These are great bows for the price, especially as real Pernambuco wood bows and have good horse hair. Weíve had two 1/10 size and an 1/8 size and I would recommend them over a $30 synthetic or cheaper wood bow any day. ($30 wood bows are often warped seconds.) The better the bow, the easier it is to develop bow control. All bows have a unique character, and pair better with some violins over others. If you can, I suggest trying more than one bow. While beginners often find soft CF or plastic bows easier, but more advanced players may find stiffer but more responsive wood bows draw more sound out of the violin, and help with technique. On warped bows: - Like all bows, check if they are straight (side to side, not in the bowís curve) when you buy it by looking down the bow from the frog. - Bow properly to prevent sideways pressure that can warp a bow. - Store your violin in proper humidity, (ideally 50%+) or the wood may dry out and warp. The violin rib seams may also crack, etc. Unless itís been rosined heavily before, the bow hair will need lots of rosin at first or it may feel slippery or sound ìsandy.î This is normal - horses donít usually have rosin in their tails. The Sharís Studio edition 1/16 and 1/10 violin rentals come with these bows - I canít speak to larger sizes. For fractional sizes, 1/16 to 1/8, the best of these can play on par with $400 better known brand bows.

The white tip peeled out just after a few month of practice; also it is way to jumpy (in the middle of the bow it s so hard to control it without jumpiness, affects sound) - I can't stand extreme jumpiness of this bow, and gave out to my daughter who started a full size violin this year. I love my daughter's persistence on learning how to master playing with this bow without it jumping too much - she worked so hard and so many hours, but she begs me for a bow that feels like her old one. I have an old bow which I played for 10 years from different country, and bought this one because my old one's frog is worn out. Wish me a good luck on finding a good responsive, controllable bow, thank you.

Bought the outfit and tried 2 Meinel Pernambuco Violin Bows and both have sandy sound. 3 professional violinists tried both and the same finding. A Schmidtô Brazilwood Violin Bow (Item# VBH) is only half the price but sounds MUCH better. Surprised that it got high reviews from other people. Maybe quality has been going down?

I bought this as a second backup bow. Stored it properly. Seldom used it. Ended up warping.

This is an excellent bow for a beginning/intermediate pernambuco bow. It's well worth the $109, and I would pay more for it. I have had no problems with this bow. I have had it for over a year, and it is still in excellent condition.

I purchased this bow for a beginner/intermediate student and I am very pleased with it. It makes a nice warm tone. I like it better than the bow I have been playing with for years though it would be a bit too light for me. My student is going to be very happy.

I've had this for several years now with light use and it has held up well. No qualms!

I thought I was buying a better quality bow by spending nearly 4x the price. But after a little over a year it fell apart! We have had three bows in the past that cost $20 or less and those held up even in the hands of a young child. But this one didn't.

Wood has a life of it's own. The seller has no way of predicting what will happen to an instrument or Bow over time. Quick temp changes can cause many problems. If your Bow and Violin sits in a car when it is cold it can cause damage that can't be seen by the buyer. I also tell anyone buying an instrument to not open it until 24 hours after it arrives. I have seen finish crack when opened to soon. No dealer wants problematic issues with any Violin or Bow and it is important to let the seller know as soon as possible when you have a problem. Most issues that I come across are due to temperature changes.

Im new to violin and was skeptical that the bow could make much difference to the sound until I encountered this bow. It changed my violin into a new instrument. Now I understand why the love of Pernambuco wood. On the Obligato E string, forte is light striking a wooden match where the string lights up with fiery tone. I compared it to the Carmaux, and am keeping the Meinel for its expressive power. One must bow more precisely for smoothness with this bow, but it rewards the skill.