Full-size 4/4 Pernambuco Nickel/silver Mounted Violin Bow

This really is an excellent bow, especially for the price. It has a truly fantastic weight to it.It worked great for me at first as a beginner, but slowly it started sounding awful. I thought it was poor quality hair that was deteriorating and kept clipping hair off to try to get deeper into the hank for unused hair. I finally bought a new bow that ultimately faced the same problem until I got new strings and, incidentally, a new rosin, Larsen's red rosin. But that bow still just faced serious issues even after being rehaired for my new violin and being used with an again different rosin, a P. Guillaume rosin.I finally ordered a gold rosin made by Laubach Violins, a small violin shop, in Germany, and once I started using that, my problems were all solved. It's a truly spectacular rosin that gets an amazing sound.I've since tried that rosin on THIS bow, or what's left of its hair, and it sounds even better than my more expensive and heavier DZ Strad bow. The wood of this bow resonates so much better, and the weight is really good. I would have it rehaired, but I'm honestly embarassed to take my luthier a bow with half the hair cut off!Instead, I am planning to buy a new one of these soon which is at least cheaper than a rehair. The hair wouldn't be near as high quality as what my luthier uses, but I'm just too embarassed. I may find the courage to just go ahead and have them rehair this bow, though.But in a nutshell, this really is a truly excellent bow. Just make sure you find a truly decent rosin for it! The really bad rosin I was using was Pirastro GoldFlex. A big name or a big price or a big reputation do NOT ensure quality with rosin!

I purchased this bow because my daughter's plastic one was coming apart. I don't know a lot about violins or bows. I don't know about Brazilian or penumbuco wood or the type of hair. I DO know that this bow does not have a name attached to it, so whoever made it is either the actual manufacturer for a lot of companies who sell bows, or is one that would rather not have their name attached to it. The listed retail price and the discount made it suspect. However, other reviews were positive, there were quite a few pictures, and its being serviced by amazon.On arrival, I checked over the bow for any obvious defect. I did not find the splits, cracks, or broken hairs a couple of reviewers mentioned. The packaging didn't seem damaged at all. Overall build quality seemed acceptable. I didn't notice any crooked, warped, frazzled, or rough looking parts. The hardware seemed to be placed well, and there weren't any major gaps between the various parts. The knob used to tighten the bow seemed to work, moved without being excessively rough, and I didn't notice any untoward tension or movement of the shaft that would take it out of parallel with the hair portion. The black leather band near the wrapped string portion is going to come apart. The silvery string section seems to be held on with a sort of tape. And if I am going to be picky, I'd say that the... far end of the bow is not really symmetrical. I don't know if its supposed to be or not, and I don't think it affects anything, regardless. The overall build quality is acceptable, fairly nice, but not particularly outstanding.Overall, at the heavily discounted price, I'd say this bow was worth it at just a tad over the price of a plastic one. If I had payed the supposed retail price, I would not be happy. However, what I think is secondary, since I do not use it. I only hear it being used. My daughter likes the bow quite well, and her teacher thinks its pretty nice. That works for me, and it didn't break the bank to boot. That's a win in my book.

When I received this bow, I realized that there was a crack on the frog, and the bow hair tension was too loose. Normally when you loosen your bow (before the screw comes out), the bow hair tension should not sag (when you put the bow upside down the hair should just barely touch the stick). The tip is plastic and BEWARE THE NICKEL SILVER WINDING IS PLATED NICKEL SILVER. I used the bow for about a week and the nickel silver began to fade away exposing the copper core on the inside (I had to issue a refund with amazon due to this poor make). The stamp on top of the frog of the bow looks to be laser engraved which is a definite "no-no" because the letters were deeply cut out. Also, the frog seems thinner than I expected. Overall, the balance of the bow is very very good and can be easier for students who are doing spiccato or any strokes with the bow off the string.The wood is pernambuco which is very nice but the tip of the bow was improperly shaped and seems a bit uneven on both sides. I have read reviews that the bow is warped, but to my experience in pernambuco bows it is very unlikely for that to happen. Pernambuco is a very hard wood which is used on the highest quality bows to prevent the arch from deforming.If you are looking for an expensive wood, fairly cheap make bow, this is the product for you, but if you are looking for a more serious bow (advanced level) for playing I definitely will not recommend this product. I have owned 3 master grade pernambuco bow and the quality is very very different. A good pernambuco has a reddish-orange hue with a bone or silver tip with silver fittings, well balanced and the stamp that is burned on instead of laser engraved.