Bow is often used as a gift, especially when asked to lower its price. Bow is often sold as an accessory along with the case, rosin, and shoulder pads, as a set. This is also a good thing for beginners, as they can easily acquire their first set of violins with just a small amount of money.

But this is the beginning of a disaster for bow makers. The originally independent instrument (bow) has become an accessory of the violin, and its price has been lowered. After the price of the bow is lowered, excellent bow makers can no longer be cultivated. This cycle makes it even harder to find a good bow.

Bow makers focus on both the functionality and artistic aspects of the bow when making it. Here, the functionality includes sound and operational performance, while art refers to sound quality and decoration. Usually, the first pursuit is functionality, and artistic quality is only discussed after it is satisfied. Let's talk about the function of the bow here.

The violin can only have life (sound) under the friction of the ponytail hair on the bow. The taut state of the ponytail hair directly affects the sound characteristics. Smooth and uniform sound should be the basic performance of the bow, but current bows may not necessarily have uniform sound. To test whether the bow produces uniform sound, you can try playing high pitched strings, especially when playing near the bridge. Due to the required bow pressure and thinner strings, it is easy to hear the changes in sound. Uniform vocalization helps to interpret musical phrases.

Operability, the operational performance of the bow is easily demonstrated when jumping or pausing. In addition to the elasticity in the up and down directions, the strength in the left and right directions of the bow has a significant impact on the stability of the bow body during movement. In an ideal situation, the strength of the bow body on both sides should not be less than the strength in the up and down directions, and the strength in the up and down directions can be controlled by the bow knob (tightening the bow knob indicates that the bow hair is tighter, and the distance between the bow hair and the bow body is widened). However, the strength in the left and right directions cannot be changed. If the bow is tightened to a point where the strength in the up and down directions is greater than the strength in the left and right directions, it will lose stability while obtaining greater allowable bow pressure.

Besides aesthetics, it is not easy for bows to meet the above two requirements. Some products are made very beautifully, but their functional surface lacks goodness, just like a small person wearing gold and silver, with a superficial appearance. Some bows are like gentlemen, with profound connotations beneath their simple appearance