French Bass bow C4

Professional Level

Are you looking for an excellent bow that doesn't cost a fortune? In this case, the C4 is just right for you. In terms of sound and playing characteristics, it surpasses conventional composite bows by far. As a result of its ideal balance and bounce, difficult and fast bowings are easy to execute.

The perfect replacement bow for professional musicians and excellent for advanced students or amateurs: The C3 bassbow has the same stainless steel equipment as the C4, and has almost the same beautiful sound.

"Wow, this is a bow that does it all!"

This is what we have heard so often when musicians played a Müsing bow for the very first time. And indeed, it sits on the strings like on rails but also bounces with incredible ease. It pulls a sound that is inspiring, freeing up the potential of your instrument. They are also pretty and display prime workmanship, feeling fantastic in your hand. Finally they are extremely robust and completely immune against high humidity. A Müsing bow doesn't wobble or cause trouble with any tones anywhere up and down the fingerboard but always produces a pure and clean sound. Last but not least it offers great comfort for your bow arm and hand, so that even during the longest concerts or rehearsals you will never feel tired or uncomfortable.

In 1995 I began researching and developing bows. Three decades later we have acquired a rather unique and very deep understanding not only of bows, but also of strings and instruments. This is essential for developing and producing ideal bows for every instrument and every player. Find the right one for you and finally you can focus entirely on the music, your colleagues and your auditorium, without any worries about the capabilities or limits of your bow.

Three-Dimensional

The sticks of the Müsing bows are made from 3-dimensionally woven carbon fibre in a truly unique process. They are hollow and have wall thicknesses of around and even below 1 mm. This makes them lighter than most of other bows and gives them outstanding tonal properties. (It is the exact same principle that we know perfectly well from instrument making).

Their seamlessly woven carbon fibre structure also ensures maximum strength, resilience and durability. The carbon fiber compound is also completely immune to high humidity. Its durability and strength is way beyond than that of wooden bows, so that it will survive minor or even pretty serious accidents without failing.

Its discreetly translucent woven structure can easily be confused with the simple construction of cheap carbon bows, mostly made in China, although the differences could hardly be greater than for example between bread and noodles, which are both made from the same flour.

Carbon Fiber

Carbon fibres are something like stretched diamonds. Just like these precious stones or graphite, they are made of pure carbon. The exciting thing about carbon fibres is their unparalleled strength and stiffness combined with low weight. In terms of performance, they are far superior to any other material. This is the reason why every racing bike in the Tour de France is primarily made of carbon fibre, every Formula 1 car and even the latest generation of commercial aircraft such as the Airbus A350 or the Boeing 787.

Decisive for the quality of carbon fibre components is the position of the fibres, their orientation and also the resin, i.e. the adhesive used to hold them in place. Among engineers, the term "carbon fibre-reinforced plastics" is used. This term dates back to the early years of these materials when there was more resin than fibres in the product. With the Müsing bows, however, we were able to reduce the resin content to below 40% and thus increase the carbon fibre content to over 60%. The result is a significant reduction in the damping of high-frequency overtones to the level of the very best, priceless pernambuco bows.

Its discreetly translucent woven structure can easily be confused with the simple construction of the cheapest bows, mostly made in China, although the differences could hardly be greater than between bread and noodles, for example, which are both made from the same flour.

The Perfect Bow

Over the past century, not only have the strings of our instruments changed completely, but also the way we play, the way we listen and even the concert halls.

The strings in particular are crucial for the bows, as these two components have to work together perfectly. The development of "modern" wooden bows 200 years ago was geared towards the bare gut strings that were played exclusively at the time. In other words, strings without any winding that behave completely differently to modern steel or synthetic strings.

The Müsing bows are tailored individually for each instrument, violin, viola, cello and bass, and precisely matched to the strings used today. The most important change is that they offer around 50% more resiliency. As a result, the bows bounce perfectly and you can play fortissimo and double stops without touching the strings with the stick.

Longevity

All Müsing bows are meticulously handcrafted in Würzburg. Our not-so-small team of talented craftsmen consists of goldsmiths, technicians, artists and musicians. We use only the best materials and tools to make our bows, and build them to last.

We are the first bow maker in the world to use stainless steel for the ferrule, wrap and linings on our C3-4 and L 3-4-5 bows. This material is particularly robust and looks like new even after many years of intensive use. The buttonsof these models are made of aircraft-grade aluminium, as are the bearings. These materials ensure that you can still adjust the bow easily even after decades of intensive use. We make the frogs from fine ebony or snakewood, the slides and eyes shine in genuine mother-of-pearl.

Our top models, the C5 and L6 bows, are classically mounted in 835 silver. It is of course more expensive, but of all metals it simply has the most beautiful lustre.