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Bow for Irish fiddling
Best upgrade from FM CF for non-classical style
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Charles
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October 28, 2017 - 2:21 pm
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Well, simple physics says a more massive bow takes more work to accelerate than a lighter one. When playing really fast stuff you use just your wrist (or even just fingers), so a heavier bow is going to be more work. But a "heavy" bow might be 62 grams and a "light" one 58. A gram is not much, and even 4 of them aren't much. Your fingers alone might be able to detect it, but the difference in how long you could play before they gave out wouldn't be large.

Probably a bigger factor is the balance point of the bow. That will make it seem heavier. A bow (A) with the balance point nearer the frog than a second bow (B) will seem lighter to the hand, and will actually be lighter at the tip (where you tend to do a lot of this style of playing).  Unfortunately, bows are not usually described with their balance point. (And there are some issues as to how that ought to be measured so that you could legitimately compare bow A to bow B.)

There is no such thing as a bow that is perfect for Irish/Celtic music. Even if there were, it would probably have to get that way by being very poor at other things.

My advice would be to avoid heavy bows and "soft" bows (whatever the opposite of stiff is), but otherwise try as many as possible out, playing the type of music you want it for, and see what works best.

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zpilot
Kansas City, Mo.

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October 30, 2017 - 2:01 am
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Yes 4 grams isn't much, but that is thinking of them as static.  The bow is moving so I'm sure the inertia contributes to a much larger difference in feel.  

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Fiddlerman
Fort Lauderdale
October 31, 2017 - 4:09 pm
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There is a weight that would probably affect the speed but in general, the weight from a bow is enough for the downward movement whereas the lighter bows might need additional pressure to get enough sound. Just saying.....

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

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Cearbhael
Minnesota

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October 31, 2017 - 9:50 pm
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@Fiddlerman Ok, what about the crooked pin in my my grandfather's first bow. I posted pics of the hole drilled for the tension pin. With all those pics, what is your opinion?

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

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zpilot
Kansas City, Mo.

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November 1, 2017 - 8:25 am
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About the weight, I was thinking about when the bow is in motion.  Then it has to be stopped and reversed in direction VERY abruptly and usually repeatedly.  When you consider this is done mainly with the small muscles of the wrist, not the stronger ones in the arm, I just thought that small difference might be somewhat significant.  Maybe we don't even consciously feel it. 

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Fiddlerman
Fort Lauderdale
November 1, 2017 - 9:32 am
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It's VERY hard to see from those pictures. The screw appears to be worn which is probably why it was bent, maybe on purpose by your grandfather for friction so that he could keep the bow hair tension.

We would probably have to change the adjuster screw and maybe the eyelet. Not sure what the condition of the frog is by looking at the pictures but it could be possible to reuse it as is. I'm guessing from $20 - $100 to repair the bow and $60 to re-hair plus $20-30 total for shipping back and forth. Also, we can't tell if the bow is worth it without much better pictures and the best is to send it to us for an evaluation.

It's possible that we can get it working well and re-haired including shipping for a total of $100.

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

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Cearbhael
Minnesota

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November 1, 2017 - 1:55 pm
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@Fiddlerman Thanks! I took the pictures with my iPhone and had trouble keeping the phone from shaking. One of the drawbacks of nerve damage. I will file that info for after I get the other bow re-haired. Thinking that when I am done I am going to sell the Brazilwood bow since I find it so hard to play with. What is the point of hanging onto something you will never use!

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

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