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Bows
Topic Rating: 5 Topic Rating: 5 Topic Rating: 5 Topic Rating: 5 Topic Rating: 5 Topic Rating: 5 (1 votes) 
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damfino
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November 10, 2017 - 11:29 am
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I love that rosin :D Was my go-to rosin before I tried Bakers.

☆•*¨*•¸¸¸.•*¨*•☆•*¨*•¸¸¸.•*¨*•☆•*¨*•.¸¸¸.•*¨*•☆
World's Okayest Fiddler
☆•*¨*•.¸¸¸.•*¨* •☆•*¨*¨*•¸¸¸.•*¨*•☆

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spirryn

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November 10, 2017 - 11:32 am
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@Ferenc Simon Nice, your bow arrived! That’s good to hear that it’s less shaky for you, because that’s a big annoyance with the bow I’m using currently. But I guess I’d just have to get one to see how it’s compares to mine in terms of shakiness. 

@Fiddlerman That’ll be interesting to see what the new model looks like. 

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Ferenc Simon
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November 10, 2017 - 1:13 pm
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Yea, I tried making an unboxing and testing video for you, but it came out horribly so I decided not to post it :) Plus the violin is still garbage so you can't really hear much difference anyway.. it's more of a 'you can feel it that it glides a bit more straight and doesn't shake' kind of thing :)) 

One thing though... I have never.. ever dropped a bow before :D and I dropped this CF bow at least 3 times today.. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.. or something you just have to get used to, since the gap between the leather and the frog is slightly wider than my other bows so it feels a bit different.. 

Edit: I did make this just now, trying to simply play a song... As you can see it's a bow and it does what it's supposed to :)

However I think I might have messed up my bridge the last time I thinned it.. maybe it's too thin now cuz I cannot get a consistent tone and it's not because of the bow.. if I go anywhere behind halfway from the bridge I either get a whistly weak sound or an overdrivven (bridge) sound depending on the pressure.. even though I'm nowhere near the bridge yet.. If I go the other way the sound is just too weak as it's supposed to... but it's rarely clear even in the most optimal playing position.. Oh well, I suppose it might be a good thing practicing with an over-sensitive violin lol... if I can get a nice consistent tone from this.. I'll be able to play a chair :D :D Might carve a new one if it annoys me too much, otherwise I'll just go with it till my real violin gets finished.. but bottom line.. the FM CF bow is good :)  

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Fiddlerman
Fort Lauderdale
November 10, 2017 - 3:38 pm
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Great job Ferenc!

I'll give you a "Share a Video" badge as well for this one. :)

Thanks for the review, we appreciate it!

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

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spirryn

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November 11, 2017 - 1:50 am
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@Ferenc Simon Thanks for sharing that video. 

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Ferenc Simon
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November 11, 2017 - 8:24 am
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@spirryn  You're welcome ;) I do have an update on it though. Last night I spent like 2 hours trying to work on the tone a bit and I did manage to get it sounding way better than my old bows did. (I also found that leaving a bit more rosin on the strings and not wiping off the excess buildup as often as I used to helps a bit with those bridge sounds on my violin) 

One thing though.. before going to sleep I loosened the hair on the bow and that's when I noticed that they're not the same length, there's like 10-15 strands of hair hanging way looser than the rest. It's probably just a manufacturing error and I don't think it affects it in any bad way, since once you tighten it they all go back to place and the tension difference should be minimal between them. I'm still pretty satisfied with my purchase and I recommend it :D  

bow_hair.jpgImage Enlarger

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spirryn

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November 11, 2017 - 11:58 am
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That would be kind of interesting to hear the bow comparisons sound-wise. 

Yeah in my non-expert opinion based off what you said I don’t think those few hairs would be a problem if they’re all in place when the bow is tightened.

I really appreciate all this input that you have. 

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MrYikes
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November 12, 2017 - 7:14 am
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If I were you:
I would make a new bridge. The one you have will just nag at you. I have made 30. I have made one perfect. It sits on Jane, my $30 plywood violin. I can send you some if you need some practice blanks.
Call Mike and talk to him about the hairs. They want you totally satisfied and can put your mind at ease about the bow. Besides, its fun to talk to Mike.
A new bow has 150 hairs. Some luthiers put on 125 hairs, believing they get a better sound with fewer. Those dangling hairs may give you more color to your sound by having slightly less tension.
It is important to you that you know the FM CF bow is the best bow you need. You don't want any doubts about that.

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zpilot
Kansas City, Mo.

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November 13, 2017 - 7:37 am
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Ferenc Simon said
@spirryn  You're welcome ;) I do have an update on it though. Last night I spent like 2 hours trying to work on the tone a bit and I did manage to get it sounding way better than my old bows did. (I also found that leaving a bit more rosin on the strings and not wiping off the excess buildup as often as I used to helps a bit with those bridge sounds on my violin) 

One thing though.. before going to sleep I loosened the hair on the bow and that's when I noticed that they're not the same length, there's like 10-15 strands of hair hanging way looser than the rest. It's probably just a manufacturing error and I don't think it affects it in any bad way, since once you tighten it they all go back to place and the tension difference should be minimal between them. I'm still pretty satisfied with my purchase and I recommend it :D  

bow_hair.jpgImage Enlarger  

When a bow is re-haired the final step of the process is to apply heat to the hairs to shrink them to the proper length.  Maybe that is what needs to be done.  I've heard of people using a hair drier or heat gun.  Traditionally it's done with an alcohol lamp but you probably don't have one of those laying around.  Here is a video on that:

I have a friend who recently retired from his guitar repair shop.  He also worked on other stringed instruments and has done hundreds of re-hairs.  I'm going to get some pointers on re-hairing from him the next time I see him since I plan on doing my own. 

