As a follow-up to my recent post about pernambuco bows, I just wondered which type of bow most people play with, and when, generally, you tend to upgrade your bow.
Thanks
FluteDiva

My bow is pernambucco and was handmade for me by a local bow-maker. I can't vote in the poll, though, because I bought it a couple of months ago, but have had my instrument for much longer!

Oh.. sorry about that! Is there any way I can amend the poll to add an option for "very recently"??
Thank you for your post, though, it was still useful

Similar situation to me. The violin was bought at least two years before the bow. Pernumbuco, octagonal stick, gold mounted with chased gold tudor rose on the frog. Made in the 1970s by A R Bultitude at the W E Hill workshops.

my bow is a marco raposo (pernambuco wood) and i bought it at the same time as my violin but separately. this was betwee grades 7 and 8.

I play music between Grade 3 and 6 (depending on how my stiff old fingers feel ) and I've just bought a new Marco Raposo pernambuco bow which I really love. That was my first upgrade since the bow that came with my very first beginners violin. (I actually upgraded the violin twice before changing the bow.)

I'm expecting my current bow and violin to last until at least grade 8 (if I ever get that far )

I bought my new bow in January. I'd gotten a new violin at the beginning of December but had to continue using my old stentor bow >_< Until i could afford a more decent bow. All i know about it is that it's Pernambuco wood, and was £100. I was doing grade 4 at the time that i got it.

I nearly got a posh one with a silver tip and all that For only £125 (it was 2nd hand) but i much preferred the cheaper £100 one o_O Even the student who worked there that was helping me choose agreed - she played all the bows on my violin so i could hear them from another point of view than me playing.
(The luthier tried to get me to get the more expensive one, filing down one part as i found it uncomfortable to hold, putting grips on it to make it more comfortable, etc. but no )

I use an Arcus carbon fibre bow which I bought last year, about 7 years after getting my violin (and having already upgraded to a no-name German wood bow the year after I got the violin).

I'm about grade 5/6 on the violin - I'm still using my Stentor student violin and bow! I don't intend to upgrade until I really have to. I'm happy with my cheap bow cos it's nice and light, it bounces very well. My teacher had a carbon fibre bow, I tried it once and it didn't feel too bouncy but it felt very smooth when doing long bows. It was really nice.

That sounds lovely

Well I can't really vote because I have two... A carbon fibre one which I use more for folk as it is a bit more heavy and, for want of a better word, 'chunky', which I prefer, but I have a Marco Raposo pernumbuco, which I bought about a year ago, so at about grade 7

Yes, it does, literally I don't know anyone who's tried the bow and doesn't like it. One of those lucky finds, the sort you stumble across when not actually looking for it.

Much better than the sort you stumble across when not actually able to afford it!

Son's Finkel Atelier bow has suited him well even though he must be 20-30 cm taller than he was when he bought it, and considering his violin hassles I am more than grateful that there has never been the slightest problem or dissatisfaction with it.

It was his first full-size bow, and he may buy another one at some point, but luckily there is no urgency!

Price-wise, it was not absolute rock-bottom, but only about 20% of the price of the premium new bows on offer.

My bow is carbon fibre one which I bought seperately as I inhereted the fiddle but had to provide it with a case and bow

Though, I do find it a little to light these days and would love a really heavy one!

I found it at a fortunate time, just when an aunt had gifted me £3000. The bow cost £2500.

Pernambuco c1910. It's really improved the tone of my violin - partly also because my bowing is better too.