FINAL STEPS

The frog illustrated in some previous posts has been mounted on a stick and the bow is nearly finished. This bow is for Antonio Anselmi, a violinist in Rome who is concertmaster of the I Musici chamber orchestra. The selection of the stick was critical for this bow as it always is for the bow maker. Anselmi plays on a late Amati with a Tourte weighing about 57 grams and he wants a soprano vocal quality to the sound. So the challenge was to find a stick with the right tonal potential of low to medium density wood. One such stick was found but ended up being set aside well into the process because intuitively it lacked too many other requisite characters. So a stick of very responsive wood of medium density was chosen and the projected weight raised slightly to 59 grams. The stick is quite powerful but much of this is placed in reserve through the cambering approach to give the stick flexibility. Several earlier bows I made with the same wood proved to have a pure, singing upper register.

In the picture you can see the unlined frog while the screw and evelet are lubricated. An unlined frog should not swing laterally on the stick as this can weaken the edges. So the frog is carefully adjusted for a snug fit. Finally the bow is measured and the camber recorded so I have the record of the bow and can duplicate aspects of it in future bows if need be. The diameter of the stick is measured in 12 places and also the height of the frog and head are noted.

Now the bow is photographed and the basic work is done. But the bow is not complete; it is now rosined and played for a day or two. If there are any final adjustments to be made to the camber they will be made before the bow is shipped.

REHAIRING

Rehairing may be the most common work done on bows but it is not the easiest. Since the most delicate parts of a bow are open during rehair, both skill and care are necessary to avoid damage. It also requires a lot of experience to select the correct amount of hair and ensure that it is of even tension. There is also a wide range in hair quality and the conscientious rehairer will use only the best, which can easily cost three times as much as ordinary hair. The good rehair person is also checking over a bow to make sure no problems arise like a frog that becomes too loose or an eyelet that needs replacing. More serious problems like an enlarged screw hole can be brought to the attention of the player. That way the problem can be repaired before the bow becomes weakened.

In addition there are two basic methods of rehairing, one in which the hair is secured first in the head and the other where the hair is started in the frog. In France the hair is always started in the frog, which ensures that most of the work takes place with the frog mounted securely on the stick. When the hair is started in the head, the frog is loose and must be placed on an often ill-fitting jig to press in the wooden wedge that secures the hair. So while a competent person would no doubt do a good rehair with either method, I think the latter method is preferable, especially for a bow without a silver under-slide on the frog.

It’s rare for a bow to be damaged in general use and more damage occurs during rehair by poorly trained people. Although the frog is quite durable as long as it is securely mounted on the stick, it must of course be removed for rehairing. Then the under-slide or channel between the frog and stick is exposed as well as the knife-edged dovetail where the pearl slide fits. These edges are sharp and delicate, especially when there is no silver underslide. They are easily chipped of damaged. This makes the selection of a really competent and conscientious bow rehairer of importance. Too often in even well known shops the bow-person is under a lot of pressure and must work at top speed. It’s a very good idea to know the person rehairing your bow and their credentials. Every player is the guardian of their bow for it can be of use for generations of musicians.

THE UNDERSLIDE.

The last step on the frog before polishing is to cut the underslide channel or coulisse where the frog slides on the stick. This is done freehand with a narrow chisel. Normally when it is completed we stamp a piece of thin silver in a press and glue it into the channel. This strengthens the area.

In this case we are leaving the coulisse unlined as Tourte and his contemporaries did in the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries. This is for several reasons. For one thing we want to minimize the weight of this bow and the silver lining weighs nearly one gram. In addition we want the tonal effect created by a frog of the lowest possible mass. And lastly the unlined frog enhanced the style of this bow, which is rooted in the early 19^th century. Contrary to some opinions, this frog is quite durable with one exception. When the bow is being rehaired the fine edges of the coulisse are exposed and easily chipped. This bow should only be rehaired by a craftsperson with the required experience.

The stick, which has already been cambered and planed down to oversized dimensions, is then planed to match the frog’s underslide in such a way that the frog is in exactly the same axis as the head. Then the mortise is cut and the stick drilled. Finally a hole is drilled for the eyelet. At this point I have outlined the whole process of making a bow starting about two months ago. So rather than repeat myself I’ll cover the following steps in more general terms and write more on other areas of importance to bowmaking. Anyone who would like to know more can go back to the earlier posts.

RECOUVREMENT or the pearl slide.

This blog has been in existence for about two months. Its proving to be hard to post regularly especially during times like last week when I’m traveling. I think once or twice a week is possible.

