My VEGAN Violin Bow! 

One thing's for certain, I could make either bow sound like they were $5

Horse hair bow seems to produce a bigger, more direct sound. The vegan bow is pretty, but I think the sound is muffled and less powerful.

I think you play more enthusiastically with the horse hair bow. It felt to me like you enjoyed it more with the natural bow rather than the synthetic, but perhaps that bow felt better, more familiar, in your hand. A very valid experiment and thanks for bringing this issue into the discussion room. It has made me think.

I hope everyone understands that no one kills horses to make a bow!

It doesn't sound better or worse : it sounds different. If bows were always made with fiber and horse hair was the new material, we certainly might found fiber "better". Because we would have been used to the sound. Same thing happened when we moved from strings made of sheeps gut to metal or synthetic. Baroque era people would have probably said that metal strings sounded "worse".

It’s awesome there’s things like this out there! I didn’t know this existed:) The horse bow has a richer sound, and the vegan bow has a clearer sound. I can see the appeal of both.

The horse haired bow seemed to be brighter and a greater range of colours. However, I can see where the vegan haired bow could be the better choice it all depends on the piece you are playing and what feelings and stories you are trying to communicate.

I love the both of them! 💕 The vegan bow🥬: - plays really nicely with higher pitches {like the ones on open E and A.} - looks very appealing. The horsehair bow🐴: - gives you a really nice rich, hardy sound. - it also seems to handle the pressure of pushing the hair itself into the strings a lot better rather than the vegan bow. The vegan bow, I couldn't really tell whether you where applying additional pressure or not. But yeah, I love them equally. Both are good to keep around, depending on what you play and how you'd like to play it. 😊 have good day/night :)

Excellent. I just had someone make me a vegan Banjo, artificial skin for the head. We need more of this in the world.

I have always wanted a vegan violin bow

From what I can hear, the Horsehair sounds more stereo field! More open sound! The vEgan sounds amazing but more centred! In a duet, both would sound amazing together!

The horse hair bow sound is supreme to the vegan bow. Maybe do a blind test

🤗 Thank you for sharing this with us. The horsehair sounds a bit fuller, deeper and warmer, but I am pleasantly surprised by the sound of the artificial hairs. I am convinced that this is just the beginning of a bow with artificial hair and that it is still going to evaluate very hard. Hopefully this will become a standard in the future 😁🌬🎼🎻💝💐😉

I really like your playing. I was surprised by the synthetic bow. It does sound different but i really like it. I think the two options have their place.

I think I actually prefer the sound of the synthetic. The traditional bow hair sounds a bit more rough, scratchy, and harsh, and the synthetic seems a bit cleaner.

I’m happy to hear about such alternatives! It’s really great

Being a vegan string player this has been something i’ve always had to neglect, but with this I can play without worry. Thank you!

Sadly, these bows are nowhere available in the USA. As a committed vegan, I'd love to have a fine bow that is truly vegan.

This is an interesting experiment. The sound and the tones are rounder and smoother with the horse hair bow, but... ...the notes are/sound more 'articulate' with the vegan bow. Also, the vegan bow has a better hair colour.

That's really interesting! I find that the hair bow created a much richer sound in the middle and high registers, but on the low string I actually preferred the sound of the synthetic hair; it was cleaner and more pure. Maybe with different strings or rosin the high register could be improved with the synthetic hair.

Can you help me find how to order from the site? I’m going around in cycles and dnt know how to get the shop to see prices..

You play so beautifully! The vegan bow sound is lighter which can be better for many pieces! White noise can be eliminated by a very light sanding and darker rosin.

I like the look of the vegan bow.

I also tried this hair. I found it needed more rosin. It was almost more forgiving in that it always made a beautiful sound. But as I think your videos also showed, it had less direct “grunt” compared to horse hair. As an artist sometimes we want those gritty articulations which I couldn’t get with coruss. On the plus it has a consistent smooth even tone. Upside, is I used it at a fiddle camp and it doesn’t suffer from humidity and weather like horsehair. It has it’s place and would depend on what the player prefers

the horse is not harmed. They collect the pieces of the horse hair that has fallen off and put it in the bow. edit: I corrected one of my words

Why did I read the title as “My MEGA Violin Bow”

1) What is the thumb grip made of on the vegan bow? 2) Seems like the attacks were smoother on the synthetic hair -- less scratchy than the horse hair. That can work well for some music or defeat other. Great to see them played side by side!

