bass and a wooden French bow in my time with the Darwin Symphony Orchestra ('92-'96), I bought my own bass which came with a cheap wooden French bow in Melbourne ('97-'04), then I left my bow on the dashboard of my car and it flew out the window in 2004, so I borrowed wooden French bows from the Darwin Symphony Orchestra which I used up until the beginning of 2006. I then took a lesson from a German bassist in Adelaide who converted me to German bow, and when I returned to Darwin my bass (wait for it........) fell down the stairs when my girlfriend was trying to move it out of the way, so I bought a new bass under the insurance as well as a new German CF bow (Carbow) that cost me AU$1500.

The Carbow now felt amazing to play with, I was very pleased with it. In Darwin we have extreme weather conditions and only two seasons - Wet and Dry. In the Dry I get a really warm sound out of my bow; in the Wet the sound quality is harsh and buzzy. At first I thought it was my technique problems. Early this year I moved down to Tasmania to study with the Principal bassist of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra who is a French bow player. He's okay with me staying with the German bow hold, but whenever I have a lesson with him I get a warm sound with the bow because I'll be in a room with minimal humidity; but just recently it has been raining in Hobart so the humidity has started to rise. Thinking that the buzzing came back was due to my technique problems I talked to my teacher, who seemed not to notice any difference because we were having a lesson in a dry room.

But now after reading this forum I'm thinking it may be a mixture of humid weather and the fact that I have a carbon fibre bow. So that's why I asked are you sure it's not the hair quality on the bow? Does the quality of a bow really make a "brighter" sound?

I read these forums with arguments for and against synthetic bows and they all make sense, but what really is the science behind a wooden bow sounding and feeling "warmer" than a synthetic bow?

Please excuse the ramble, but I have been intrigued for a few years now and have never received a straight answer from anyone, violinists, cellists or bassists (I didn't ask any Violists).