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There you go. That's one of the reasons FM is my preferred store.
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zpilot said
There you go. That's one of the reasons FM is my preferred store.
I knew they were awesome even before this lol...
Anyway Pierre, my order ID was 33822, but please watch the video again and only send me anything if you think that's going to be an issue in the long run. So far only like 15 hairs came off and there's about like 10 more which are loser than the rest, but are still on there and ofc there's plenty of more to play with, which appear to be secure for now.. so I dunno.. (<insert joke here>: maybe I should just try some anti-harifall shampoo on it lol)
Cheers and thanks for everybody's concerns 
It occurs to me to say this: never pull a hair out of the bundle (that loosens the tight pack). It is always better to break the hair by snapping to the side or simply cutting the hair.
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Just remove the loose hairs carefully, preferably with a knife as close to the frog and tip as possible or rip them out at an angle, never straight out as it could pull it out of the bunt. If you can tighten them with a flame (very carefully with a lot of movement) you can use those loose hairs but if the bunt is already loose it won't last. Either use the bow for as long as you can, re-hair it, or toss it.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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And that is why I buy all my stuff from the Fiddlershop.
I love my FM carbon Fiber. I might be getting another one and I have the Holstein bow as well.
Vibrato Desperato.... Desperately seeking vibrato
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Thanks Toni
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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Hey Pierre, do you have any estimate when the new CF bow is going to be for sale?
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I have a Fiddlerman CF bow sitting under my Xmas tree (Girlfriend bought for me). I will update once she lets me open it on Xmas day haha. I am guessing the new CF bow will come with black hairs? If so I will buy another bow LOL
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LOL @ryonass - black, grey, yellowish, white - trust me on this - if it comes from FiddlerShop - it will be FINE !!!! (It is a GREAT general purpose bow, you will love it unconditionally !) Yeahhhhh 
I had an old cheap wooden bow from a 1980#s SkyLark fiddle - it had an "accident" and it broke at the tip, but I kept it ( for other reasons..... hahaha - but I won't go into that other than mentioning "4-string-chords-on-a-fiddle" ) - but at that time, someone on the forum had referred to a bow with colored hair - I dyed the hair of that damaged bow in red food-coloring - it turned out a nice shade of yellow... and yes - I have used it "upside down" ( stick below neck, hair on top, held in place by right-hand ) to attempt 4-note chords on the fiddle.... VERY STRANGE THING TO DO, I have to admit... LOL
Happy Xmas man !
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 saw that done once a LONG time ago on the Lawrence Welk TV Show and thought it was pretty wild. Am I showing my age?
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The upside down bow trick to play 4-Note chords — I saw that last month at the Maryland Irish Festival.
Tom from the Fitzgerald Family Band (from Canada) does that — https://youtu.be/66SFiuslapY — but not in either of these videos unfortunately (still lots of fun though).
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Actually it's in the first video at the 4 minute mark
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Yes, you’re right — for a moment at the 4 minute mark — thanks.
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OK, so I finally bought a FM 2-star Pernambuco bow. I'm a beginner and I don't have many bows with which to compare it but here goes.
My FM CF bow has served me well and is probably better than my current level of technique but I have heard that I will get better tone with a wooden bow.
I purchased a bow on Ebay that claimed to be Pernambuco (no way considering the price) and it seemed to be no better than the CF bow. It will still serve as a good practice bow and it cost less than the price of a re-hair.
I purchased a "Master Level" Ipe bow (again on Ebay) and the tone from it was somewhat better than the CF bow. It was considerably stiffer. It cost about the same as the CF bow so it wasn't a bad deal.
So I bit the bullet and went for a FM 2-star Pernambuco bow. From the other bows I have determined a weight and balance that seems to work best for me and I asked Fiddlerman to select one with those spec's, which they did. What an improvement in tone this bow made! Especially to the G and E strings. Also, the sweet spot for good tone seems to be wider now. That has other effects. When I don't have to struggle as much to stay in the sweet spot I can concentrate more on the myriad other things I need. I noticed that pitch, ornaments, and even my memorization of the songs became better. I'll still use the other bows for practice most of the time but when I want to sound my best this 2-star bow will be my choice. I can't wait for my teacher to hear it at my next lesson.
The 3-star Pernambuco was out of stock and that would have been my choice but I suspect for someone like me I am just as well off with the 2-star. Whatever, I am so happy with this purchase. I see the wisdom in the statements that your bow should be half the cost of your violin.
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Thanks so much for the review zpilot
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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So I am so not sure which bow to buy - I am presuming they all sound slightly different - apparently I have a nice violin (not sure how it compares) as I am not good enough playing, but I have to rosin about every 4 hours of playing/practicing. I watched every video of bows in my price range, but I do feel like my playing is not up to a standard where it would really notice.
I would consider myself advanced beginner - and mine is a bit shoddy looking now, with a couple of broken hairs sticking out of top, no silver or anything, and yellowing hair (have no idea if that is normal) but in the fiddlershop I see them looking white haired, so Im presuming mine is a beginner bow with no logo or anything.
Did catch the grandkids playing sword fight with it once but it still worked, so I didn't bother with trying to find a new one - I have approx $100-$150 for a budget.
....and I wanted a pretty one, if thats not embarrassing, as now I realize how important it is I will take better care of it!
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Here is my bow so if anyone knows what I am used to playing with and can help me upgrade a little ?
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Well the majority of bows have white horse hair.. but that is 'white'.. as in slightly yellow..
What makes it super white is actually the rosin that's on it. However the reason rosin sticks to the bow hair in the first place is because it has tiny grooves / teeth.. (sort of like a needle file) that actually acts like a file and that's how you can break the surface of the rosin with it and get it to fill those grooves up.
These grooves however wear down over time as it's being used so they can no longer break the rosin surface.. and even when they do, there's not much rosin they can hold, since the grooves are all shallow. That's why you should have bows re-haired about once a year for 'normal' people.. but some professionals do it every 3 months or so..
Think of bow-hair as a 'consumable'.. just like rosin.. or strings.. etc..
That means pretty much any bow will probably do better, that doesn't have any major issues and has new hair on it. You could try the Fiddlerman CF bow if you're on a budget.. It is pretty decent.
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Mimi Aysha said
Here is my bow so if anyone knows what I am used to playing with and can help me upgrade a little ?
That seems like a pretty 'normal' bow.. the grip and winding are kind of worn and the hair seems 'okay' as well... By 'okay' I mean that it clearly has rosin on it, that's why it's white and the hair at the end isn't so bad either, it just never got that layer of white rosin and it's a bit dirty.
Anyway if it has been used in the past a re-hair probably wouldn't hurt.. depending on how good the actual bow stick is... (some are not worth re-hairing, since you can pretty much buy a better one for the price of the re-hair)
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Well my rosin is green and it has the word Jade on it - they put it in with the violin so I'll have to go look that up and see if I should be using something else, maybe - gosh I love practicing and I wish I knew more about the "hardware stuff" - I just read I shouldn't be leaving the bow hanging around. I now feel bad that I didn't treat it seriously. Now I am progressing, I wanted to upgrade to a piece of equipment a level a little beyond beginner, my husband says since the leather on it is worn and the metal discolored that maybe it isn't a great bow, just a beginner one?
The violin store kindly gave it to me as I only had the one that came with my first $100 violin and they said I couldn't use it on my new one.
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