I'm about to buy a new violin bow, since the one I have is... out of commission. Any suggestions on what I should look out for in a good bow? And should I get a pernambucco / carbon bow? What's the advantages / drawbacks on either? Thanks for your help.

Well it depends on your budget really. Pernambuco is quite expensive now (as it gets rarer), but is the best wood for bows. What you might pay for a reasonable wood bow you could get an excellent carbon fibre bow. Carbon fibre tends to be lighter, so takes a little getting used to at first but can be very forgiving and virtually indestructable. Some professionals are now using best quality carbon fibre (even these can be upwards of £2K) for 20th century music, and some full time (Tetzlaff I believe does).

My advice would be to set your budget and then go and try some bows in your price range both wood and carbon, and see which you like.

I have both, I tend to use the carbon fibre day to day especially at events and rehearsals where a bow could easily be damaged. I use my wood one at my lessons, quartet and my own practice. I thnk there's little to choose between their performance and playing ability, but the wood one was about 3 x as much ££

Hi, the way I have chosen a new bow in the past is contact a good violin shop, I gave them my price range and they have sent me 3 or 4 on approval. I have always had wooden bows as I don't know about the carbon fibre. Can you get your presnt bow restored?

Oh... okay. Thanks for your advice both of you.

I got my bow already, a wooden one. It's quite inexpensive, but it suited my budget and it produces a much better sound on my violin than my present one. The person in charge of the bows took down about 8 or 9 bows in my budget range to let me try. Some were too heavy; some too light. I'm taking it to my teacher for approval this week, so if he thinks there's a better one in the shop, he can change it for me since he knows the shopkeeper well.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of a heavy and light bow? If I'm small in stature, would you recommend I get a light bow? My current one actually suits me fine but I find it a tad heavy and I'm not sure about the weight distribution of it. It does make it a little difficult to do strokes like Spiccato. Then again, my technique may not be right because I was just following some videos I saw. I am going to get a new violin soon so I hope they give me a pretty good bow.

Yeah aiken... I'd recommended you to get a 61g kind of bow... or carbon fibre ones. They're very light. But too light, and you won't be able to do spiccato passages or really loud parts that well. A lighter bow allows you to attempt fast passages with little fatigue and more synchronization between your hands, since a heavier bow might hinder the change of bowings. But it all comes down to your technique really.

Bring your teacher along to the shop; he/she should be able to pick out a reasonable bow for you.