Which ARCUS bow for my violin?

[@jackwilloughby239]

A great trick I learned from Benny Martin (the Great Nashville fiddle player) was to draw the bow (at the frog) across the top of the scroll while holding the violin loosely at the nut with thumb and forefinger, so the violin is vertical. You actually get the tone the violin is tuned to. Most are A, but some are G.

[@ARCUSMuesing]

Very interesting. And beside it being fun, do we learn anything from this?

[@WhiteDragon689]

Interesting. Which string to use? I rather like a darker sounding instrument and not such a whinny one with little lower frequencies. I'd be shooting for an even spread across the spectrum of what the instrument is capable of. I'd develop a bow that could be tuned with micro-weights inserted at the tip to aid in its tuning.

[@igrowwearyofthisworld7369]

Nice educational video! This helped me narrow down my choices. One thing I love about my violin is that it's very balanced. So I figured a T-Series bow should be one of my prospects to try. One thing I've observed is that on all shops I've checked the series equivalents (S6, M6, P6 and S9, M9, P9 etc) have the same price. However, exactly the bow I am heavily considering (T8) has a higher price by almost 25% than the other series' equivalents. I'm wondering what is going on and if this is temporary.

[@ARCUSMuesing]

Of the 8-class bows there are each two variants, one with silver outfit and one with a gold outfit. The latter is of course quite a bit more expensive.

[@henrypagan6657]

Hi my friend you explain perfectly thank you. I met you and Fiddlershop I bought one of your bows amazing love it. Thank you.

[@BogenmacherD]

Hello Henry, thank you very much. I'm really enjoying making these videos and it feels even better when you find it useful.

[@rubenjara5354]

I would like to now what level of bows they used in these test,5, 6 ,7,8?Amazing!!

[@ARCUSMuesing]

Thanks! These were all level 7 bows that we used in this test.

[@ryanchoi7003]

I wish you could offer some info about matching strings with each type of bow as starting point or something to avoid. I have both bright side violin and dark side violin. Since I bought P9 but my main string on bright violin(Obligato) sounds really bad with it and few trials and error, I have settled to Passione for now. My dark side violin happens to have Vision Solo Ti but it reacts bad but much better with Dominant. I assume string reacts more direct impact than I ever expected.

[@BogenmacherD]

Hello Ryan, now that is a really complex matter. Matching instrument, strings and bows to a player is not easy and it has taken me many years and hundreds of trials to develop a proper ear and feel for it. It is so complex that I find it quite impossible to generally recommend certain strings over others for our various bow series. This also matches what I hear back from long term Arcus players, they all use different strings.

[@michaelreif-americanimpres862]

Have a Ming Jiang Zhu Apprentice violin with Vision Solo strings and just bought a T Bow for $1060 which I expect must be T4. It only says T-Pernambeuco on the side. It fits my bright sounding violin pretty well. I am just a 3rd Suzuki book beginner though so just needed a bow that would work well for a few years for me to learn. I would normally prefer maximum warmth in violin, strings and bow but one only has so much money.

[@ARCUSMuesing]

Hello Michael, please do take a look at our website www.arcus-muesing.de/en/products/violinbows/t-series.html and see if you bow looks like the Arcus T-series. I don't think it would - they don't have "T-Pernambuco" engraved. Where did you buy it, by the way?

[@michaelreif-americanimpres862]

@@ARCUSMuesing I was able to take a closer look: it says T. Pambolin Brasil on the side.

[@ARCUSMuesing]

@@michaelreif-americanimpres862 What you have there is a wooden bow. For a warm sounding bow that offers perfect predictability and ease of playing you may want to try an Arcus M4 or M5.

[@paganini641]

​@@ARCUSMuesing hola, soy Luis tengo un violin joseph Guarnerius (Germán) 1890 que arcus crees seria ideal, tengo un arco de pernambuco made in brasil schaeffer, pero siento que tiene poca resistencia y sonido poca potencia.

[@ARCUSMuesing]

@@paganini641 Well, pernambuco bows are generally too soft for modern strings, which is exactly what got me started developing the Arcus bows 30 years ago. Get yourself a nice Arcus bow, like a T7 for example, and bring out all the power that your violin actually possesses!

[@WhiteDragon689]

You talk about tuning a bow BUT how do you do that? It seems like its a hit or miss thing. Everything has a overriding resonant frequency. The question is how to get a bow in tune with the instrument based on what sound you are after.

[@ARCUSMuesing]

Tuning a bow works very similar to how you tune a string. So basically it is two factors, weight (mass) and tension respectively elasticity (stiffness). So for example if I reduce the mass of a bow it will sound brighter, if I ad mass it will sound lower. We have found that a quarter tone or a half tone has a significant influence on the sound of the entire system (instrument, strings and bow). Same with stiffness (elasticity). A stiffer bow will give us a higher tuning (fundamental note) and thus a brighter sound, a softer (more flexible) bow will have a lower tuning and thus a deeper, warmer sound. Which instrument do you play?

[@Markcontrerasviolin]

It´s amazing!

[@BogenmacherD]

Thank you Mark

[@MrJohnnyTN]

curious about M8 vs T8 on a viola... since when I got my M8 last year the T8 didn't exist.

