Carbon Fiber Upright Bass Bows
We currently offer two new brands of carbon fiber upright bass
bows: The new bass bow by Finale, and the
Metropolitan
bass bow, made by Codabow. We offer each bow, both in the
French or German style. Why use or buy a carbon fiber bow? At
first there was a lot of mistrust regarding these new upright bass
bows. With so many ill fated attempts to use a 'man made' material
to replace the old 'tried and true' wood of pernambuco, it's no
wonder that it took a while to catch on. Now with the advent of
super composite (aerospace) technology, so many different
combinations can actually quite perfectly mimic the density and
playing properties of the very finest bows. These bows will not
warp, are hard to break or crack and can be re-haired and used just
like any other fully professional level bow. Many top classical and
jazz players now have a good carbon fiber bow and use them as their
every day bow.
Finale™ upright bass bows:
These are new and very, very impressive! They are
incredibly well balanced bass bows. I have to admit that
at first, I was a little skeptical...and a little snobby, but when I
first used one on my bass in symphony hall, I (as well as the rest
of the bass section), was in a state of shock. It simply draws
more sound out of the bass and like a great 'master' bow, grips the
string from end to end. It feels like a really nice Pernambuco
bow, but it's black and it's carbon fiber!! All of the
Finale brand bows, come with a lifetime warranty.
We're happy to ship those contemplating a purchase of a good upright
carbon fiber bow, one Finale andone Metropolitan bow
to play can compare. You can always send the other one (or
both) back to us.
The Finale™ French, upright bass bow is 66.5 cm long and they
average around 137 grams. (ranging between 134-140) The have a
nice deep camber. A notable attraction on the Finale French
bass bows, is the Abalone pearl dot on the frog with the
'Parisian eye' or silver ring which surrounds the dot. (A
nice added touch of elegance here where they combine the new
technology to old, beautiful traditions!) The price is right
too: $365 (case and rosin included!)
Both the Finale German and French models come in solid black, a
black carbon weave and now the new, carbon brown. Please
specify which style and finish when ordering.
The Finale French model carbon fiber bass bow: (click on any
photo to get the larger, more detailed image)
The Finale™ German bows have a nicely shaped ebony
frog that seems to fit nicely into the average size hand.
Again, it's rounded quite like the famous older, Pfretzschners.
The frogs are purposely left plain and the bow is without wrapping
as well. The length is 69.5 cms. The under-slide (by the hair
in the frog) also has the Abalone pearl. Another special added
touch is that the bow adjusters on the German model are solid
ebony, not plastic. They are beautiful upright bass bows and
play like $3,000 sticks! (The German upright bass bows are
also $365 ( also with case and rosin included).
Please specify which style and finish when ordering.
Included with each new Finale bow, comes special hard bow
case. (Shown below)
***With the purchase of both the Finale or
Metropolitan carbon fiber bass bows, we offer a special package:
Each bow comes with a Bobelock hard case and choice of one upright
bass rosin: Pop's, Carlsson, Nymans or Kolstein's Ultra bass rosin
(soft only).
So pick a bow, a case and your favorite rosin!
Another Finale Bass Video
There are 2 really great videos comparing the Finale bow to
another great (expensive) bow. One of the best known videos is
found on Jason Heath's Double Bassblog. The other newer one is found
on the upright bass videos page here.
(On this page, there are a lot of performances, but you can find the
Finale Demo towards the bottom of the page.)
On our video, Steve plays his Italian bass and a very rare (and
expensive) PW Bryant bow. The Bryant is by the famous English bow
maker of the 1960's (not to be confused with the contemporary,
present day English bass maker, also named Paul Bryant. The PW
Bryant bows average about $6,000 nowadays, but you will see a range
of between $4-7k. On the video, I don't talk too much, (I was
nervous!), but I play an A - B comparison of a couple of excerpts so
one hear any difference. They match pretty closely and I think
the Finale pulls away in the lead towards the end of the video.
You can hear the fullness that it pulls out of the bass. The
point of the video is to show that while the Finale bows are only
$340, they perform and actually compete with the best and most
expensive hand made bows out there.
The Metropolitan French upright bass bow, by
Codabow:
The Metropolitan comes in both the French and German style.
They're good upright bass bows. The length of the French style
bow is 66 cm and they all weigh pretty close to 135-140 grams.
These have the braided carbon fiber weave look through out the bow
and the cool logo on the frog side. On the under slide of the
bow, Codabow uses a sporty carbon fiber weave plate instead of the
traditional pearl slide. The price is $939. (including
hard bow case and rosin.)
Have a question about any of the bows? Just call or
email us.
The Metropolitan German upright bass bow:
The Metropolitan German style upright bass bow also has similar
weight to their French model. The length is 69cm. Price is
also $939.
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