Müsing Carbon Fiber Violin Bow Review | Violin Lounge TV #350
Review of the beautiful sounding, light and easy to handle Müsing bows from Germany
Concert violinist Giedre demonstrates and compares all types
Have you been looking for a bow that sounds like fine old pernambuco bows, handles with great ease, bounces extremely easy, offers perfect durability and reliability, looks great but doesn’t cost a fortune?
Zlata plays with an Arcus S9 bow for years now, but Arcus bows start around a thousand dollars and that’s something not everybody can afford.
Müsing bows are made by the same German company, but are more accessible in terms of playability as well as price
Comparing the Müsing bows to other leading brands like CodaBow and JonPaul, they stand out in terms of sound and ease of handling.
You get a professional bow that can do all bow techniques (also for example spiccato, ricochet etc) with ease. It’s hands down the best recommendation Zlata, as a teacher specialized in bow technique, can give you.
Check out the video above for demonstrations of the different types and decide what’s the best bow for you!
or find a local dealer.
Hi! I'm Zlata
Let me help you find a great bow for your violin, so you can improve your bowing technique and sound quality:
I was trying to fill out the brief form to get a chart showing the notes on a violin but somehow, it failed to take my email. Can you please send it. Thank you.
Sure, Robert, if correct it’s just sent to your inbox!
Interesting, but to a beginner or relative beginner seeing a professional violinist perform things which we can only dream of is kind of pointless. Giedre is so good the subtle differences in the various bows will be obvious to her.
If you’re advising students to upgrade their bow to achieve better results should you not have a student do the comparison and give their reaction as to whether it makes their playing easier for the level they are playing currently?
On a different – but bow related matter – I asked a question on your recent video about buying a bow regarding the Fiddlerman Carbon Hybrid which you say is really good (I still have the Hidersine basic brazilwood bow). Being in the UK, and the Fiddlerman only being available from the US, it will cost half the cost of the bow to ship it, plus I wlll then probably be caught for import taxes and VAT nearly doubling the cost of the bow. Makes it a pointless process.
Do you sell or recommend a similar bow to the Carbon Hybrid, available in the EU.
By the way, I’m not aiming to play concert pieces, more country fiddle – whether that should affect my choice of bow I don’t know?
Thanks
David
Hi David, in the EU and the UK you could look into Carbondix and Artino in the price range of the Fiddlerman bows.
It might be a good idea for future reviews to also have a student try out some bows and it might be a good addition to a professional trying them. However, my violin shop experience is that sometimes students notice differences that are more cause by their playing and are so different for every student.
Yes, of course the bow should match the music you’d like to play. You might look for an agile and stiff bow for fiddle music to get the speed easily.
If you’re doubting, see if you can try out some bows whether it’s in a webshop or local shop.
Good luck on your bow quest!
All the best,
Zlata
Hallo Zlata, Heb je nog steeds een winkel in Hilversum of niet meer?
Nee, ik richt me sinds juni vorig jaar 100% op Violin Lounge en Bow like a Pro.
I have bought a C5 Müsing carbon fiber bow and received perfectly in time and in a fine packaging. Before submitting this comment, I’ve tried and tried my new bow comparing it with my traditional wood bow (Dorner) … it’s fantastic !!
I’m only using the new one. My teacher (Who also owns a carbon fiber bow) says it’s very good: light, easy to manage, smooth, comfortable to hold.
Great for me!
Great to read that, Giuseppina, happy bowing!
I purchased the Müsing C4. I arrived promptly and undamaged. I have been playing it for just over a week now. My first impressions are very positive. It is light and easy to handle. The sound quality is high and the projection is immense. It is much better than my previous bow (Coda Colors). It is a bow that seems to assist in playing.
Wow, great to read that, Tim!
When Zlata offered the new Musing bows for sale at a discounted price I ordered a C2. I’ve now had it for a while and thought I’d give some feedback. Since I assume you deal mainly with classical violinists and students, I should tell you that although I’ve been playing music all my life, first guitar, then banjo (first 5 string, then 4 string tenor) and am 75 years old, about 30 years ago I fell in love with Irish traditional dance music. I started the fiddle, in my 50s, despite people telling me I was “too old.” I had reasonable expectations. I wasn’t interested in being in a band to do concerts and the like. I just wanted to go to Irish pub sessions and also play for Irish social dancing (set dancing, ceili dancing). I’ve taken lessons for all these years, and got to where I play regularly for sessions and for dancers (in the Twin Cities Ceili Band I helped start 20 years ago) and I keep up. That meets my expectations.
I’m telling you that so you know what my needs for a bow were/are and why I ordered the C2 instead of a more expensive Musing bow. I should also tell you that I have two fine bows made by well known Minnesota bow makers Both are award winners and have their bows played by fine violinists in well known orchestras. I watched review videos by Zlata and her friend, and on the Fiddlershop www page, and although it was clear that the higher grade C3-4 were better for fancy bowing required in classical violin playing, I thought that since in Irish fiddling the bow rarely leaves the string(s) and doesn’t require some of the fancy bowing techniques that I saw on the review videos, I’d try the C2.
I can now happily report that although I can tell a difference between my wooden bows, I like the C2 Musing nearly as well as them. They both cost more than 10 times what I paid for the C-2. I have no trouble with anything I play using the C2 and have never thought while playing, “Oh, if only I had my good wood bow in hand.” I’m telling you this because if any fiddlers inquire about a Musing bow, you can tell them my experience and tell them that the lower grade, C2, might be all they need for Irish fiddling. Since I wrote this to both Zlata and Mr. Musing, Mr. Musing has replied that I might really like either a higher grade Musing or even an Arcus bow. I’m sure he is right, but I don’t know that I can afford that until my existing fiddles and bows (too many for my needs already–FAS [Fiddle Acquisition Syndrome] is still plaguing me) have been paid for and used a while longer.
I might also mention that I also am comparing my bows playing two bench made fiddles (one by Walter Stopka of Chicago and one by Alastair Brown, of Minneapolis) and comparing them with a recently purchased used Mezzo-Forte by Mr. Musing’s German colleague, Joerg Kleinalstede. My experience with his violin parallels that with the Musing bow. Both my carbon fiber violin and the bow, together, cost less than one quarter of the price of one of my fine hand made bows and fiddles, and yet the differences are much, much less than that. In summary, I can barely tell a difference (except in price).
Since I’m retired, I live part of the year in Minnesota and part in Texas. Texas heat, and Minnesota cold, can both be hard on wooden musical instruments, but I can now go out in heat or cold with my C2 and my Mezzo-Forte with much, much less worry.
Thank you so much for sharing this here, Thomas!