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In case you have recently acquired an Arcus bow or have some on trial, you might find of these hints useful: 1. Regarding the tension of the bow. 2. Playing with an especially relaxed right hand. 3. Performing all off-string bowings 7. The setup of instruments and the question of strings 8. How to determine which of the bows is the right one 1. Regarding the tension of the bow. Due to the very high resiliency of its stick, the feel and handling of an Arcus bow can be varied quite strongly by slight adjustments in the hair tension. We recommend to experience the possibilities in small steps (half turns of the button), to find your individual optimum. 2. Playing with an especially relaxed right hand. The low frequency vibration of wooden bows makes it necessary to hold them quite fast, as they would otherwise flutter on the strings. Arcus bows do not produce these low frequency vibrations. An especially relaxed right hand does not only allow for much improved comfort, it also improves the sound and technique. 3. Performing all off-string bowings The high resiliency and low weight of the sticks make the Arcus bow bounce more vigorously than any other bow. To make sure it does not "take off" it is recommended to stay much closer to the strings. You may also use more bow travel - both combined will yield off-string-bowings that will sound much fuller and almost free of noise.
To avoid making a noise on bow changes and "string-noise", bows are often tilted, especially close to the frog. The bigger the instrument the more this is necessary - normally. For example the sound of bass is normally quite noisy - so the bows are almost always tilted.
You will be surprised about the rich and full sound you can pull - free of noise.
5. The playing-in period Depending on your amount of playing per day, the initial adaptation to an Arcus bow usually takes between 2 days and 1 week. It appears that developing a feel for the ideal proportions of bow-speed and down force is what takes the most time. Players who often changed their bows normally adapt quite fast. If you have played for many years almost exclusively with one bow, the playing-in might take up to 2 weeks though. To uncover and explore the full potential of an Arcus bow, and maybe experience entirely new things, can easily take half a year of intense playing. 6. About rosin Our rule of thumb for selecting a rosin: The thicker the strings and the cooler the ambience the softer the rosin. The thinner the strings and the warmer the ambience the harder the rosin. One should have the feel of sufficient "grip" without the bow hair "sticking" to the string or "stuttering", but running soft and smooth. You can play your Arcus bow with any kind of rosin you might prefer. In addition we have developed a line of ARCUS premium rosin in 3 different grades which is especially made for us by Christos Sykiotis / MELOS. All details can be found here. Mixing different rosins might corrupt the function of the hair. In this case, but also in case the hair gets dirty or greasy, a thorough cleaning might be required. Depending on the climate it can be helpful to use a softer rosin in winter and a harder rosin in summer. The Arcus rosin is designed to be mixed, which allows for a very fine tuning. 7. The setup of instruments and the question of strings It has happened to us several times that slightly desperate musicians on the search for a perfect bow came to us. No bow could possibly fulfil their ideals for a good sound, and not even one of our bows could really help. By looking a little more closely we have often found a not quite perfect setup of the instrument, maybe even defective strings... After fixing the problems it was usually no problem to find the right bow eventually. This is why we strongly advise to make sure that your instrument is in very good condition before you go bow-hunting. We also recommend that you use strings that are played-in nicely, but not old and worn out. 8. How to determine which of the bows is the right one To begin with, the bow has to feel right for you. In case you are not entirely sure you may for example play some new pieces. Thus you would have to focus on the music and you will easily realize whether you struggle with the bow or if it feels natural. To judge the sound we recommend to play as silent as possible, especially the weak tones of your instrument. This is normally those areas in which no major resonances of the instrument support the sound. E.g. the upper positions on the 1. string, the 3rd position on the 2. string and the first 2-2 notes on the lowest string. Play the bows you want to compare in rapid succession. Our short term memory covers only a very short time span. Best repeat a short sequence several times with each of the two different bows. This way you can compare the sound in its complexity and come to a safe decision. In case you have not done so already, you may also want to read the pages on individuality and our recommendations. |
