welcome to the family. hope you find enough stuff to do here to stay awhile. Lots of info on the threads comparing the bows. Just do some surfing and you'll probably get your question answered in a multitude of ways.

I bought one of the $60 CF bows from the fiddlershop.com web site and I already had a 90 yr old Pernambuco that I had just re-haired. The weight was important to me and Pierre was able to sort thru them and find one the same weight as my wood bow.

When I got it, I was very impressed with the quality. The hair was very consistent and even across the frog, the strands were all of the same color and size, and the sound was equal from either one.

For the money... it's a bargain. Now I use the CF bow all the time with only an occassional wood bow prractice. The biggest benefit of CF is that it is un-affected by weather and moisture. The hair will still be subject to the environment but the bow won't change. A definate benefit when going from extreme weather conditions like we get up here in Northern Calif. One month it's wet and humid and cold, then summer comes and it's hot like Arizona desert and dry as well.

The CF displays no difference when taken from those extemes.

I think the CF will impress you and I'm sure you'll make the right choice.

Again, welcome and enjoy your stay here.