Reddit mentions: The best bows

We found 17 Reddit comments discussing the best bows. We ran sentiment analysis on each of these comments to determine how redditors feel about different products. We found 14 products and ranked them based on the amount of positive reactions they received. Here are the top 20.

9. Concert Black 2-Piece Set: Things 4 Strings Bow Hold Buddies Violin/Viola Teaching Aid Accessory

    Features:
  • Flexes Thumb Touches Intersection of Frog and Stick: A bent yet flexible thumb is key to tone production. This accessory directs the inside corner of the thumb tip to make contact with the bow at the intersection of the frog and stick, at a 45 degree angle to the bow stick. This position, with a bent and flexible thumb, allows the player the options to exert upward pressure to the stick and/or pushing against the frog on down bows to get toward the tip of the bow.
  • Supports Curved Pinky: A curved yet flexible pinky finger is critical to bow control, tone production and a relaxed bow arm overall. The pinky finger correctly approaches the stick from slightly to the rear, positioning the finger tip so the finger can remain curved and flexible without sliding off the front of the stick. This allows the player to easily move the bow to play at the frog, and to counter balance the weight of the tip of the bow while playing in the lower half of the bow.
  • Positions index finger to rest on bow: A correctly positioned index finger is key to bow control and tone production. This accessory ensures the index finger's contact with the bow stick will be between the first and second knuckles. This allow the finger to control downward pressure on the bow stick, as well as the pull on the front of the stick to control the straightness of the bow stroke.
  • Fingers Contact Bow in Customary Places: The empty spaces around the fingers of a correct bow hold tempt even the best beginners' fingers to wander without support. The fingers of the bow while using this patented accessory set are exactly in the same correct position as they will be when the accessory is no longer used. While the accessory set passively teaches the essential skill of the bow hold, students can proceed to learn and experience the many other skills and rewards of playing music.
  • Adjustable, Universal Fit -- for child to adult hand sizes: The thumb/index finger stabilizer (designed to look like a frog) is installed on the bow and intended to remain in a fixed position, while the Hold Fish is designed to slide along the bow stick to come to rest next to the ring finger. This positions the pinky finger correctly in the Hold Fish. As long as the child or adult player is playing approximately the correctly sized bow, the resulting bow hold will be correct.
Concert Black 2-Piece Set: Things 4 Strings Bow Hold Buddies Violin/Viola Teaching Aid Accessory
Specs:
ColorConcert Black
Height2 Inches
Length2 Inches
SizeAdjustable for all hand sizes
Weight0.08125 Pounds
Width0.5 Inches
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🎓 Reddit experts on bows

The comments and opinions expressed on this page are written exclusively by redditors. To provide you with the most relevant data, we sourced opinions from the most knowledgeable Reddit users based the total number of upvotes and downvotes received across comments on subreddits where bows are discussed. For your reference and for the sake of transparency, here are the specialists whose opinions mattered the most in our ranking.
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Top Reddit comments about Bows:

u/weescotsman · 1 pointr/BedroomBands

Hey there,

Here are a few things that might be helpful.

1 - Get a percussion mallet. Essentially a stick with a ball on the end. The ball should be hard drubber and not wood or felt. Like this: https://www.amazon.com/Shappy-Mallets-Glockenspiel-Sticks-Percussion/dp/B075LN9V1L

2 - Buy a cheap violin or cello bow...don't spend too much.
This would probably be fine. https://www.amazon.com/Violin-Stunning-Carbon-Fiber-Violins/dp/B01J19ABGI

3 - Buy some rosin for the bow, you'll need it!

Practicing:
First, just start with the mallet. Get a drone/single note playing on your phone or on a keyboard with a note that is loud enough for you to hear well. Try and play the note on the saw by striking the blade with the mallet and bending the saw into an S-shaped curve. Bend up into the note from below, then bend down into the note from above. Do that a bunch, then change the note and do it with a different note.

After you can do that reliably for different notes, try playing a simple melody with the drone...twinkle twinkle, silent night, etc...keep the drone going and really listen, try to stay in tune as best you can.

Once you get a sense of how to find notes when playing with the mallet, try out the bow. Make sure to rosin up the bow pretty good as it will give the bow more bite on the blade. Focus on keeping the bow perpendicular to the flat (non-teeth) side of the saw. Play a note and let it rig by talking the bow off the blade. Practice playing a major scale (do that with the mallet too).

