10 Best Cello Bows Review

Buying the best cello bow is just as important as buying the right cello. The right cello bow can make a mediocre cello sound like a Stradivarius. Okay, we may be exaggerating a bit, but buying the best cello bow is a critical component of the cello buying experience. Before making your decision from the cello bows below, we highly recommend reading our guide on how to buy a cello bow.

Types of Cello Bows

There are three main types of cello bows. Most beginner cello outfits come with a fiberglass bow which is sturdy enough to handle accidents that may arise from the beginner cellist, but usually cello players will want to advance to a wooden bow or carbon fiber bow when they buy their first serious instrument. The sound quality from a wooden or carbon fiber bow far exceeds that of a fiberglass bow.

Fiberglass Bow – Best for Beginner

Fiberglass bows are best for the beginner who is learning the ropes of playing the cello and is not concerned so much with sound quality. Fiberglass bows are extremely cheap making them suitable for beginners who are not sure whether they will continue playing the cello.

Our Recommended Fiberglass Bow

See the Glasser Fiberglass Cello Bow on Amazon

Wooden Bow – Best for All Levels

Wooden bows are the standard for cello players. Most players, even beginners, own at least one wooden bow. Wooden bows are traditionally made out of Pernambuco wood, a Brazilian wood that provides strength and springiness.

Cheaper wooden bows will be made out of what’s known as “Brazilwood” which uses lower quality parts of the Pernambuco to produce bows. These bows do not typically have the same sound quality as pure Pernambuco wooden bows.

Our Recommended Wooden Bow

See the D Z Strad #805 Pernambuco Cello Bow on Amazon

Carbon Fiber Bow – Best for All Levels

Carbon fiber bows, also known as graphite bows, are extremely sturdy, but also produce quality sound. Environmental effects have little impact on a carbon fiber bow. You also do not have to worry about breaking the tip or having to replace the bow because it broke in half.

Carbon fiber bows solve many of the issues that traditional wooden bows have. Wood bows can easily swell, warp and even crack when they are exposed to different environmental situations. They can also easily snap. To get the best sound from a wooden bow they cannot be overly thick, however a thin bow will easily break.

Many purists believe that they will not get the same sound from a carbon fiber bow as from a wood bow. This is no longer true as over the last decade engineers and designers have developed carbon fiber bows that in some cases are superior to the wooden bow. Many professionals now actually carry both a wooden and carbon fiber bow in their cases.

Our Recommended Carbon Fiber Bow

See the Fiddlerman Carbon Fiber Cello Bow on Amazon

Why We Chose These Bows

Our goal in identifying the best 10 cello bows was to evaluate sound quality, elasticity, durability, and affordability.

We looked at hundreds of cello bows and found the best cello bows of the lot. The ten cello bows are the ones we believe to be the best cello bows available.

A great hand-made carbon fiber bow that is both light and bouncy. The bow is manufactured to replicate the weight and curve of an expensive Pernambuco wood bow.

The bow has a copper mounted ebony frog and Siberian horse hair. The bow weighs ~80grams.

This is the best deal for a cello bow under $100. Fiddlerman knows how to pick his bows.

This bow is 100% handcrafted with Pernambuco wood from Brazil that is well-balanced with fast-response. The hair is unbleached Mongolian horsehair which provides a warm, nice balance sound.

The frog is made of high-quality ebony and the screw is made from pure silver. The frog slide, eyes, and end of the screw are inlaid with beautiful mother-of-pearl.

Another beautiful bow that also sounds amazing! Handcrafted in the USA, the CodaBow Diamond has a core made of Kevlar, the same material used in bulletproof vests so you know this bow is sturdy.

The sound quality of CodaBow cello bows is amazing, something only some of the finest Pernambuco bows can match.

CodaBow was founded by a composite scientist, an aerospace engineer, and a master bowmaker meaning the bows are superior from both an engineering, materials, and playability standpoint.

The CodaBow Prodigy cello bow is a great step up for beginners who are transitioning to an intermediate cello. The Prodigy line of the CodaBows provides a fuller sound than a traditional fiberglass bow and is far more affordable than most of the higher end intermediate cello bows.

Handcrafted in the USA, the CodaBow Diamond has an acoustic core and has a graphite diamond weave finish.

CodaBow was founded by a composite scientist, an aerospace engineer, and a master bowmaker meaning the bows are superior from both an engineering, materials, and playability standpoint.

The JonPaul Bravo cello bow is a professional bow at a budget price. Coming in at less than $300, this bow has all of the features of higher end $1,500+ cello bows.

With superb playability and beautiful tone, JonPaul bows are made with a premium sterling-silver ebony frog, a Parisian goldfish eye, a sterling-silver winding, a lizard grip, and the finest quality hair.

The carbon fibers are “laid out” by hand to mimic the feel and sound of fine pernambuco more successfully than any other carbon fiber bow on the market. The stick is covered in a Steinway black finish to create a truly beautiful bow.

A great bow for professionals and serious pllayers, the Snakewood bow by D Z Strad now only looks stylish, but plays beautifully as well with a clear and loud sound. The weight feels light in hand, but is significant enough to make double-stops and staccato easy.

The bow uses Mongolian horsehair and weighs in at ~90 grams.

A great beginner cello bow, the D Z Strad Model 205 is well balanced to allow for quick response and resiliency. In the sub-$100 range, this is by far the cheapest cello bow here, but it certainly deserves to be on this list.

The frog is handmade from polished premium ebony and it features genuine white, unbleached Mongolian grade AA horse hair.