CELLO BOW

A cello bow is now in process and as with the violin bow we make the fog first. This is because the frog needs to ready to mount on the stick very early on in the process. Since I covered the frog making process in earlier posts I’ll only cover what is unique to a cello frog. The cello frog has a rounded heel or ‘talon’ so this necessitates a different approach in that area. The amount of curve or radius of the heel varies quite a bit between bow makers and in general the earlier 19^th century bows have a bigger radius or are more rounded. There is an aesthetic and stylistic relationship between the curves of throat and the curve of the heel. Since the length of the flat area on the bottom of the frog determines the length of the pearl slide, the rounder heels have a shorter slide all things being equal. In this case our radius is relatively large. The tighter heel curve of late 19^th century makers like Lamy was a bit easier to make and made possible a longer pearl slide since the flat area on the frog was longer.

Once the frogs heel is rounded we fit the eyes in the frog sides and in this case we are using a eye ringed with silver or ‘grain et cercle”. . To receive the ring, a narrow groove is cut with a special drill bit, which cuts the recess for the pearl eye at the same time. Each bow maker makes these bits themselves to the requirements of their taste and style. Francois Tourte was probably the first to make this type of eye and to begin with the ring was fairly heavy, getting finer during the course of the 19^th century. To make this eye a thin strip of silver is cut, bent into a ring and soldered. It is then put on a tapered rod or mandrel and hammered to the correct diameter. It is then filed until it fits snugly into its groove. The pearl eye is filed to fit and glued into its recess followed by the ring, which is hammered lightly into place. When the glue is set, any silver sitting proud can be filed off flush with the sides and the eye is completed.

WILL’S BOW Part 4. Mortise and screw.

With the frog fit we now cut the mortise the screw will ride in, using a little chisel called aptly the ‘mortaise de pannes’. This is done by bracing a knee against the bench and holding the stick firmly on the knee. The stick is very stable in this position and the mortise can be cut securely. Years ago I had just finished making a new chisel and took a small piece of ebony to test it on. The ebony flipped to the side and I drove the chisel to the bone. This made it hard to climb the 6 flights of stairs to my little apartment/workshop on rue Joseph Dijon in the 18ieme arrondisement.

With the mortise cut, the eyelet can be screwed into the frog.

Then the screw hole is drilled using a traditional tool called a ‘foret’. It is operated using a bow made of an old fencing epée and a cello string. The stick is held freehand as the drill bit is directed by eye. The foret is used for all drilling on the bow and like the plane and other tools, they were made by specialized blacksmiths in Mirecourt. They are very hard to find, the violinmaker Vincent Lainé let me have one he had. But the American bowmaker Michael Hattala had the castings made and turned out some excellent forets for some colleagues.