Take care to keep your left hand relaxed (the hand on the tip of the saw blade) it's so easy to create a lot of tension in your body when first learning, and you want to be relaxed. Also, when you bend the saw into the S-curve shape, it doesn't have to be bent too much....again, just try to keep your hand/arm relaxed. Try to find the minimum amount of pressure/tension that you need to get a good sound.

Also, very important, it's fucking tiring at first, so limit your practice time to 10 minutes. Listen to your body. If your hand is hurting, take a break.

I taught myself from this book about 25 years ago, might be a good place to start for you. Fair warning, the book is super cheesy with lots of bad saw-related puns. But it has all the info you need on how to get started. https://www.amazon.com/Scratch-My-Back-Pictoral-History/dp/096208820X

Finally, here's a little arrangement I made of Are You Lonesome Tonight with a saw/saxophone accompaniment, came out pretty good!
https://soundcloud.com/andrewinnes/are-you-lonesome

Here's anther arrangement I did of a hymn: https://soundcloud.com/andrewinnes/doxology

Have fun!

u/Tinfoil_Haberdashery · 1 pointr/DIY

Well, I'm a pretty basic beginner myself, but there are a couple of things that might be leading to your problem.

First, the rosin: I like to scratch up the surface of the rosin with a key before application so that the hair of the bow can really dig into it a bit. Just speeds up the process. After I've got it good and dusted, I kind of half pat/half wipe the hair along the back of my hand to remove the excess. There should be a bit of white powder coming off the hair at first. Also, I only rosin mine every few weeks. It hangs on to it pretty well.

Second, bow tension. When you tighten the endscrew, you should have about a pinky-fingertip's worth of space between the stick and the hair at their closest point. If it's too close, you might be rubbing the stick on the strings, which is no good.

Next, bow placement--if you're too close to the fingerboard, it'll squawk. If you're too close to the bridge, it'll squeak. It takes a fair bit of practice to keep the bow from wandering between the bridge and the fingerboard without specifically focusing on it, but a big part of that is bow straightness; the bow should always be perpendicular to the strings. If the tip of the bow points too far toward the head of the violin, or back off over your shoulder, it'll have a tendency to wander and that leads to squeaks and squawks.

After all that, solid control of speed and pressure are key. I'd look up some youtube videos on the basics of violin bowing to see if you can get it to behave. If it's still not and you're pretty sure there's something genuinely wrong with the bow (which there could be, especially if the hair's visibly dirty), Amazon's got some pretty good stuff, pretty cheap. This is the one I use.

u/HigginsObvious · 3 pointsr/violinist

Violin is a tough instrument! Some of the things you describe just take time to get over, and you just need to be dedicated to get through them.

For the bow issues a bow right can be very useful as it helps train correct bow positioning while letting the player focus on other aspects of their posture and technique. My teacher had me using one for quite a few years when I was younger until my bow straightened out.

As others have mentioned, an hour and a half is quite a lot of music at 11, and two separate instruments every day makes it feel even longer! I'd think about just practicing a single instrument each day and alternating, and maybe cutting the practice time down to an hour or an hour and 15 if she's still tired out. In my experience that makes it a lot easier to focus and works different muscles, so your hands/arms don't get tired as quickly.

Also, one of the big things that kept me playing when I was younger was a fantastic youth string ensemble I played in. A big part of the Suzuki program is the shared repertoire and ability to easily play in groups, so I'd highly encourage you to talk to her teacher and look around your area to see if there's anything appropriate for her level. The group I was in had kids playing some of the simple songs as early as 4-5 years old, and we did a whole variety of pieces with parts appropriate for players anywhere from early book 1 to book 9 and 10 - so there was no need for auditions or anything.

u/ralarb · 3 pointsr/Cello

I have a few questions for you here if you don't mind. I'm a (very) beginner cellist and I'm playing one of these cheap-ass amazon cellos. I immediately replaced the tailpiece, the bow, the strings, and the rosin. I'd say the tailpiece and bow replacements really dramatically increased playability for me, though the base instrument is still obviously kind of shit.

