What to Consider When Purchasing a Bow

There are four main things to consider when buying a bow
• Material Used
• Flexibility
• Weight
• Sound

Material Used:
Fiberglass is lightweight and affordable. It is known for durability, but not for its resonant qualities. Fiberglass is an excellent bow for beginners.

Pernambuco is the most sought after wood for string instrument bows for it’s sound quality and excellent consistency of it’s gran. It has good flexibility and is always made by hand. Most professionals use Pernambuco bows.

Brazilwood refers to any wood that comes from brazil other than Pernambuco. It generally has a warmer sound than fiberglass and is a great first upgrade

Carbon fiber is a synthetic alternative to permanbuco that has become immensely popular over the last several years due to it’s excellent durability and its much more resonant sound compared to fiberglass. Very often for the same price point, carbon fiber bows will outperform pernambuco, although pernambuco has a much wider price range.

Flexibility:
How flexible or inflexible a bow is will affect how it controls and ultimately what sound it produces. If you have a bow that is too stiff or too soft it isn’t going to give you the result you want.

Weight:
Similar to flexibility, if the bow is too heavy or too light you might have trouble getting the sound that you want.

Sound:
It’s always important to have your own instrument with you when choosing a bow.

At the end of the day you are looking for a bow that feels good to play after your first impression.