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(4 votes) 
Oliver said
(These are also good for making bracelet jewelry.)
That cracks's me up..
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Fiddlestix said
@ Daniel... I think if you put a little better quality of string's on the violin, that may make a difference. $7.00 string's just don't have the nice tone.
@Fiddlestix: Land sakes, Fiddlestix. You have to remember that I'm a noob! I don't know anything about toen.. Can't even spell it rite yet. Besides, I thought that was something you fixed by either getting a more expensive case or by changing brands of violin polish!
More durable sticks, now.. Well any fool can see the use of those. Good for hitting the cats when they come and meeow while you're trying to play.
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
Oliver said
You are avoiding the question.Given a "master" what might be the comparison of labor and material cost for a violin vs. a bow ?
If good bow materials cost $100 and the bow sells for $7500 this leaves $7400 as profit !!!
(And $7500 is towards the bottom of really expensive bow selling prices.)
If the "master" worked for one week on one bow for 40 hours labor, his return would $185 an hour.
Well.. First of all, i was thinking about bows in a price range $300 - $1500... not $7500. If the bow is SO expencive, i guess it could mean that the bow is an old (maybe restored) one or antique, or there is something else except the bow itself (like label or name things)...
And why do You think that materials that cost $100 are good for $7500 bow? For example i'm not a bow maker, and have no idea how much would cost "good" materials for $7500 bow..
I'm sorry, Oliver if You think that i'm avoiding the question, maybe i've misunderstood You..
Anyway, the question was: "Why Ferret should buy an expensive bow?" And as usual the thing that costs more is better than that which costs less (there are exceptions of course, but in wide range of things it's usually true). And there are a lot of factors that affect the price. I just made some suggestions about those factors.. But who said that one SHOULD buy it if there's no need? I don't NEED that $7500 bow? But the one who'll buy it, knows what he'll pay for!
DanielB said:
...More durable sticks, now.. Well any fool can see the use of those. Good for hitting the cats when they come and meeow while you're trying to play.
LOL! Oh, Daniel, please don't hit those cats!! Pleeeeeaaaseeee!!
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I think i will just stick to my FM Carbon Fiber bow. Not expensive, but definetely more responsive than my el cheapo brazilwood. (Nothing wrong with Brazilwood either...unless it is a crap Brazilwood.)
Either way... I love this bow:
"Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its entire life believing that it is stupid." -Albert Einstein
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DanielB said
More durable sticks, now.. Well any fool can see the use of those. Good for hitting the cats when they come and meeow while you're trying to play.
You still have cats in your neighborhood? All the strays on my block disappeared shortly after I got the fiddle!!
Are CF bow's hollow ? If they are, I wonder what would happen to the sound if a person was to drill a couple tiny hole's at either end. Let the sound resonate through the stick.
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The CF bows are not hollow Fiddlestix 
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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I'm new to the violin but not blind... The student bow that came with my musino outfit wasn't great. The nut was difficult to operate and the hair on the bow didn't seem to take rosin very well. I tried a few amazon/ebay bows in the $10-$20 range but most of them were sent back because of broken parts or the bow stick being warped.
Most of the cheap bows you will find out there are going to contain very very cheap materials. If you think about it someone has to pay for raw materials then pay to have them made into parts for the bow. Then they have to pay someone to assemble the parts. Then you have to pay to ship that bow across the world. All for a bow that the end consumer pays 10-20 dollars for. Defects, returns, overhead and maintenance are all included in the price. They sell hundreds of thousands of units to make their money. This is quantity over quality.
If a bow master can only sell a few expensive bows a month that person still needs to pay for rent, overhead, tools and maintenance, insurance, tax, utilities, and still draw a paycheck.
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I am great friends with a bow maker and I'll fill you guys in on a little detail that not many of you know.
He buys the highest quality Pernambuco wood and will diligently go through 100 pieces before he finds the perfect piece for one bow. This wood is apparantly getting sparse and is by far the best choice of wood for a fantastic bow.
Having said that, we are able to recreate the flexibility and weight of a great wooden bow with composite materials. Also, the arch of a bow can be more permanent and perfect using these materials and is why you can get such a bargain with a Carbon Fiber bow for example.
I have three wooden bows. A Nürnberger, a Pfretzschner, and a Vigneron valued at 4, 3, and 7K
I kid you not that I am actually using my Fiddlerman bow on all my gigs now a days. I'm not saying that it is the best bow I have but I wish I had discovered this type of bow before investing in my other bows. Of course I bought my bows at different times in my life and didn't pay anywhere near what they are worth today. 
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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Im sold on the carbon fiber Pierre. If I ever feel the need to upgrade to an even better bow than my Encore, it will be CF.
There is no shame in playing twinkle, youre playing Mozart
Fiddlerman said
Of course I bought my bows at different times in my life and didn't pay anywhere near what they are worth today.
Do you think they are worth more than you payed originally, even with the coming of the CF bow ? And how sellable are they now, would someone rather use an expensive CF bow as opposed to a real expensive wood bow ?
Just wondering how the two measure up in price range.
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They are very well known names. They would sell well but in this day in this economy players might not be making purchases as much for investments as they did before.
When I worked in Sweden, our orchestra had professional appraisers come every so many years to appraise our instruments and bows since the orchestra covered the instrument insurance as well. This is where I get my prices from. They are definitely worth more but not for the playing value. It's a little bit like buying art. Fine instruments are bought and sold by investors even more than players now a days.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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