Bows
Bows are made of wood, fiberglass, and, recently, carbon fiber. Wood bows are best, and are available in many quality levels, depending upon the kind of wood (pernambuco is best; brazilwood is next best) and workmanship. A good wood bow will be well-balanced, stable and responsive, and will make playing easier. It will also improve your tone. (A good source of information is the website of one of our suppliers, Arcos Brasil.)
You should try to pick a bow which produces the best sound with your particular instrument, and which feels best in terms of balance, weight, and stiffness.
Carbon fiber bows have recently come onto the market at various price levels, but at the shop we have not yet been persuaded that they equal the performance of conventional bows at equivalent price levels. They certainly don’t approach the beauty of the real thing.
Bow hair should be horsehair. Although quality horsehair is expensive, it is still the only material available which produces good tone and control for the player. Horsehair comes in several grades. The best hair is strong, consistent in thickness, straight, naturally white (not bleached), and comes from cold climates.
Bows should be rehaired regularly (at least once a year for the average student), as the hair gets dirty and worn. It loses its “tooth” (a slight roughness that, along with rosin dust, enables it to vibrate the strings), and the player loses control over the bow strokes. Cleaning the hair is not a useful remedy.
Fiberglass bows and synthetic hair are usually used only for student beginners, as they do not match the playing qualities of real wood and horsehair.
Bows may be decorated with silver, gold, or German silver (nickel-silver). Mother-of-pearl or abalone shell is usually used for the slide on the frog, which may be made of ebony or other fine woods, ivory, or tortiseshell. Although bows seem extremely simple, fine or rare ones can be worth thousands of dollars.
Strings
Strings can be one of four types: all gut, gut wound with silver or aluminum, synthetic material similarly wound, or all steel. All-gut strings are usually used by players seeking an authentic baroque-or-earlier sound. Whether you use all-metal, or synthetic or gut wound with metal depends upon the kind of sound you are trying to produce. All-metal strings are usually louder and more penetrating, but can also be harsher than other types of strings. On the other hand, all-steel strings are usually cheaper than the other types. Your choice of strings will depend on the tonal qualities of your instrument, your playing approach, and the kind of music you play. It is worthwhile to be picky about what type and brand of strings you use. We carry a number of brands at discounted prices, and would be happy to advise you about which ones would be most appropriate for your playing and your instrument.
Strings should be cleaned after playing by rubbing them with a soft cloth. They should be replaced periodically, as they will stop sounding good long before they actually break. How often you replace them depends on how much and how hard you play, but even the most casual player will want to replace them yearly. A violinist who is on stage every week may replace strings as often as every month.
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