Replacing Pernambuco
More than 200 years ago bowmakers found that Pernambuco was the best wood for bow sticks. Compared to other species of wood it offered the best resiliency, strength and resonance. It has since become the standard material for bows for all stringed instruments.
Pernambuco originates from the "Mata Atlantica" in Brazil. It is this little known coastal rainforest which has almost completely disappeared due to clearings and over-harvesting. The "Pau Brazil", the brazilwood tree, is one of the most important species of this forest. In 2007 it was classified as an endangered species, entering the Cites listing in Appendix 2, significantly restricting its exploitation.
Due to ongoing exploitation, smuggle and fabrication of documents Brazil has clamped down on the bow making industry and stopped all exports. This has led to a significant shortage of high quality pernambuco wood and the widespread use of lesser qualities.
At the Cites conference in 2023 and again in 2025 even stricter rules were applied that now enforce documentation (a Cites certificate) for every piece of wood and every bow.
For some years now traditional bowmakers have been trying to find alternate materials, but neither Ipe nor Bamboo of any other wood can deliver a similar sound or strength as Pernambuco.
Carbon fiber composites on the other hand are perfectly suitable for this application and can be used for anything from cheap beginners bows to superior sounding and playing bows for professional players at every level.
Matching Modern Strings
When F. X. Tourte developed the "modern" bow in Paris around 1800, all instruments were fitted with pure gut strings. There is little doubt that he was a true genius and he perfectly matched the strength of his bows exactly to those strings.
Today we play not only much stronger strings with cores made from advanced plastics and steel, wound in aluminum, tungsten, silver or nickel, but also play in concert halls that are 10 times as large as concert halls 200 years ago.
To carry the heavy load of modern strings, all instruments have since been strengthened substantially with stronger bass bars, stronger bridges and solid ebony fiberboards.
With growing concert halls bowmakers tried to make stronger bows. By cutting the sticks thicker, some strength could be added, but at the price of adding weight and making the bows tip heavy, reducing agility and speed. Nickel, iron, steel and aluminum bows were made, but they all failed due to excessive weight or fragility.
Only at the end of the 20th century, when carbon fiber technology was becoming available, he strength of the stick could be matched to moderns strings without adding weight or sacrificing reliability and strength.
With an increase of about 50% in resiliency and a weight reduction of 5-10 grams for a complete bow, the Müsing bows perfectly fit the life and work of today's musicians.
Advanced Carbon Fiber Composites
Carbon fibers are quite a loose bunch, when left alone. It take quite some "glue" to hold them together and make them carry a load. That task is usually fulfilled by epoxy resin, one of the strongest and hardest plastics.
When carbon fiber sticks are manufactured in low-pressure processes the resin content can be as high as 60 to 70%. As epoxy is relatively soft with plenty of damping, this results in sticks with a damping as high as 1%, compared to 0.5% in good pernambuco This results in a sound that is rather dull as particularly the higher overtones are significantly diminished.
By developing a high-pressure process we were able to reduce the resin content to about 40%, bringing the damping to a similar level of the best pernambuco.
The other advantage of the Müsing bows is their hollow stick. Their very even and thin-walled shaft provides a surprisingly fast response that is especially apparent the larger the instrument. Many bassists have been totally flashed by their ease and speed, providing an entirely new experience.
Creating a Perfect Bounce
The bounce of a bow is a result of its curve, stiffness, weight, balance point and especially the distribution of resiliency and weight along the stick. We have build a theoretical model around our own playing experience, calculations, hard thinking and lots of computer based finite element analysis. You will be surprised how easy it is to control the bounce of the Müsing bows and equally easy to stop the bounce again and pull a perfect detaché.
Travel the World
From March 5th 2026 every pernambuco bow must have a Cites certificate to allow international travels or trade. It certifies that the wood used in a specific bow was harvested before 2007. Without such a certificate a bow can be confiscated at any border and the person shipping or carrying may by be subject to punishment by the relevant authorities.
Besides that other materials like tip plates made from ivory, frogs from tortoiseshell or ivory, whalebone windings, lizard skin thumb leather are strictly forbidden from international travel and trade.
With a Müsing bow, you don't need to worry about any of the above as we don't use any materials from endangered species.
The End of Fatigue and Pain
If you are one of the many musicians who regularly experience fatigue in your bow arm or shoulder, a sore thumb or other discomfort in your right hand - playing with a Müsing bow may free you from all that in no time.
Due to their stiffer sticks and reduced weight their fundamental resonance moves up and out of the dangerous frequency range.
Another benefit is that a larger part of the bows resonances contribute to the sound and the bows feel more stable.
Finding the Right Bow
It is virtually impossible to make two exactly identical bow sticks from any fibrous material like wood or carbon fiber composite. And although we have a much tighter control on the characteristics of our bows compared to wood, there is still some noticeable variation in their feel and sound. So in case you are not entirely in love with one specific bow, the next one of the same model might be just right.
That said, if different series like the C- and L- are available make sure to try both, as the offer a distinctly different feel and sound.
And while the playability of all our bows among one series is consistent on a very high level, there are important differences in their resonance quality. We determine this by tap testing each and every stick when it is finished. Those sticks with the most damping resp. least resonance like the C2 or L3 will still be a match to good quality pernambuco bows and clearly surpass all basic carbon fiber bows. These are great bows for
beginners and students, who will find their playing progresses significantly faster and their practising is a lot more enjoyable.
The sound quality of the mid range of the Müsing bows is on another level again. Here we can match fine pernambuco bows than can easily cost 10 times as much and still feel weaker and offer some problematic qualities in various ways. Bows like a C3, C4, L4 can be a lot of fun, provide all you ever need in the orchestra and even get you through conservatory.
If you mean to win an audition, a competition, lead an orchestra section of play chamber music concerts, the upper end of the Müsing bows is what will get the job done with confidence. A C5, L5 or L6 is all you will ever need and possibly the best bow you might ever have played or heard.
Made in Germany
15 year unlimited warranty on the stick
All Müsing bows are designed and made in Würzburg, Germany, with utmost care and dedication. By using only the best available materials and our proprietary process the quality of the Müsing bows is unsurpassed in their class. We can therefore offer a warranty of 15 years on the stick. The frog is covered by a 2 year warranty. These warranties are transferable and not limited to the initial owner.
The hair, winding, thumb leather screw and eye are excluded from the warranty as they are subject to normal wear and tear.