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Old 10-20-2012, 09:32 AM
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Joshua Phelps Joshua Phelps is offline
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Default Bow woods

This question is mainly directed towards mr smith as I value his opinion & also know few others who have had/have such a vast & pricy collection of bows/basses, but anyone feel free to chime in. What are your thoughts on the 3 main bow woods? Do you own any snake wood bows?
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Old 10-20-2012, 10:36 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Joshua Phelps View Post
This question is mainly directed towards mr smith as I value his opinion & also know few others who have had/have such a vast & pricy collection of bows/basses, but anyone feel free to chime in. What are your thoughts on the 3 main bow woods? Do you own any snake wood bows?
I don't recall ever playing a snakewood bass bow. If I did, it didn't leave much of an impression or I would have remembered it.

I think you have more then 3 woods for bows unless you want to mix Brazilwood and Pernambuco as one wood. They supposedly come from the same tree but possibly there are a few varieties of species but on they varieties, I am no expert. Ipe is another old wood that was used for Bows as well. It is known also as Pau d'Arco.
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Old 10-20-2012, 11:32 AM
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Default Snake wood

I think as far as bows go snake wood is revered as a dense & heavy wood compaired to pernambuco but I've never gotten to try one.
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Old 10-20-2012, 08:49 PM
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I played at least one snakewood bow and some point, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was or even who had it. My only impression was that it was "different", and not in a good way; but who knows, that may not have anything to do with the wood itself.
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Old 10-20-2012, 09:44 PM
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Originally Posted by Thomas Erickson View Post
I played at least one snakewood bow and some point, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was or even who had it. My only impression was that it was "different", and not in a good way; but who knows, that may not have anything to do with the wood itself.
True. My first pernambuco bow had horrible camber & felt horrible to play but it defiantly wasn't the wood that made that bow a junker
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Old 10-21-2012, 10:59 AM
Gerry Grable Gerry Grable is offline
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Default Bow wood

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Originally Posted by Joshua Phelps View Post
True. My first pernambuco bow had horrible camber & felt horrible to play but it defiantly wasn't the wood that made that bow a junker
I assume that you meant definitely wasn't the wood. Which brings me to the question: What kind of wood is my bow made out of?
I bought it (my one and only bow) in 1963 in Albuquerque. It is a French style with no name or stamp, perfectly straight with a (I believe!) good camber. I've had it rehaired several times but have never thought to ask any of the luthiers if they could identify it. Can the wood be identified by just looking?
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