JonPaul Carrera Violin Bow

Great Bow!

I'm a professional symphony violinist of 35 years and have always experimented with different bows and instruments. I've tried all the carbon fiber bows made by Codabow, and really liked the Marquise GS bow, but it wasn't quite what I was looking for. The shop I was going to didn't have any JonPaul bows at the time, it was about 3 years ago that I started looking at carbon fiber bows. I was really intrigued with the beautiful JonPauyl Carerra bow. I researched some YouTube video review on the Carerra and decided to try it out. Wow! I REALLY like this bow after having it a couple weeks now. I got the Firm version with white horn frog. First, it's beautifully made, excellent craftsmanship. However my experience with the frog color was similar to a review I read from someone else who bought the white horn frog. The color is MUCH darker than the ivory color in the photo. It's more like a medium beige putty color rather than ivory. Not a huge deal but I would have much preferred the lighter light ivory color shown in the photo. Second, the performance is really good! It outperforms my much more expensive Pernambuco bows that I've used for decades. It's so stable and predictable on the string, as well as off the string spicatto and other bow strokes, soft or loud volume. It draws a pretty supple round tone, yet also can produce a bite in the sound when asked to. I'm SO HAPPY I gave this bow a try and will probably make this my go to bow from now it. It's such a joy to play with. I highly recommend it. I have one negative comment regarding Fiddlershop service. I never got any confirmation when the bow was shipped or would arrive, no tracking link, nothing. I called them TWICE asking the status after several days had gone by. I spoke to a live person each time and they were extremely nice and professional. I asked if could I get a tracking link or status on my order? I was assured they would look into it and let me know, but I never heard any anything back or got any email with shipping info as promised. However interestingly enough a day later after the second call my bow arrived. So glad to get it, but I wish Fiddlershop would have been better about letting me know about the shipping info. They dropped the ball on that.

JonPaul Carrera Bow.

Fiddlerman is fantastic in all ways. It is my go-to for online order of string “things.”…. This bow replaces a Coda Luma bow, since Coda Bows refused to honor the warranty on that bow, which I had for about 3 years (it had a defect in the screw area which was not long enough, and they refused to replace the screw or “drill out” the space for the current screw.) I will never own or recommend that corrupt company! The weight and the balance of the Carrera Bow is quite nice. I ordered the “bone” color, and the frog is darker than I anticipated, but that’s aesthetics. It plays well, and it does all the things a gig player wants from a bow. I will recommend JP bows to my students and my colleagues if and when they look for a new carbon fiber bow. …. I am enjoying it, and it’s serving my needs.

I returned both bows because it was a home trial. They were on par with the highest end coda bow.