Is CodaBow Prodigy overpriced?

[Spelman]

1 hour ago, Mike_Danielson said:

Arcus bows are in a special, unique, carbon fiber class.  Very expensive, very stiff, and very very light.  I would say that most players have trouble making the transition to the light weight.  

Nah, if you're any good it just takes a few days and a little patience.

[Altgeiger]

1 hour ago, GeorgeH said:

The undeniable fact is that they have been in business for many years and have many satisfied customers so the bows are not "overpriced" for them. 

They wouldn't be the first to be in business for many years selling overpriced items.

[GeorgeH]

30 minutes ago, Altgeiger said:

They wouldn't be the first to be in business for many years selling overpriced items.

Price represents an agreement between a buyer and a seller. "Overpriced" items don't sell.

I understand that you don't like Coda Bows and don't want to buy one, but they clearly are not, by definition, overpriced.

 

[Mike_Danielson]

Thanks to GeorgeH, I went to the Codabow site--top of the line cello bows are $1900.  

Stiffness, balance point, and weight are quantifiable in real numbers, and this is important to bow makers (and also to players, if they knew how to use it).  Your chart is just hand-waving.  I do not know what Codabow means by dynamic behavior in quantitative terms.  

For $1900, you can get a good wood bow.

[Altgeiger]

3 hours ago, GeorgeH said:

Price represents an agreement between a buyer and a seller. "Overpriced" items don't sell.

Musicians famously are perfectly rational and well-informed economic actors. It would be impossible to get one of them to buy an overpriced item using puffery and vague promises of energy and high performance. Even unscrupulous dealers know this.

[GeorgeH]

12 minutes ago, Altgeiger said:

Musicians famously are perfectly rational and well-informed economic actors. It would be impossible to get one of them to buy an overpriced item using puffery and vague promises of energy and high performance. Even unscrupulous dealers know this.

Now that is funny. 

[Dwight Brown]

8 hours ago, Spelman said:

Corvette? Bricklin?

 

[Dwight Brown]

26 minutes ago, Dwight Brown said:

 

 

It’s like Tupperware only faster 

DLB

[Dr. Mark]

4 hours ago, GeorgeH said:

I understand that you don't like Coda Bows and don't want to buy one, but they clearly are not, by definition, overpriced.

It seems you're dictating other's opinions.  Do terms like 'overpriced' have some kind of absolute meaning, defined by some objective metric?  You're trying to justify a fool's parade.

4 hours ago, GeorgeH said:

Price represents an agreement between a buyer and a seller. "Overpriced" items don't sell.

Overpriced items sell all the time.  We could discuss it further if you like, but that doesn't seem to be a good use of Maestro-Net.

[Bill Yacey]

On 8/24/2024 at 6:30 PM, Dwight Brown said:

I have a Coda Bow viola bow Diamond GX that I bought out of curiosity. It was at the time their top of the line bow. It wasn’t assembled correctly and had to be sent back which seemed a bit odd but I chalked it up to my dumb luck. They were quite nice and did take care of it. It is ok and it’s a bow I use in hand to hand combat conditions like outdoor concerts, etc. it cost about $1000.00 at the time. It doesn’t feel like much in my hand, rather lifeless really but it’s straight and serviceable. You might try a Jon Paul bow from one of their dealers. I have a Benoit Rolland Avante carbon violin bow that I used for teaching that I rather liked. And I think the Jon Paul bows are a development of that. For clarification my Coda Bow is a viola bow. Bows are very personal. If at all possible try them out first some dealers like Shar and others will send you bows to try on trial. One person’s Tourte is another person’s tomato stake! If you have a teacher have them try them too.

just some ideas from an old fart.

DLB

Tomato stake. I like that!

[Victor Roman]

12 hours ago, Spelman said:

Nah, if you're any good it just takes a few days and a little patience.

That is absolutely not the case unless ( maybe ??) the bow was something you have been already used to. On the few occasions I had to change bows it took me way more than a few days to become as comfortable with the replacement. Maybe the public could not tell but I could.

[Victor Roman]

10 hours ago, GeorgeH said:

Price represents an agreement between a buyer and a seller. "Overpriced" items don't sell.

I understand that you don't like Coda Bows and don't want to buy one, but they clearly are not, by definition, overpriced.

 

"Overpricing" is often used to create a sense of quality and desirability, targeting the snob and the uninformed . And the uninformed snob.  As an example see posh restaurants and cars from BMW and Mercedes Benz. Or Rolls Royce.  

