As any professional player will tell you, if you think choosing the correct instrument for you is a difficult process, wait until it comes to choosing a bow! The bow is truly an extension of your arm, and nearly all the expression, tonal quality and articulation in your playing is derived from your relationship with it. As an inanimate object, it is just a collection of wood, metal, horsehair and possibly tortoiseshell or mother of pearl, crafted together to make something that appears both delicate and beautiful, but through it a player can truly expose their innermost feelings and soul!
Bows come in a wide range of qualities and prices, and, like the instruments they are used on, cost does not necessarily indicate how well it will work for you. These days they also come made from an ever-widening range of materials, and so the options that you need to consider when choosing the right bow for you are enormous in scope! With every bow purchase check that the moving parts of the bow work properly, it has a good ribbon of hair and that the frog and tip are set well for the rehairing process. The stick should be straight with a good camber, and the lapping and other fittings all of a good quality.
In the early stages of playing, you will probably find that the bow you play on was provided with the instrument as part of a set! When choosing your set, if you are lucky enough to have an experienced player with you and a number of sets of the same type at your disposal, once the instrument has been chosen, get the experienced player to try out all the relevant bows on the instrument, finding the one that works with it best! Even in mass produced factory bows you can find a surprising difference between each, particularly if they are made from wood, as each piece has its own qualities with regards strength, suppleness and the spring like quality that bows possess.
As you progress in your playing and upgrade your instrument, a general rule of thumb has been to look at bows in the price range of about 25% of your instrument's value! This can be an ok guide, but if your budget exceeds that, going for a more expensive bow may give you more range! A word of caution though, greater monetary value does not necessarily mean a better playing quality. With wooden bows in particular, the individual qualities of the wood it is made from along with the way they have been crafted into the stick, are what make the bow work! You may find a relatively cheap bow works just as well for you as one that costs hundreds of pounds more! Try as many out as you can, until you find the best match for your bowing style, arm weight, and compatibility with the instrument you are playing on and going to use it with!
The weight of your arm, and also the length of your arm may also dictate the type of bow you go for! Your left hand may manage a full-size instrument, yet your right arm is still too short to be able to play one comfortably! In that case, try a smaller sized bow and it may be a better fit, enabling you to develop your right arm technique far better than you could with a bow that is still too large for you to handle.
In general, when choosing a bow, the best advice is to try out as many as possible, and if you are playing at a higher level, take some away on trial to see how they work out for you over a period of time and with a range of repertoire! Most dealers are happy for this to happen, and some online services will even select up to four bows based on your weight criteria and send them through the post to you for a trial period.
Other considerations to make when choosing a bow are what style of playing and repertoire are you using it for, will you be travelling abroad with it, and will you be performing outside or in variable climates on it!
Where styles of repertoire are concerned, you may pick a bow that fits within a specialist criterion, such as a baroque style bow, or an early classical one! A bow that is used mainly for folk playing needs to work very differently to one used in playing the major symphonic works, and chamber music will also make different demands of your bow! Function musicians will need a bow that is happy to be played in a marquee, gazebo, a cold church or outside in a variety of weather! Those that play in a more rock style on amplified instruments will also need to consider their purchase carefully, as will a period performer that predominantly plays only on gut strings.
If you are likely to be travelling with the bow internationally, whether at a professional level or with your local youth, school or amateur orchestra, the bow may be confiscated if it isn’t obvious that it is not made from illegal materials. Contemporary bows are now being made with this in mind, so it may be that you need to explore that market, even going direct to the makers rather than via a dealer. With these restrictions in mind, there are also many bows made from composite products or carbon fibre. These are ideal for playing in certain conditions and travelling with, so even if your preferred choice of bow is a beautiful antique model, it may be sensible to have a second bow made from alternative materials for specific circumstances.
An additional thing to note is that skilled bow makers know how to match the camber and graduations to the characteristics of an individual stick of wood, and in this process make the bow the best playing bow it can be. Mass produced bows just cannot do that in the same way, although the odd gem may appear as if by magic, despite every stick being treated the same. From an ecological perspective, steering clear of new mass-produced wood bows is probably a good rule of thumb. Many traditional materials are now endangered so everyone needs to get on board with sustainability in order to maintain the quality of bows and instruments.
In short, when looking for a bow to purchase, confirm your budget and what you need the bow for, try out as many as possible from reputable shops, dealers and makers, seek professional guidance and advice, and be prepared to discount a great many before you find the one that really suits your needs! Have fun and enjoy the experience of trying out bows, it really is an education in how this most important part of a string players armoury works.