A Tale of Two Bows

I got a bow with my cello. It's not a great bow but it's OK. It's probably made of Brazilwood. My daughter has two bows. The one came with her amazing cello that we bought about a year ago. In the shop, it seemed to sound good but as time went on, she found she really didn't like it. So for a few weeks I was checking out bows on eBay. I know, I know, eBay is not the best place for stringed instruments. Also, you can have a good bow and a good instrument but they might not work together. You really should try them out together. I read of one person who tried out forty bows before find one they liked. Anyway, I found an fantastic deal on a JonPaul Legacy carbon fiber bow. This is the same model of bow that my daughter's cello teacher has and my daughter liked that bow. So I figured carbon fiber bows are probably more consistent between bows than wooden ones. Also, with the various guarantees I would only be out at most about twenty bucks if it didn't work out. But it did work out--I got a great $476 bow for $140 and my daughter likes it. So that is her main bow and it's been a good one except when it exploded (the hair popped off) scaring my daughter as she played. It was easily fixed--it just needed re-hairing.

So that means that I have two bows to choose from. The one that came with my cello and the one that came with my daughters cello which she said I could use. Decisions, decisions. My bow is easier to control but my daughter's old bow sounds a bit better. Sigh, I guess I'll go for control for now and use the bow that came with my cello. I am determine to master the cello so I'll get a better bow some day (the one I have is just fine for now). FYI, good bows can be really expensive. My daughters cello teacher's daughter got a new bow just be for she went off to college. It was $3700. Someday :)

I am progessing bit by bit. I'm getting better at holding the bow. This is just one of many things to master in order to play the cello well. I've averaged over an hour of practice since I got the cello on christmas but I noticed that my arm and shoulder are a bit sore. They're not use to what I've been subjecting them too. This is all part of the adventure.