SamY - Posted - 05/12/2012:  14:05:07

I see lots of mentions on FHO that Carbon Fiber bows are a nice thing to have, especially when playing outdoors, because the stick is not affected by humidity.  It seems to me that the hair is far more affected than the stick.  Sometimes I tension up my bow, play a couple of tunes, then something doesn't seem right.  I look at the bow and the hair is far tighter or far looser than moments before.  I can't believe a wood stick would change that fast.  So if it's the hair, wouldn't the same thing happen with a CF bow?  Or are you talking about a greater period of time in which the hair finally stabilizes (does it?) but the wood stick just starts to be affected?

Diane G - Posted - 05/12/2012:  15:51:15

Hi SamY.....people are generally taking about the hair that changes and not the stick. Horse hair will absorb moisture and be come slack with increased humidity....the hair will loose the moisture when dry (heating systems during the Winter) and become tight. And yes, a CF bow with horse hair is going to react the same way...it's the hair that changes and not the wood or the CF. Brasilwood and Pernambuco are very oily woods and very dense and are not affected by humidity.
Lots to learn about bows....Allthingsstrings.com is a great resource for bows..check out their blogs on same.
Stay tuned and keep that bow moving!
Diane

mswlogo - Posted - 05/12/2012:  16:44:42

I agree a lot of folks say get carbon bow for humidity.

It's the hair and rosin that is affected far more than the stick.

richdissmore - Posted - 05/12/2012:  16:53:51

the incredibow is carbon fiber it has carbon fiber hair there are no addjustments to make at all put rosin on it and play it cleans up very easy if you want one order the incredibow ph.870--213--5029 i like mine i oun two of them ultra ligth cost may be $125.00 it comes in colors yes it cleans up with a damp rag then wipe with dry rag and wate tell it drys

rcc - Posted - 05/12/2012:  23:33:33

The advantage that carbon fiber bows with real horsehair have over wood sticks is that the CF bows are far far far more resistant to warping or breaking.

This especially matters if you haven't loosened your hair enough and you bring it inside. The hair will tighten up a *lot*. A wood stick migh get warped or worse. A CF stick won't.

mswlogo - Posted - 05/13/2012:  09:51:57

quote:

---

Originally posted by rcc

The advantage that carbon fiber bows with real horsehair have over wood sticks is that the CF bows are far far far more resistant to warping or breaking.



This especially matters if you haven't loosened your hair enough and you bring it inside. The hair will tighten up a *lot*. A wood stick migh get warped or worse. A CF stick won't.

---

My teachers CF (Coda bow) is warped. I agree though CF will tend to have much less warping issues. Most warping issues are due to having uneven amount of hair.

Edited by - mswlogo on 05/13/2012 09:53:27

SamY - Posted - 05/14/2012:  20:44:57

Thanks to all for your comments.  So it seems CF has no advantage when humidity is the only concern.

bj - Posted - 05/15/2012:  11:44:26

Bulldoody to everyone who says that a CF stick isn't better in high humidity. When the humidity is high, the CF is the only one that will keep tension on the hair. The wood bows I end up playing on the stick even with the adjuster turned all the way. Many other people (probably every fiddler at Clifftop, LOL!) have had the same experience.

hardykefes - Posted - 05/15/2012:  13:21:55

One aspect that has not been discussed here is the influence of the temperature.

I don't have experience with CF bows and always wanted to buy one just because of the "outside-night-effect".

Two things are changing with playing from day to late night: Humidity AND temperature.

I believe that humidity almost only will effect the hair, but I am under the impression that actually the temperature drop will influence the stiffness of the wooden bow most. May be one day I try this out by putting a wooden bow in the fridge and see how it behaves.

To eliminate the temperature influence the CF bow might be superior and I may end up buying one just for the outside-night sessions.

OldNSlow - Posted - 05/15/2012:  15:16:19

quote:

---

Originally posted by mswlogo



I agree a lot of folks say get carbon bow for humidity.



It's the hair and rosin that is affected far more than the stick.

---

Pretty much says it all.  The fact that a CF bow warped says more about the manufacture of said bow than anything else.

wheelhoss - Posted - 05/16/2012:  06:18:52

Incredibow is the only way to go in high humidity or whenever the hair sags too much. Not a real quality bow, but if you want to play in those conditions, it always works.

mswlogo - Posted - 05/16/2012:  09:03:00

quote:

---

Originally posted by bj

Bulldoody to everyone who says that a CF stick isn't better in high humidity. When the humidity is high, the CF is the only one that will keep tension on the hair. The wood bows I end up playing on the stick even with the adjuster turned all the way. Many other people (probably every fiddler at Clifftop, LOL!) have had the same experience.

---

I don't disbelive your experience. But you *might* be assuming it's because it's CF yours didn't fail you. If one bow had more range on the Frog it might do better in extreme conditions (you could tighten it a bit further than others). Your hair may have been slightly tighter than avg. The guy that I had do my bow made it slightly tight because summer was coming.

I have 2 bows I regularly use. One CF, one wood. The hair sags and tightens with humidity almost identically between the two.

There could be a slight difference with wood vs CF. But it's the hair that reacts very quickly to humidity and very significantly to humidity (compared to the stick).

OldNSlow - Posted - 05/16/2012:  10:33:17

There is very little difference between wood and carbon fiber in linear expansion.  CF can be constructed to have a zero coefficient of linear expansion, but since it is already so slight, there isn't really any reason to make it.  The expansion and contraction of the hair far outweighs what the bow itself is made of.