Before cutting the coulisse and fitting the heel, a piece of shell is cut into a rectangle and glued to a strip of ebony. Now it is ready to fit by filing an angle or dovetail on each side and gradually bringing it down until it slides in snugly against the heel. The coulisse or channel is slightly tapered which ensures a tight fit. It would not be good for the hair underneath to push the slide up. Then the other end is trimmed carefully until the ferrule can slide back on and fit tightly against the shell. But the ebony strip underneath continues on under the ferrule to prevent the slide from lifting.

This particular piece of nacre or shell is very beautiful but for some optical reason it’s difficult to record this in a photograph. When the pearl slide is fit the frog is nearly finished and only the under-slide where the frog fits on the stick remains to be done. Since the stick hasn’t been chosen I will put the frog aside for now and think further about the bow and the choice of wood.

COULISSE

The pearl slide slides into a dovetailed slot called the coulisse at the end of which the silver heel is glued and pinned. Techniques passed on for generations allow this to be done freehand with great accuracy using two chisels. The pearl slide is made of a thin abalone sheet glued to a strip of ebony. Originally the small silver heel was also attached to this ebony strip and formed a joint with the larger silver heel running down the back of the frog.

But later both parts of the heel or 'talon' were glued and pinned together leaving the pearl slide independent. The heels are pinned by drilling a fine hole through the silver and into the ebony. Then a piece of silver wire is filed to fit and riveted with a small hammer.

Under the pearl slide, another channel leading to a mortise is cut to accommodate the hair, which will be secured with a wooden wedge.

EYES

The open flanks of the frog on the early bows probably piqued the human desire to ornament things, sometimes to excess. So eyes and other inlaid ornaments were soon common on the frog sides. Tourte, once again with all his creative intelligence, is most likely the first to make the silver rings around pearl eyes. But some of his most beautiful bows are without eyes or even a pearl recouverment or slide. But the simple pearl eye is found on the greater majority of bows from every tradition.

Later in the 19^th century, eyes were often surrounded by silver rings, but in this case, stylistic convention required that the button be plain silver with no ebony showing. This may well have started with Voirin and certainly Lamy used that rule. Vigneron is also a good example and Sartory followed this style with the exception of the bows he made his friend Emile Germain, the luthier. These were without eyes and stamped with Germain’s name. Although I have always avoided trading in old bows, I once had a visit to my Seattle shop from a violin shop owner with one of these bow’s in hand. He asked my opinion and I told him it was a Sartory. He later confided that he was afraid to sell it as a Sartory because its authenticity could be questioned. So he wondered if I would buy it as an unknown entity. I took it to Paris on my next trip and sold it immediately because the bows were well known there. On the other hand, gold mounted bows in this period most always had a button showing two gold rings.

To put eyes on a frog we drill a very shallow hole in the frog using a special bit we make ourselves. Then a piece of pearl is filed round to fit tightly. This is glued in place and after the glue sets any excess pearl is filed flush. Traditionally the eyes are cut out in little squares with a saw and the corners are filed or clipped off making an octagon. Then the eye is filed round and fit. This can be done much faster and accurately than one might think. However today makers often use a lathe to cut out the little eyes. Interestingly, the hand fit eyes look livelier because they are almost imperceptibly out of round.

NACRE

The pearl-shell or nacre has long been used to decorate bows, certainly since the time of Tourte. This was normally Abalone; species in the genus Haliotis that are found throughout the world. In the early 19^th century an abalone found along the coast of Brittany known as Ormeau (Haliotis tuberculata) was used but the shells were small and curved requiring much labor to make a pearl slide. This was the typical recouverment or slide still to be seen on an original Peccatte with very tight and brilliant waves. This shell is still available for restoration work.

Around the mid 19^th century, a lady of a certain class was obliged to carry a fan with which dispel harsh odors in the streets or strike boorish gentleman. Fans made of delicate Abalone pearl strips were much in vogue and this Abalone came from the Far East, no doubt creating a trade in the shells. Bowmakers soon adopted this material for its beautiful hues and its use continues to this day. Delaruelle, an intrepid supplier of tools and materials to the luthiers and archetiers around Paris during the 80ies discovered a cache of this shell dating to the 19^th century. For quite some time we were able to buy parts of abalone shell fans from him. He continued to supply the trade with shell until his untimely passing a few years ago.

Although the normal shell is a bluish green with some pink striping, some shells are a blaze of red and gold, the colors boiling and bubbling to the surface.