Does a bow get better with age ?

[dan d]

Just a conversation topic,

I am watching some PBS show about vintage guitars & mandolins & they got to talking about how vintage mandolins get better with age as the vibrations / harmonics from playing them do funky things to the wood & give them a soul.

Do you think our bows do the same thing with age ?  By shooting them we are inducing vibrations & harmonics, along with all the stories that go along with them. Wooden instruments are glued & laminated kinda like our bows.

I'm not a music guy, but I think our bows develop a personality with age, just like they are talking about wood musical instruments.

What do you think ?

[Blackhawk]

I don't believe the bow itself gets better with age.  

[iohkus]

Agree with Lon, the more you shoot the same bow the more you get familiar, comfortable and confident with it. I think it's the shooter that gets better, not the bow.  JMHO  

  I CAN see how that WOULD apply to instruments however.

[Hawkeye]

You get better as you age with a bow!

[Joeabowhunter]

Originally posted by Hawkeye:
You get better as you age with a bow!

This is a fantastic statement!

[KSshrewman]

Great way to look at it.

[KSshrewman]

Great way to look at it.

[saumensch]

I think the difference is that an instrument doesnt get as much stress in use as a bow does.

Sure there are sounds and harmonics that do things to the wood in that instrument, but they are gentle, smoth vibrations.

The vibrations and such done to a bow in use are more of a stressfull, material-testing way.
To oversimplify it id say an instrument works with the vibrations, a bow is working against them or at least a bow is working to withstand them.

Therefore id say a well made boiw doesnt get worse over the years, but it aint gonna get better.

Just my 2 cents.

[Bill Carlsen]

What Blackhawk said.

[wollelybugger]

I have made a self bow out of Osage and yes I feel it is getting better shooting with age. It is getting darker in color and feeling better in my hand. Probally my imagination but thats my story and I'm sticking to it.

[Onestringer]

Bows and women both get better with age.  At least thats my opinion.

[riverrat 2]

I am by no means a bowyer,but I would think the glues that bind have a shelf life of some sort. rat'

[cedar]

I don't think my bow shoots any better than it did when it was new, but the yew limbs have turned darker and are a much prettier golden orange color.

[moleman]

Im not so sure that a bow gets better with age, but i believe that if you have a bow long enough and age together, it will bring out the best of both, you and the bow.

[Thumper Dunker]

They might not get better but they do get cooler.

[amar911]

There is a difference between resonating and working. The resonance causes the fibers of the wooden instrument to actually weaken, but in a way that enhances the desired vibrations. This works well with the thin wood in the body of a cello, viola or violin. But the opposite is true of the heavy sounding board of a piano, as I'm sure our piano expert, Snag, will confirm. Pianos sound worse with age. Bows are involved in heavy work and violent vibrations that will tend to cause deterioration with age, especially in self bows, which tend to have fairly limited lives with extensive use. Bows reinforced with glass and plastics hold up better.

Allan

[Pointer]

only the old Bear Kodiaks :-)