I prefer the vegan bow for sure!

Huge props for not using a shoulder rest 💪

Both sounds great because its Esther playing it 😻😻

I don't see much point in the fact that the bow is vegan since I am sure the horses are not being bred solely for there tail hair, but I may be wrong about that. I have seen the care taken by a luthier as they select only the very best hairs from a hank in rehairing a bow. Is "rehairing" the correct word? It sounds odd to me now, but there again, it is 4 am! Esther, does everyone at The Royal Birmingham Conservatory play in their dormitory? The walls must be thick.

Horse hair seems grippier, it sounds like it produces somewhat of a pop at the start of each note which makes every note stand out more from one another, but the synthetic bow sounds clearer and more fluid.

The horse hair bow sounds better to me. I'm an ethical and environmental vegan, though, so I think that's ultimately irrelevant. Any legitimate thing we can do to make the world a better place, even if it's inconvenient or doesn't sound quite as good, should be done. The world won't end if everyone's using sustainable vegan bows. Whereas if we keep doing unsustainable things, the world as we know it will end, and how good or bad a violin sounds with a synthetic bow compared to a traditional bow won't matter in the slightest to a planet devoid of life that can appreciate it. That said, is the synthetic hair used for the bow is even sustainable? Is it biodegradable? Is it recyclable? For that matter, is the rest of the bow also made of sustainable materials? People talk about carbon fiber (which has become a thing for many instruments lately, and which that bow stick may be made of) being this great wonder material for the environment, but it's not recyclable and its production is wasteful and a lot of it will just end up in a landfill, likely to sit there for centuries or millennia without ever degrading or, worse, poisoning the environment as it degrades, releasing harmful chemicals into the ecosystem. You can't try to solve one environmental problem (less deforestation) by creating another one. Demand better, friends.

The bow with horse hair sounds better. More warmer and richer in sound. The vegan bow sounds flat. Really boring even to listen to. It misses the charisma that the horse hair bow have.

Now you just need a vegan violin which is not glued with bone glue.

the future is here

Interesting experiment! Do bows get "worn in"? The vegan bow sounds brighter but less smooth, so I'm wondering if that might have to do with the vegan bow being just out of the box.

you have to use the same bow with different hair to compare properly.

What about the fishglue that holds your violin together?

i wsh for a sane, vegan world.

is there cruelty in the process of getting horse hair for bows?

The problem is that we have to maintain horse farms just to produce a horsehair bow ... In the past, they chose horsehair bow because it was the best solution for scientific knowledge at that time. Today we can produce products useful to the welfare of humanity without degrading nature. To me, the Vegan violin bow sounds like a great invention of an ecologically sustainable society! Thank you so much for sharing this information.

In my opinion, the vegan bow sounds very precise and the Horse haired bow has a warmer sound. Both sound really Beautiful but that probably comes more from you :)

l think that the horse hair sounds more loud then the other bowl but i really LOVE it

omg the vegan one actually sounded better!

I was just curious about how the vegan bow would sound and ended up reading an argument between vegans and non-vegans lmao

The violin is glued together with hide glue....

Beautiful bow.

Horse hair had a much richer and fuller sound. Synthetic had a clean sound and was a little brighter, but lacked depth and warmth.

Vegan bow have a stronger tone on the low notes, horse hair bow sound sweet and lovely on the higher notes!

I am laughing at the title. Even my fucking profile picture is laughing

Synthetic is good for beginners and maybe for practice, but I always go for the horse hair. You can get more sound variety out of it, and it's a lot warmer. For someone going into performance, definitely do horse hair. It doesn't hurt the horse, it's just as if they were getting a hair cut. That being said, synthetic is great for beginners, students, and practice if you don't want to strain your horse hair bow.

No horses die to make violin bows, we just cut their hair, it grows back

Horse sound much more natural and relax.

Very beautifully!!!

Hola! Realmente no conocían este tipo de arco, gracias por compartir 💕

It sounds the same to me. The vegan one is maybe slightly dipper, but IDK

For a true comparison, the Coruss hair should also be used on the wooden bow otherwise you are comparing bows of different materials, handling and quality instead.

