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Your idea is actually a great one Naska. I'm going to think about that for a while. Maybe I can come up with some funny stuff like the Amazing Violamatic videos.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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Gosh ... please wear eye protection when you do something like that.
You might put your eye out!
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Yeah, you want to keep on being the Captain of one of the few bands of pirates that still have both their eyes..
(reference to one of the FM group project)
"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
ratvn said
Mad_Wed said
I dropped it million times. Vretically on the tip, vertically on the frog, horizontally and all the other imaginable ways.We've just discovered how you got your bowing so fluidly, so well done.
Now to count it to a million times gonna be hard... Oh wait, I need to order FM's CF bow first before I can drop it. (has to be a FM's CF bow, right?) LOL.
Hmmm... I'd not recommend enybody to drop it... or enything else to drop 
But if You want to experiment You can practice on any other bow... but "any other bow" might not survive, LOL!
ftufc said
..."Anfractuous Hands",,,, sounds very dangerous
Hahaha! That's why i'm shying when someone asks me to "hold that fragile and expensive thing for a while"! 
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Fiddlerman,
In general, how long would you expect my FM bow to last before I need to replace it? On average, I practice for about 1.5 - 2 hours per day and it's the only bow I use.
Thanks!
"I know a girl who cries when she practices violin because each note sounds so pure it just cuts into her, and then the melody comes pouring out her eyes. Now, to me, everything else just sounds like a lie."
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I think it will last your entire life-time if you learn to re-hair it when the time comes. The hair could last anywhere from 6 months to 5 years depending on how hard you play. I'm around the 6 month level for rehair. 
This, however, applies to all bows. Re-hairing a bow will cost you at least $40 but probably closer to $50 and in many other countries twice that amount. If you do it yourself it could cost you between $5-10 but is not all that easy. I think Kevin will show us some day??????
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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Fiddlerman said
I think it will last your entire life-time if you learn to re-hair it when the time comes. The hair could last anywhere from 6 months to 5 years depending on how hard you play. If you do it yourself it could cost you between $5-10 but is not all that easy. I think Kevin will show us some day??????
I've just put an order for one, along with few other items and sure I will try not to play hard so it can wait for 5 yrs until Kevin show us how to re-hair it, LOL.
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The Fiddlerman bow was definitely a bargain, far superior to the cheap wood (difficult to control) and fiberglass (abysmal sound) ones in the same price range that I've tried out in the past. It currently serves as my secondary bow, but it's been almost a year and I can feel it almost needs a rehair. At the price of a rehair, however, I'd rather just buy a new one and move this one to third place.
So I'm going to head over soon to the local shop and test what they've got now in the same price range, but I'll likely end up with a lovely fleur de lys Fiddlerman bow.
@ Johannes: I can't swear to it, but I don't think you will find the same quality bow at FM's price range in your local violin shop. You'll probably end up paying more for it if you do. I'll take the FM/CF bow any day, even though there was a delay on finding one with the correct weight, Pierre wouldn't sell anything but quality. His integrety and reputation are good enough for me.
One more thing, I don't think Pierre would allow his name to be stamped on the bow if it was junk.
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Oh, I suspect as much since that was the case a year ago, but I have to head over to the shop one of these days anyway, so I might as well see what they've got in the same price range. I'm also in the search for a new primary bow because my current primary is no longer cutting it for me. There's a possibility I'll splurge on an expensive pernambuco and move my current primary (an old pernambuco) to secondary.
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Fiddlestix said
I'll take the FM/CF bow any day, even though there was a delay on finding one with the correct weight, Pierre wouldn't sell anything but quality. His integrety and reputation are good enough for me.One more thing, I don't think Pierre would allow his name to be stamped on the bow if it was junk.
Yes, I agree as I've just received my FM/CF bow yesterday and test driven it for a little while.
It wasn't a delay to find your bow. Pierre had to put his bow stock through a diet program since you preferred the thin and pretty, lol.
The FM/CF bow is certainly nice and well balanced, but the poor thing is competing against my bow family. Two fiberglass won't count so that leaves 7 of them in the contest, 3 brazilwood, 3 pernambuco and 1 braided CF. So far, the battle favors the FM/CF but I would give it a few more days before I post some review/observation.
Fiddlershop customer service is excellent, well beyond expectation and I'm so happy that I made purchase there.
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What I've noticed for me is that, for all practical purposes, the Fiddlerman Carbon Fiber is more than enough; I'd recommend it without a doubt to every beginner looking for an affordable bow that they can learn and perform on. Its control and balance are fantastic for a bow in its price range; in my case, on par with my old pernambuco bow (one of the "FRANCE" labeled ones Metropolitan Music used to import probably from Germany).
Its weakness is in the sound, which, while better than the rest in the same price range, has the typical carbon fiber tendency of being overly bright and failing to produce the undertones found in more expensive wooden bows (such as my afforementioned pernambuco).
Anyway, probably this week I'll run down to Ifshin and see if they have anything in the same price range to compete with it.
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Glad you guys like it. Thanks
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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Kevin! we are awaiting your instructional video on 'how to rehair a bow'.
Fiddlerman said
I think it will last your entire life-time if you learn to re-hair it when the time comes. The hair could last anywhere from 6 months to 5 years depending on how hard you play. I'm around the 6 month level for rehair.
This, however, applies to all bows. Re-hairing a bow will cost you at least $40 but probably closer to $50 and in many other countries twice that amount. If you do it yourself it could cost you between $5-10 but is not all that easy. I think Kevin will show us some day??????
Meanwhile here is a clip of a 8 part video as a starter...
If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it ..(William Shakespeare in Twelfth Night)
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@suresh - Don't you just love the care and attention paid to the task in hand, especially when working with natural materials.....
I like this vid - not so detailed over the hair selection, and doesn't describe the "tools" or "jig" used to hold the bow (but it's fairly obvious, and could be made up in minutes)
Haven't re-haired a bow yet, but, when needs-must - I may well have a shot -
Bill
I seriously recommend not copying my mistakes. D'oh - 
Please make your own, different mistakes, and help us all learn :-)
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I've heard that in the really top notch rehairing jobs, each individual hair is carefully selected from the bundle and examined under magnification. Is that correct?
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. ~Herm Albright
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Almost three years ago I posted a rehair job I did for all to review.
"If you practice with your hands you must practice all day. Practice with your mind and you can accomplish the same amount in minutes." Nathan Milstein
Not quite sure what this thread has to do with it's title. 
This was my carbon fiber bow after a short time. Two months ?
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Well, the video in the original post does show some strength/toughness. But maybe it is mostly the main shaft of the stick that is tougher, and there are (or have been, at some points in the product's evolution) some parts that still are not as strong as the main shaft.
If I'm not mistaken, I think there was another member who had a non FM CF bow break in almost the same way as yours did. Maybe that part of the bow is a weak point on CF bows that manufacturers need to address.
With any maker/manufacturer, they have to know where an item tends to break before they can figure out how to make it stronger there so the damage doesn't happen.
"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
@DanielB: You're right, Dan. It was the FM CF bow and I did return it to Fiddlershop with a note attached what said, maybe they could send it back to the MFG., to try and figure out why they break there.
I was talking about this with, "Mark Schwartz", my luthier and he told me he ordered 12 CF bows and that 5 came back that had broken in about the same place as mine.
What I'm writing here is not a deterrent from purchasing a FM CF bow, I liked it a lot, but I think I'll stick with my wood bows.
Ken. 
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