The CodaBow Joule Viola Bow: Energy and Control

CodaBow Joule Viola Bow

The CodaBow Joule Viola bow is an amazing bow for the price. The suggested list price is $735.00. The bow has a sleek carbon fiber design with a Kevlar acoustic core and a graphite diamond weave. The frog is the “turbo” design manufactured specifically for CodaBow by the Walter Paulus Gmbh of Germany. It is made of Xebony, which is engineered ebony. The frog is nickel mounted with a sterling silver coda sign inlaid on each side. This bow is very attractive visually. The bow also boasts a 10 year warranty.
The Joule gets its name from the Joule unit for measuring energy. The bow adheres well to the string in when playing detaché strokes. It pulls an even sound from frog to tip and back from tip to frog. The Joule is easily controlled in martelé strokes and has a fast and even spiccato. The ricochet and sautillé strokes are easy to control.
The Joule is marketed as a bow designed for extended range instruments but plays great on a standard four string instrument. This bow weighs 70.2 grams and the balance point is 9 3/4 inches. The bow is very stable on the string in legato passages and is extremely responsive. The Joule with the turbo frog makes long slow bows feel like they can be sustained for a longer period of time than a bow with a traditional frog. The sound produced by a carbon fiber bow tends to have more clarity than a wood bow although some warmth of sound is lost. Because this bow is so responsive hair tension and hair length greatly effect the way the bow plays. Upon finding the appropriate hair tension the bow reacts to every nuance. This bow rivals a fine pernambuco bow. It is an excellent choice for viola because it allows good grip on the C string and a fluid and silky sound on the A string. This bow drives like a finely tuned Lamborghini but is priced like a Toyota. The Joule viola bow makes a wonderful bow for an advancing student or an excellent addition to a professional violist's arsenal of bows.
Sheila Graves
Violist, Violin Dealer, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Simply Violin, House of Note

CodaBow Diamond GX: Luxury at a Great Price

CodaBow Diamond GX

Introduction: My late violin teacher, Mary West, told her students, “Let your Bow Be Your Voice.” Indeed, a great bow allows our bow strokes to be precise and gives us an incredible feeling of control over the sound we produce. However, a poorly performing bow feels clumsy in the hand and often will not allow us to fully express ourselves. A clumsy bow shakes and quivers as it is drawn, refuses to bounce, and often produces a fuzzy and unpleasing sound.

Though all of the new Diamond Series
bows that I have tried are strong performers, this review covers only their flagship model, the GX.

Fit and Finish:  This bow is beautiful.  The braiding/weave on the carbon fiber stick is even and pleasing to the eye.  The frog is well-made, and the fittings, including pad and winding are high quality and appear built to last. 

Performance: Simply put, the GX is an amazing bow. Its performance rivals some of the finest wood Pernambuco bows I have played in my lifetime, including bows by the fine french makers valued in the tens of thousands of dollars. These Coda GX bows are consistent, well-balanced, and easy to control. They produce a strong, full sound, without shake or quiver, and are equally capable at long legato strokes and the most precise of spiccato bowings. I intended my GX to be my back-up bow, but these days I often reach for it first.

Although I encourage my students to try a wide variety of bows before choosing one to buy, I am amazed at how often they end up selecting the GX.

Tip of Coda Cello bow (to show weave)

Conclusion: Priced around $700.00 retail, the GX may seem expensive compared to some of the other carbon fiber bows on the market. But the GX is truly in a class of its own and rivals some of the best pernambuco wood bows I have ever played. And it may well be the last bow you will ever need to purchase, with the added benefit of being very sturdy and, if not unbreakable, very nearly so.

Now if only Codabow would make us a carbon fiber violin that sounds like a Strad...


Rating: 5 Stars