Very slight difference...the horse hair bow sounds more powerful...like i can feel it while ur playing whereas the vegan hair sounds plain

I think I noticed a bit of a difference in depth and richness of sound between the synthetic bow and the horsehair bow, but that might be partially due to your not being accustomed to playing with the synthetic bow. Both sound really good with your playing. I'd be interested to know if the color wears off with use, or if the synth bows require the same amount of rosin.

It's not only the hair but the wood also makes a difference. So, to test the bows they should be of similar price range.

Horse-Hair has much more grid, however might be a good option for low budget players.

Two set!!!

The content of this video is about the horse bow and the vegan bow. But i don't see any comparison between those bows as i see and hear senpai play. So gorgeous ❤❤❤

Did I miss it? Or did you mention the price of the wooden bow with the horse hair? I would like to know as a comparison. Also if ever you have the chance to rehair your wooden bow with the synthetic hair and do a comparison of the wooden bow with both types of hair, that would be most helpful. Then we would be judging the hair and not the quality of the bow. I see the statistic* that 95 to 98% of the bow hair comes from "slaughtered" horses. Keep in mind that all of meat we eat also comes from "slaughtered" animals. (they were alive until slaughtered!) Also that on average 5 horses have to be slaughtered to make the hair for a single bow. (statistic from M. Sowden probably best known bow hair supplier in world)

I think Ray Chen's title of a similar video is better. Because that bow is not vegan by any stretch of the imagination. It may be vegan friendly. "Carbon fiber/synthetic hair (vegan-friendly bow) vs Traditional violin bow" was the title Ray Chen used and I think it quite a good one. And for anyone wondering what veganism is about: www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/definition-veganism

Horse hair produces a clearer sound especially on the D and G strings from my perspective.

That is way cool 😎!

Also violins are technically not vegan because most use hide glue and the only violins that are not vegan are those not made out of wood, and made out of things like carbon fibre

Is there somewhere I can purchase the vegan bow? I'm having trouble finding it on the site. Thank you! From the USA

I prefer the sound of the non vegan option, it’s got a nicer sound and it’s much louder and stronger :)

Do you know how to make a purchase of this vegan bow?

A bit unrelated, but you play so well!

Very interesting, I never heard about it.

I think hair horse bow are better just because of the fact that bow making with horse hair is a very old doing and therefore it has been perfected for centuries, whereas synthetic bows are new.. There'll be a day when synthetic bows will be very close to the horse hair ones I think.

Amazing Vegan Bow! Sounds powerful 🙆

They sound very similar, but I do like the vegan one more. The horse hair sounds a bit scratchy.

The Horse wins.

It may be me but I think that the vegan one produces a better sound.

the vegan sounds velvet, and quicker,,tho, you are the amazing,

pretty teacher ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

The vegan bow sounds very good! How does it sound to you and where can I buy one?

the horse hair bow sounds more crunchy

Wow 🤩

Very beatiful 👏👏😘😘😘♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️🌻🌻

Horse hair sounded more full and complex. Vegan bow sounded louder but simpler. It’s probably not a fair comparison, though, as she’s been practicing for years with the standard bow, so that’s what the muscle memory is optimized for.

🤗 👏 I hope this remains the new trend for the future 🙏🏻😉💝💐

Me alegra que exista esa opción Vegana !! Es evidente la diferencia del sonido, creo que es el primer paso en la búsqueda de un sonido lo más parecido al original .( con crin de caballo)👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Sin embargo NADA justifica el maltrató animal y la crueldad .

Wot never seen this in my life *THIS IS INCREDIBLE*

Im not a vegan but a red bow would be kinda cool

Are you vegan ? 😍

Do you know if the frog has the mother of pearl or is it fake and do you know if the tip is made out of ivory?

A less environmentally friendly option for people who would rather eventually strangle a bird at a landfill than cut some hair from a horse's tail.

Realy good!!!

Vegan bows are amazing. Wish more people knew about them!

How is it rehaired? Only by that company?

I have an icredibow and love it. You may want to check them out.

I have tried the synthetic bow hair, I was disappointed. It does sound clean and play fine, with a quick response...but it's not as warm or rich sounding as regular bow hair.

The horsehair bow gives off more harmonics that are natural sounds to the violin and bow working together. The vegan bow has less harmonics and sounds like a synthesizer.

Wow