What I want to know is, what kind of a difference would I see in being on an actual better Cello? Given the nature of the beast, it seems like i'm not running into the playability issues that you do on terrible guitars (bad frets, buzzing), and I'm not going to. I understand tone won't be the best, but I'm not certain I'm a good enough player for that to matter yet anyway. The whole friction peg situation is a pain, but the better tailpiece means I rarely have to re-tune at the head, I just get them stuck in the general area and i'm good for like a month.

Also, you mentioned putting better strings on, can you comment a little more on the difference between a $20 set, and say, this set of jargars? Edit: I guess you already did, What I mean is, can you describe the specific way cheap strings sound bad that better ones don't? I want to see if that's a part of my experience.

Also also, the rosin i'm using is still pretty damn cheap, and I feel like i'm leaving alot of rosin on the strings (a white cake buildup), but it takes really alot of rosin for the bow to feel sticky. Is better rosin better in that way? Do you have a recommendation on brand? How do you de-rosin a bow to get the chance to switch brands?

Thanks!

u/Arco116 · 2 pointsr/Cello

I definitely recommend you go to a shop and play many bows in your price range. In this situation though, I'd recommend the K. Holtz Fiberglass.
It's the best cheap bow I've ever tried, and I keep one as a backup.

u/br-at- · 4 pointsr/violinist

the cheaper carbon fiber bows can start out nice, but i have had several students who had them fail after a few months. the thin end just breaks. a student is using one now and we can see cracks forming, so its just a matter of time. its not like the coda bows!

the wood bow... im just not sure. i had two that looked like that come through my studio. one was very nice and one was absolute trash. so i think someone started making decent student bows with that design, and then another company copied the look. i dont know which this brand is.

if you can get to a violin shop and try several cheap wood bows, one will usually stand out as better than the others. range usually starts around $70 for the cheapest eastmans or similar.

if you are stuck buying on amazon, my students have been treated well by this company, which has some stuff in a similar price range.

https://www.amazon.com/Giuliani-Premier-Violin-Full-Size/dp/B006AZRMPA/ref=sr_1_1?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1494580563&sr=1-1&keywords=kennedy+violin+bow

https://www.amazon.com/Giuliani-Forte-Brazilwood-Violin-Full/dp/B01N17V43O/ref=sr_1_5?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1494580971&sr=1-5&keywords=kennedy+violin+bow

u/Shiroi98 · 1 pointr/violinist

Hi,
I have personally bought this carbon fiber bow and I like it a lot , from the Fiddlerman. I always thought that wooden bows are better, but this far exceeds my expectations. Even my teacher who teaches in a high school and plays in the local symphony thinks it's good for that price.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00K0NZQHY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

u/Ardin_Catish · 1 pointr/violinist

Ah sorry, I could've included those details. I use Dominant strings with a carbon fiber Fiddlerman bow which apparently has real horse hair.

Thanks for the advice! I did go to one shop and the cheapest violin that didn't sound like this was around $1,000. :/ I'll totally check your links out, thanks for those!

u/ur_no_daisy_at_all · 1 pointr/violinist

Maybe something like this would help to stabilize your bow: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005MKPFM6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_Gbb8BbSSMPESG

u/Boollish · 1 pointr/violinist

They make a practice aid that will help you keep your bow straight.

https://www.amazon.com/Bow-Right-Violin-Teaching-Training-Accessory/dp/B0002M6TX8

Keep in mind that this is very much a stopgap measure. In more advanced playing it often becomes necessary to have your bow play a little crooked, or in different parts of the string, but if you are having trouble with keeping the bow over the right part of the violin (especially in upper 1/3) try it out.

u/zapdos · 1 pointr/Cello

/u/nycellist /u/agonnaz /u/Sejoon700
for someone with a weaker right arm, would a heavier bow or lighter bow be better?

a lighter bow is easier to move across the strings etc, but i figure that a heavier bow would need less pressure to make sound.

I'm also highly considering this bow: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XQ21SJG/
Know anything about that?

u/TheBastrd · 3 pointsr/Viola

You can find them on amazon these days, just be wary of crappy knock offs.

Bow-Right for 1/4 - 1/2 Violin - Teaching Tool and Training Accessory https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000E3WXG2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_l4ayDbCKC6464