Amateur Bard

As I mentioned yesterday (wow, two updates in one month!), my good bow developed a pronounced warp over the years, despite definitely loosening it after playing. 😛 It still sounds miles better than the handful of Brazilwood bows I’ve collected, but it really feels antagonistic to play on, more wrestling under control than bowing. When it started life, it was a ~$250 pernambuco bow from a Brazilian maker, so definitely a Student’s First Pernambuco bow type. It served me well for many years, and I hope it can be fixed, for sentimental reasons if nothing else.

I bought the Presto Spark carbon fiber bow from Shar, because a) the price point seemed to land it in the ‘advanced beginner’ level that I think fits my skill, and b) gosh, I cannot resist a gimmick and it comes with a treble clef eye instead of the standard. I know that Best Practice is to go in person to test out a variety of bows, but eh, fuck it. I also needed a set of replacement strings for Kytte, so I figured it was worth a shot.

I was a bit underwhelmed when I unwrapped the bow because the tip of the bow is a bit rough and dirty-looking, like it wasn’t cleaned properly after it came out of the mold. A strike against quality check, there. The rest of it looked fine for the price: straight stick, even ribbon of hair, screw adjusts easily.

Since it seemed structurally sound enough, I began the arduous task that is rosining a new bow. Ah, what a pain. I popped on a Hermitcraft video and zoned out. I did about fifty strokes, and probably could stand a bit more.

I was pleasantly surprised when I started playing with the carbon fiber bow. It’s much more responsive than an inexpensive Brazilwood bow, although it definitely doesn’t have the same sound quality as the pernambuco bow. It needs a lighter touch than the pernambuco bow, and doesn’t have the same shuddering issues as I have had with the Brazilwood bows. (I am still getting a bit of shake on down bows because of right hand stiffness.) I did a recording to compare the sounds. The carbon fiber bow sounds better under the ear than it does played. Isn’t that the way? Anyway, I pulled out ye old middle school solo books to find something that I could coax into playability in a couple of minutes, and voila: The Brook from Solo Time for Strings. Considering I haven’t played it since middle school and I only did about fifteen minutes of reacquainting, I don’t think I did half bad! In the sample below, I used my pernambuco bow for the first playthrough, and the carbon fiber for the second. For now, I’m pleased with the quality and it’s nice to play with something not warped!