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Ferenc Simon
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November 13, 2017 - 9:43 am
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Actually... it's not that... seems like it wasn't tied together and sealed off with some burnt rosin at the end... since they're simply just shoved in there separately..

Now.. I love this bow, it's awesome.. and you guys have also been telling me only good things about it, so I'm guessing I'm simply unlucky that the one that gets shipped halfway across the world actually has manufacturing issues.. lol 

I was playing and I just noticed this.. like 5 minutes ago.. and quickly stopped to make a video about it. I'm just hoping it's not going to be an issue and can keep using the bow. 

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zpilot
Kansas City, Mo.

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November 13, 2017 - 1:21 pm
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Yep, you might have a warranty issue there.  

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Bob
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November 13, 2017 - 5:01 pm
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Are you near Bucharest? There should be some violin shops in most of the big cities. Maybe they can help secure the hair cheaper than another round with customs (I HATE customs)

Bob

Bob in Lone Oak, Texas

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Ferenc Simon
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November 13, 2017 - 5:27 pm
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Not really, I'm like 250 km from there... Actually... come to think about it I think I've never been there.. (lame) 

But it's okay :) If it falls out to the point where it's unusable.. I'll still have a nice stick that says 'Fiddlerman' on it, so well worth the price lol :D

Or if it gets that bad I'll try to see if I can get the people at where my violin is being made to rehair it.. or maybe even buy some horse-hair and 'learn the trade' :P My current violin is pretty 'makeshift' anyway.. why not add a makeshift bow? :D  

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Charles
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November 14, 2017 - 11:09 am
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Calling Fiddlershop may not be practical, given international rates, but email them. I guarantee they'll take care of you one way or another. They take issues like the condition of that bow quite seriously, and will get one that works well in your hands one way or another.

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Ferenc Simon
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November 14, 2017 - 11:44 am
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Charles said
Calling Fiddlershop may not be practical, given international rates, but email them. I guarantee they'll take care of you one way or another. They take issues like the condition of that bow quite seriously, and will get one that works well in your hands one way or another.  

I don't really wanna bug them if that makes any sense :) Like.. normally if it was a local shop, sure I'd take it back and show it to them. But given that it's international, these are legit risks that I kinda accepted before making the purchase. Don't wanna be unreasonable.. 

I mean for starters it already cost me $105 instead of the normal $67 with the shipping and customs (and even that's with Fiddlershop supporting the price difference between standard and Fedex shipping), and I bet it would cost almost as much to ship it back and forth at which point our customs might jump at the opportunity to try and force some import taxes on it again, despite the declared value being 0 (they're really suspicious in that regard) :)) It just seems too complicated to be worth the hassle.. at the end of the day it's just a bow and it IS working, though the lifespan might be shorter than expected, but it's a decent bow so I'm fine with it.

Plus I can't really fault Fiddlershop, since this is sort of outside of their control. This thing came factory-sealed so it's not like they can test it like they do with violins so I still haven't lost confidence in them and this wouldn't stop me from making a future order :)  

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Cearbhael
Minnesota

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November 14, 2017 - 11:57 am
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@Fiddlerman  @Ferenc Simon  You have an issue I am POSITIVE falls under the Fiddlershop warranty! They will fix or replace it! They will also take a really good look at the next one the send you to be sure it doesn't have any issues! Charles is right! They take these kind of issues very seriously, and they want you to be happy and satisfied! They will not want you to just put up with this problem! They will probably replace it or rehair it, but at any rate, you WILL have a bow that is NOT ill. Please please email them and tell them which forum and topic you posted that video! I put a call out to Fiddlerman at the beginning of this post in hopes he takes a look! Whatever you do, don't fail to trust them to make this right! Don't just put up with the problem! It is not what the Fiddlershop would want!

"Reality is an illusion, albeit a persistent one".- Albert Einstein 

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spirryn

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November 14, 2017 - 4:04 pm
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@Ferenc Simon Yes I agree that you should let them know about your bow. What a bummer that the one you received has loose hairs! 

I can understand where you’re coming from about not wanting to be a bother or a hassle about it, but I don’t think it’s a waste of time to let Fiddlershop know what happened. 

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zpilot
Kansas City, Mo.

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November 14, 2017 - 6:16 pm
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I worked many years in Quality Assurance and I know that a supplier wants to know about problems like this.  It's the only way they can know how their manufacturers are performing.  It's important to protecting and building their brand.  

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Ferenc Simon
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November 14, 2017 - 8:35 pm
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zpilot said
I worked many years in Quality Assurance and I know that a supplier wants to know about problems like this.  It's the only way they can know how their manufacturers are performing.  It's important to protecting and building their brand.    

Yes, that's kind of what crossed my mind when I made the video, so in case Fiddlerman sees it he can maybe check if an entire shipment was like that or something. 

As for my bow.., I removed a few of those hairs that were coming out on their own (like 10 more) and it still has plenty to play with so it's not an issue atm. If more start falling out in the near future I might drop an email to Mike as you guys suggested. But for now it's working :) I even made a tutorial using it so go check it out in the Share topic! :)  

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Fiddlerman
Fort Lauderdale
November 15, 2017 - 8:31 am
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Hey Ferenc,
Of course we'll send you a new bow. I just read this post. Please give me your order ID.
I would have been quicker to view comments but one of our employees is no longer with us so we have been working extra hard to keep up. We have a replacement but with training and all, it's a real drag.

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

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