[@ARCUSMuesing]

Thanks for your interest! That would depend on your viola. The T-bows are ideal for medium sized violas with a string length of around 37cm while the M-bows are better for smaller violas with a string length of up to 36 cm. Soundwise, the T-bows draw a sound that is big, clear and lively. It's probably always best to try them out in practice. And we will try to do a video about T-bows for viola soon!

[@mmisc6234]

Totally enjoy all your videos. How would this or does this apply to Musing bows? Thank you, Martin

[@BogenmacherD]

Hello Martin. The Müsing and Arcus bow families are really quite different. The Müsing bows are designed for ease of playing, while the Arcus are designed for maximum virtuosity, power and agility. The sound they draw is also of a different character. The Arcus have a very clear sound with a pronounced profile which should be matched to the instrument, strings and player. The Müsing bows on the other hand produce a round and even range of overtones that easily blend with a majority of instruments and strings. That is why we need only one series of Müsing bows.

[@ARCUSMuesing]

Hello Martin, the design philosophy of the Müsing bows is totally different from the Arcus bows. Their sound is also much less clearly defined but broader, suiting a wide variety of instruments. Their playing properties the same, almost universal. This is why we don't make different series with the Müsing bows.

[@fedegroxo]

@@ARCUSMuesing Which of the Arcus series would you say is the most "universal", or the most akin to the Musing bows?

[@Soulill0quy]

I’ve recently started to double on both violin and viola, but need a better viola bow. Was looking into getting an Arcus bow that I could use for my 15.5 inch viola, so I was thinking of going M-Series. That said, Could the arcus viola bow work well on violin given that it essentially weighs the same as pernambuco bows?

[@ARCUSMuesing]

Contrary to general wisdom the weight of the bow is of secondary importance. The elasticity of the stick and the thickness (volume) of the hair are much more important. Sure you can play the viola with a violin bow and vice versa, just as you could swap bass and cello bows, but would it work good enough for performances? You can easily find out by trying, but like all players before you, you will find that our bows are clearly optimised for their purpose. The viola M-bows for example have 9 mm² hair, while our violin bows have 7.5 mm² in average.

[@amindaou5711]

Hi . If I want brighten up my violin sound . What should I do change tail piece from wood to metal . Can this make difference to bright ? Thanks

[@ARCUSMuesing]

To brighten up your instrument besides switching to bright sounding strings (like for example Thomastik Vision) and an S-series Arcus bow you can do a few more things. Regarding the tail piece you should get a really light one with not too much damping. High quality boxwood would be ideal. You would also want a bridge cut from especially hard maple and have this bridge cut really thin and narrow. A somewhat bigger project would be to fit a higher/stiffer bass bar.

[@amindaou5711]

@@ARCUSMuesing my violin has rose wood tail piece.. and i use it acoustic/ electric same time I installed (barcus_berry pickup) and thomastik steel core strings. For oreintal music Maybe that make it something dark in acoustic . I will try boxwood tail . Thanks for helping and your experience 🙏

[@ultimawerewolfbluephoenix9670]

What about the M and T bow on the dark violin?

[@ARCUSMuesing]

The T-bows are rather neutral, so the instruments sound balance is not altered. The M-bows on the other hand shift the sound balance towards warm. So for an already warm sounding violin than can be a bit too much, lacking in shine and presence. For that reason many players who own rather dark sounding instruments prefer an S, which ads some welcome brilliance.

[@MichaelShingo]

Who is the maker of that well-balanced violin that you're holding at 14:50?

[@ARCUSMuesing]

Oliver Radke. He makes fantastic instruments, which is why we are very happy to bring them to all our exhibitions for demonstration and testing.

[@MichaelShingo]

@@ARCUSMuesing very cool, thank you!

[@ryanchoi7003]

Great! I have cadenza but I don’t know which bow is based on Could you tell me which bow is similar thanks

[@BogenmacherD]

The successor of the Cadenza is the S-series. Similar to the Cadenza silver would be the S6, the Cadenza gold more like the S7.

[@jacksauvage]

@@BogenmacherD what about concerto? mezzo-forte says, you said the concerto like s6. But now you say, cadenzia like s6. Because concerto like s5?

[@ARCUSMuesing]

@@jacksauvage In the past our classification was not quite as precise as it is today, so some of the Cadenzas are in fact similar to S7s but more are like S6, similarly with the Concertos. Some are indeed similar to the S6s but more are similar to the S5s. Over the years we have also improved the workmanship and the playing qualities, so most players prefer the newer bows. On the other hand, some of the earlier bows can be had for a very good price. It's not easy. :)

[@jacksauvage]

@@ARCUSMuesing you say there the concerto like series 6. www.mezzo-forte.de/gb/carbon-fiber-violin-bows/371-special-deal-violin-bow-arcus-concerto-oct-stick.html www.mezzo-forte.de/gb/violin-bows/311-sonderangebot-violinbogen-arcus-concerto-oct.html And you see different price for one model?

[@BogenmacherD]

Ruslan, we have made the Concerto bows for something like 9 years, and over that period made many changes to the mould, to the process, to the materials used. So they are not identical but differ quite a bit. This is why they sound and play differently and why dealers (like mezzo-forte) also price them differently. In general it is true that you get what you pay for.