I received FM's bow this morning and thought I would write up a little review here for anyone that's curious about it.

 First thought when husband brought it in the door…. A PVC pipe + duct tape = I LOVE Pierre. If not for anything else (which you know there are tons of other reasons!), because of the sheer redneckness of it. Had me giggling before 8am. We have a good start. It took me a minute to get through the duct tape. I didn't want to slice down the center of it, as I was unsure how long the bow was in there, so I took my time. Upon getting the duct tape off, I had a second thought… PVC pipe + duct tape + stuffed with paper towels = I REALLY love Pierre. Had a really good giggle session on that one. Between the giggles and opening it up, it took me probably fifteen minutes to get to the bow. Pure awesomeness. He gets a gold star for that!

The bow itself was wrapped in plastic. I took the bow out of the plastic and noticed there was rosin dust all the way down the length of the bow. Pre-rosin: Gotta love that! It was loosened all the way and the hair is absolutely beautiful. The hair is uniform in color and thickness from top to bottom. There were no broken hairs, no missing hairs. I tightened it up and could really feel the tension building up, then I loosened it back up and I could feel that action as well. Also, the decoration of the bow (the mother of pearl) is stunning. I fell in love.

I had also ordered some dark rosin, as I've heard it grips strings better and doesn't leave behind so much residue, so I cut into that with some sandpaper then rosined up the bow. Love the rosin, by the way!

The first notes I hit were open strings. I proceeded to make the "OMG WOW" face, and my husband did as well. The sound was nothing short of perfection. I played Twinkle Twinkle next and it sounded far more sweeter than it does with my other carbon fiber bow. I also noticed I didn't have to work so hard to balance this bow and my pinky didn't get so worn out. The weight is nice and even throughout and its not nearly as heavy as my other one. 

Here's a side note about my other carbon fiber… I put the two side by side to do a comparison. The other carbon fiber has a skinnier hair section (if that makes sense), while FM's has a wider hair section. Also, my other carbon fiber is about 1/4 of an inch longer than FM's, which isn't a huge deal, but as far as the balancing act goes, I'm loving FM's shorter length. 

In conclusion… my other carbon fiber is going into the case and staying there unless I absolutely need it. So far, though, I can't see that I will ever need it again. Might as well make a cat toy out of it!