Hello, this is Jooyoung Kim, a mixing engineer and music producer.
Some time ago, I briefly saw a bow for an acoustic guitar. I wanted to buy it, but it was too expensive to justify purchasing it as a novelty.
Time passed, and when I was ordering a toroidal transformer for device repair from AliExpress, I wondered if they might also sell guitar bows. To my surprise, they were selling them very cheaply. I decided to purchase from a seller with a decent number of reviews and buyers.
The packaging was quite neat, which was surprising. Including shipping, I think I paid around 15$, and they even included rosin. The package contents seemed quite substantial.
Below is a video I recorded with my phone camera, so the quality isn’t great.
Due to the structure of the guitar and the bow, you can play double stops.
I also tried bowing sideways to see if I could play all six strings simultaneously, but the bow was too short, and I couldn’t apply enough pressure to produce a sound. A better guitar might produce a smoother and richer sound, but I didn’t want to use too much rosin and risk it absorbing moisture and becoming sticky.
When playing, I noticed that if the bow touched the guitar’s harmonic points, the sound would break. It was quite challenging to play, and I realized I might have underestimated it.
Originally, I planned to use this bow to dub MIDI recordings of violin parts, since recording strings can be expensive. However, it might be too difficult. The bow is too short for fast pieces, and the speed required would make it even more challenging.
On the other hand, it seems quite effective for fiddle techniques often used in country music, such as tremolo effects and repeated staccato chords. I think I’ll try writing some pieces incorporating these elements.
I have some songs I’ve been working on, but I haven’t released anything recently. This year, I plan to release at least three songs.
See you again in the next article!
Jooyoung's Music Blog 