[Victor Roman]

5 hours ago, Dr. Mark said:

Overpriced items sell all the time.  We could discuss it further if you like, but that doesn't seem to be a good use of Maestro-Net.

Maybe, maybe not. I remember some of my colleagues buying "overpriced" violins from dealers, violins decidedly worse than the ones they used until. 

[reg]

Frankly this discussion seems almost one sided. The obvious answer is to find a shop where you can try Coda, Jon Paul, Arcus, and many others. You cannot buy a bow online as it is a very subjective choice. Coda Prodigy is a best seller and priced very competitively with many happy players

[Dr. Mark]

1 hour ago, reg said:

...priced very competitively...

There we go!

[GeorgeH]

7 hours ago, Dr. Mark said:

Overpriced items sell all the time.  We could discuss it further if you like, but that doesn't seem to be a good use of Maestro-Net.

I agree with both statements.   

[reg]

Frankly this discussion seems almost one sided. The obvious answer is to find a shop where you can try Coda, Jon Paul, Arcus, and many others. You cannot buy a bow online as it is a very subjective choice. Coda Prodigy is a best seller and priced very competitively with many happy players

[reg]

Just now, reg said:

Frankly this discussion seems almost one sided. The obvious answer is to find a shop where you can try Coda, Jon Paul, Arcus, and many others. You cannot buy a bow online as it is a very subjective choice. Coda Prodigy is a best seller and priced very competitively with many happy players

For the record a Coda Prodigy sells for £369 in the UK

[Dr. Mark]

2 hours ago, GeorgeH said:

I agree with both statements.

That, Sir, is unfair.   The dismal science, it's called...

[David Burgess]

9 hours ago, Victor Roman said:

"Overpricing" is often used to create a sense of quality and desirability, targeting the snob and the uninformed . And the uninformed snob.  As an example see posh restaurants and cars from BMW and Mercedes Benz. Or Rolls Royce.  

Agreed. Smart owners of today's Mercedes and BMW automobiles (if they were smart to begin with) get rid of them as soon as the warranty expires, so that the maintenance and repair expenses don't go through the roof! That's why to the uninformed, these warranty-expired used cars seem like such excellent deals.

[ViolinAnanda]

Thank you all for answers. Hahah, I'm still confused about what would be the most optimal option as opinions are so spread. I see that on Thomann, CB prodigy is 5th in ranking of best selling products and there is also wooden bow Karl Hofner H8/5 that is at similar price but is 3rd best selling product. Did anyone have experience with this Karl hofner bow?

I dont have much option as there is not a lot of cheap carbon bows in my local shop to choose from so I feel attracted to Thomann online shop, Im from Europe and without much experience with Bows I'm not sure I feel like buying second hand on Ebay without having guarantee, it will probably take time to find good deal also.

If anyone see better option in Thomann online shop that would be better than codabow Prodigy I will be forever grateful. There is some Artino bf-31vn for $300 I wonder how it would compare to Prodigy. Also some economic Gewa Advanced Carbon Bow for $150 that is 2 best selling product.

[Spelman]

21 hours ago, Dwight Brown said:

 

Niiice!

[Mike_Danielson]

8 hours ago, David Burgess said:

Agreed. Smart owners of today's Mercedes and BMW automobiles (if they were smart to begin with) get rid of them as soon as the warranty expires, so that the maintenance and repair expenses don't go through the roof! That's why to the uninformed, these warranty-expired used cars seem like such excellent deals.

I have a relative that was a cashier for the BMW dealer in San Diego.  She said you should only lease BMWs because they break down often and are very expensive to repair.

The closest thing to leasing a bow is to get a bunch of them to try out before purchase.

[Johnny Sun]

With 300-500USD, you can get a  Chinese silver mounted pernambuco bow which plays excellent. As a professional musician I personally suggest you not to use a carbon stick, ever. 

[Strad O Various Jr.]

36 minutes ago, Johnny Sun said:

With 300-500USD, you can get a  Chinese silver mounted pernambuco bow which plays excellent. As a professional musician I personally suggest you not to use a carbon stick, ever. 

The Chinese bows are not really pernambuco, which is illegal, but the wood they use is quite strong and can make a decent student bow, also classic or antique nickel mount pernambuco or brasilwood bow can be had in the same price range and if you have many to chose from you can find good ones