I really like the sound of the Stick and bow. Any advice on buying a bow? Brands or material recommendations? There is quite a large price range and I don't need to spend a ton cash and time researching on an experiment.

Stick + Bow (thanks Jim!):
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWXVWP__JAQ[/youtube]

You could cover Anekdoten with that sound:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VhtywdhsSo[/youtube]

I was listening to this at work while working on some code. When the low notes hit, it was like "WHOA! What was that??" Had to pay more attention to the video. The code can wait for later.

I just went to the local violin (etc) store (Von's violin store, 1869 South Pearl Street, Denver) and asked for a cello bow. They had a few options, and I bought the second cheapest one because it was the cheapest one that wasn't made of plastic. It has worked for me so far, but I haven't used it for anything serious. Cost me about $75.

I guess I'm a little bit too "uncultured" for a real bow, but I sure love using E-Bow on Stick, it's fantastic!

Cheers,

EG

I'll have to try out one of my daughters violin bows. Seems like it would be fun.

I recently picked up a POG2 - it has a built-in attack generator for the volume and filter - REALLY cool. And it's polyphonic.... I can get a really nice bowed cello-like sound using it.

Dave

I'm using a double bass bow in the video above. It works great on the thick string, but it tends to be a little too much mass for the smaller strings (the only real other place where the bow is usable).

I haven't tried a violin bow (the bass bow cost about $125 up here in Canada) but I know they're cheaper. It would be strange to have a bass bow for one string and a smaller one for others...well maybe

When I used the bass bow on the thinner strings, I have to be careful to pull the bow VERY gently across the strings. When using it on the thick string, pulling the bow feels very natural - in fact your whole body starts absorbing the vibrations! Vibrato is kind of difficult, even though I can do a great vibrato on a bass or guitar (and the Stick). Whether you shake your hand side-to-side, or bend the string up and down...it shakes the whole instrument - and the bow too. Have to adopt a violinist's/cellist's vibrato technique, more wrist movement without shaking the instrument. Unless we want to mount the Stick on a peg!

Be prepared to wipe the strings and the wood down after using the bow - the rosin can be quite messy. Thanks for posting the video, hopefully I've gotten better since then!

HI Jim,
Thanks for posting and sharing the youtube.
I thought this was fantastic and wanted to try it on my grand.
I borrowed a cello bow from a friend that's a music teacher and and it's not working well at all.
The problem I have is that my action is very good for tapping but the different height settings at the bridge don't work well with the bow. For example, on the bass side the bow only comes in contact with the lowest and highest strings because the action of the highest string is set higher than strings 11, 10, 9 and 8. I'm not sure if this is due to the raised 4th but the same thing happens on the melody side. Due to the lowest bass string (7) being higher than all the melody strings, the bow doesn't even contact the other strings.

I'm wondering if you encountered something similar and set your action accordingly?
Thx Leeland

Hey.

Have you guys experimented with heavier bows, versus the lighter violin bows.

I find that the violin bow I have is too light to really get a strong rhythmic presence from the low bass string.

Any tips.

All I can say is that a good bow on an upright makes a HUGE difference. It's amazing the tonal differences of a good bow versus a cheap one.

I havent compared them on the stick though.


Brett

I use a cello bow. Bought it for guitar a couple of years ago on someones recommendation. I'm thinking though that with the Stick it might be better with a lighter bow, like a violin bow, when bowing the thinnest strings. Only the bass string and the two outer thin strings are reachable with a bow on a Stick.