Bow woods

[Dave Whitla]

Not sure if this helps, but I've played two or three 'brazilwood' bows, and I would say generally that they have less density and resilience than pernambucco. Not as responsive to play, as a result. That's not exactly a large survey sample, but I personally would not buy a brazilwood bow other than as a cheap option for a student. From what I have seen, for the price one might be better off looking at carbon fibre bows...

This past summer I played my first snakewood bow. It was an absolutely beautiful bow but way too heavy and not at all balanced in a way I'd like. Snakewood seems to be used often for baroque bows, but I have never played one of those.

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Dave Whitla

Not sure if this helps, but I've played two or three 'brazilwood' bows, and I would say generally that they have less density and resilience than pernambucco. Not as responsive to play, as a result. That's not exactly a large survey sample, but I personally would not buy a brazilwood bow other than as a cheap option for a student. From what I have seen, for the price one might be better off looking at carbon fibre bows...

This past summer I played my first snakewood bow. It was an absolutely beautiful bow but way too heavy and not at all balanced in a way I'd like. Snakewood seems to be used often for baroque bows, but I have never played one of those.

I just sold an inexpensive Brazilwood bow with a flamed stick @ about 146 grams. It doesn't get much denser. I have seen Fetique bows in Pernambuco @ 126 grams. Do the math and don't go disliking all bows from Brazilwood. What if a great maker used Brazilwood and a hacker of a maker Pernambuco? Which is better? The Wood or the maker?

Look up the botanical species names of the two woods and tell us what you find.

[Dave Whitla]

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

What if a great maker used Brazilwood and a hacker of a maker Pernambuco? Which is better? The Wood or the maker?

Certainly can't argue with that, Ken. As I said, I've only tried a couple of brazilwood bows and that was my impression. I'm sure plenty of hackers have used pernambuco, and I have played many expensive and not so expensive pernambuco bows that I didn't like very much. Not sure if many master bowmakers have use brazilwood. Again, that's probably above my pay grade

(A quick online check says that 'brazilwood' refers to a family of trees, but that for bowmaking purposes pernambuco is Caesalpinia echinata and brazilwood is anything else from the family, but another site said that they're from different parts of the same tree...)