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Old 04-03-2010, 06:29 PM
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John Delventhal John Delventhal is offline
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Default Silver Tipped Bows

What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of having a silver tip on your bow? Is it all for balance/weight or does aesthetics and tone come into play here as well?
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Old 04-03-2010, 06:47 PM
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Cool ??

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Originally Posted by John Delventhal View Post
What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of having a silver tip on your bow? Is it all for balance/weight or does aesthetics and tone come into play here as well?
I don't know what the weight differences are but I think they may be slightly heavier. English bows often have them and a few makers here have used them. They are stronger I am sure but then again, I am not sure it's really pure silver. They shine more like an alloy, almost like stainless steel.

Either way, what ever the bow is, that's how it should be maintained and/or restored back to.
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Old 04-03-2010, 07:06 PM
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I ask because I contacted Sue Lipkins about getting on her waiting list and briefly talked with her about what I would like out of a bow. Not that I would ask her to put a silver tip on my ordered bow, as I have never played/seen any of her sticks with one, and frankly I don't really want one. I'm just curious about what they contribute to a bow.



P.S. The bow I own now is already tip heavy, and I wouldn't dream of altering that to make it worse. LOL.
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Old 04-03-2010, 07:29 PM
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Lightbulb ok..

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Originally Posted by John Delventhal View Post
I ask because I contacted Sue Lipkins about getting on her waiting list and briefly talked with her about what I would like out of a bow. Not that I would ask her to put a silver tip on my ordered bow, as I have never played/seen any of her sticks with one, and frankly I don't really want one. I'm just curious about what they contribute to a bow.



P.S. The bow I own now is already tip heavy, and I wouldn't dream of altering that to make it worse. LOL.
All of the Bows I have had with 'metal' tips (not sure if they are/were actually silver) came that way. I never thought to change it.

As far as Sue goes, no one alive that I know of makes a better or more consistent Bow. I believe she has a Masters in Bass performance from Julliard. Perhaps that is one skill that helps her make the Bow play as they do. Also, she is the only Bass Bow maker I know of with that level of playing and training.

Order a car from someone that doesn't drive and see how it handles. Then try all the cars that person makes. Get my drift?

I have personally owned and used 7 of her bows. Only the last one I acquired (the Sartory model) was actually made for me. The others were bought used with the exception of the competition bow. Perhaps having 6 bows before my order came up helped to know what I wanted. Maybe not!

The fact is that her Bows when new have room to grow. They break in with play time. The more you play it, the better it sounds and handles. This includes you getting used to it as well. My bow is over 2 years old now and needs to be re-haired. For the first year I used it only on occasion due to having other bows, not being used to this one and not wanting to chance an incidents or damage in the field. Within a year the bow statet to 'wake up' as if coming out of a deep sleep. Now, I have to wait till the orchestra season ends to get it re-haired as I wont let it out of my hands. It's the only bow I use with the exception of lesser jobs using little or no bow or testing bows I buy to sell by using them at rehearsals once or twice.

The more she knows about your playing and the better you can explain it, the better the bow she can make for you. She has a gift.
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Old 04-03-2010, 10:17 PM
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Hey Ken,

Your Sue Lipkins "Ode to Sartory" bow is one of the few Lipkins bows I've had the chance to play. I believe you let me play it with your Martini when I visited the shop a while back. I had stopped by for you to take a look at the X. Jacquet(which I wound up buying) as well as to play some of your basses. Plus, it was nice to hear someone else play the Jacquet.

You didn't talk much about that bow when you handed it to me probably because we were involved in talking about the basses. But, it was very easy to draw a great tone out of that bow/bass combination. I had played another Lipkins bow back in 2003 at the ISB convention in Richmond. This was on a friends unknown American made bass c.1920. There is no doubt she is a great bow maker which is why I wanted to get on her list.

I would probably never change out the tip from what the original bow maker intended to be on that particular bow. Just wondering is there anyone on this forum that plays a bow consistently that has a metal/silver tip? How do you like it, who made it, and do you feel that this unique/possibly heavier tip brings anything to the table?

Why are they so rare to see? Tradition maybe? Ken, you said you've seen them often on English bows. Any guesses as to why this hasn't caught on more so in other parts of the world. Again I would assume most of the logic behind this has to do with weight and balance. So, do makers add these on to unusually light sticks, or frog heavy bows? Or are silver tips kind of like a trade mark, on every bow that particular bow maker makes? The Grunberger, Bultitude(s), and Kun bows on your site have silver tips. Do these makers always use silver tips?
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Old 04-04-2010, 02:15 AM
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Cool tips..

Yes, all 3 Bultitudes I had were with 'metal' tips. Again, I am not sure exactly what the tip material is. The Grunberger is metal as well but that's not a Bow I use. The Bultitudes are bows that I used and they were all in the 140gram range depending on the grip. The Bultitudes were exceptional bows as they were. I don't think the Tip material mattered. When making a Bow, all good makers weight out the combined materials for the balance overall. Anyone can change a Tip but selecting and carving the Stick is where the Art of the Bow is.

On the Lipkins of mine you tried I made it a point when trying out basses not to put attention on the Bow so one can concentrate listen to the bass. On this particular Lipkins bow, the bounce/spiccato is unreal. I can make it bounce more if needed by tightening the stick or less by loosening it to lay on the strings more with just enough hair tension to play firmly.
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