THE COLOR OF WOOD

There is a tendency among players to equate very dark colored wood with high quality. Here it is easy to be misled. In fact superb wood comes in a broad palette ranging from yellow through red and light to deep brown. The grain structure that denotes great wood can occur in different colors and some of the finest bows of the early makers Tourte, Eury and Pajeot are made of light brown or blond wood. Wood of poor quality also can be light or dark in color although there is a typical light orange hue to some of the lesser grades.

I have planed and given a coat of varnish to some rough bow blanks and then photographed them to show this variation. It’s better to see the actual wood but at least the photos give an idea. The first photo shows two high quality sticks from Espirito Santo state in Brazil showing the variation in color ranging from yellow to brown. The second photo shows an outstanding piece of Espirito Santo wood below a very poor grade of pernambuco wood that is too light and weak for a quality bow.

The issue of wood color is further complicated by the fact that pernambuco wood has often been treated to color the surface a dark reddish brown. Among other things, the natural dye in the wood can be set by applying nitric acid, by exposing the stick to ammonia fumes or sometimes both. This was a standard practice from the mid-nineteenth to mid twentieth century and bows were uniformly treated this way whether of high or low quality. For example, bows by fine bowmakers like Lamy, Vigneron and Sartory were treated with nitric acid. The effect was only on the surface and apparently any harm it did to the wood was insignificant. James Tubbs used a process that turned his sticks nearly black.

Here is a close-up picture of two nice bows by Alfred Lamy, a violin and an octagonal viola bow dating to around the turn of the century. These bows were treated with nitric acid and the wood was probably naturally lighter in color.

During the last three decades the new generation of bow makers has usually chosen to make bows without darkening the wood. This is in part because these younger makers were willing to invest in wood of exceptional beauty and this encouraged dealers and millers of the wood in Brazil to locate the best qualities. It is simply unnecessary to treat beautiful pernambuco and doing so risks losing some of the wood’s transparency and purity of color. But sunlight brings up the color in a nice way as the ultraviolet rays oxidize the surface. So we often put our bows in the sun for a few hours or even put them under an ultraviolet lamp in the winter.

CELLO BOW HEAD

Now the cello bow head is carved and polished until it is ready for varnishing. In this case our head is styled fairly robustly with the front of the head rounded into the stick. On the other hand, the ‘dessou-cou’ or curve from the back of the head into the stick is fairly angular. The tension between the two curves gives the head its look.

The head on a cello bow is quite different from the head on a corresponding violin bow by the same maker. Traditionally the cello head sweeps forward compared to the violin head’s vertical stance. But originally, when the modern bow was being developed by Francois Tourte and some of his contemporaries, the cello head was sometimes cut like an oversized violin head. The forward sweeping head became the norm for a two reasons. First the cello bow is under proportionally quite a bit more tension than the violin bow and the head must be very strong. Sweeping the head forward allowed the head to be lighter and finer by transferring some of the stress into the stick. Since the cello head had a tendency to look heavy and bulky, makers and musicians appreciated the more graceful look of the swept forward heads. In the early to mid 19^th century violin bows were also occasionally made with a cello-like head. These are called swan heads or ‘col de cyne’ and have the back of the head rounded instead of defined with chamfers. Occasionally, several makers including Peccatte made cello bows in the ‘col de cyne’ pattern as well.

Through the course of the 19^th century cello heads became lighter and finer. Francois Tourte’s heads typically sweep forward but they are angular with a strong hatchet-like look. With Voirin and Lamy the cello heads became very fine and rounded and in fact they push the limits of adequate strength. In other stylistic details, cello bow heads follow their violin counterparts in the way the tip or ‘bec’ is shaped and the chamfers or ‘chanfrein’ are cut. But there is one exception. The tip plate or base of the violin bow head curves upwards while the cello tip plate is nearly flat. This looks better with the larger scale of the cello head.

PLANING THE STICK

The cello bow progresses and the stick is getting planed down to rough dimensions. At this time the frog is fit on the stick so that we can adjust the stick with the frog in place.

TALON

The silver heel plate or ‘talon’ is about half a millimeter in thickness and it is fit in a shallow channel cut with knife and chisels to accommodate it. When the silver heel is fit and bent into place, the forward edge is squared perfectly straight across where the pearl slide must join it perfectly. Then it is glued and riveted with small silver pins.

At this point the dovetailed channel for the pearl slide is completed and the mortise and channel for the hair is cut freehand using different chisels. The pearl slide or ‘recouverment’ is then fit and trimmed so it fits perfectly on all sides. Finally the bottom of the frog and the heel is filed so all parts are flush with the ebony and smooth. The pins, which have been left proud, are filed off at this time and usually disappear. The pins on a new bow are tight and very difficult to see but over time the miniscule movements of the ebony frog due to changes in humidity rock the pins slightly. So in older bows the pins are usually noticeable.

The frog is now well advanced and all that remains is the underslide or ‘coulisse’ where the frog joins the stick. Here a silver lining is usually fit and pinned in place and a bronze eyelet screwed into place. At this point the frog is complete and ready to mount on the stick but the polishing will wait until the bow is nearly completed.

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.

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.

CARVING THE THROAT. The frog part 3.

To fit on the silver ferrule, a projection or tenon is cut into the ebony frog piece and this is shaped until the ferrule slides on tightly. Then the frog is brought down to the final height and length. The sides of the frog are scooped out with a gouge and then we are ready to start the ‘degorgement’ or throat. Like the head, the frog is a sculptural form defined by its function of holding a flattened band of hair a certain distance off the stick and sliding back to tension the hair as needed. Beyond that the frogs shape is defined by a combination of tradition and the desire of each maker to do something different, something a little different from the next maker. This is expressed most noticeably in the sculptural shape of the throat, the area between the ferrule and the thumb projection. The throat can be squared off and angular as in Persois’s bows or gently rounded as in Voirin’s or a combination of the two as in Peccatte’s.

The challenge of the throat’s design lies in the fact that the ferrule presents a steeply convex surface while the sides of the frog are hollowed out or concave. Then the thumb projection is steeply concave again so the throat’s shaping must gracefully traverse these opposing surfaces. In addition the continuation of the flanks of the frog into the throat can be abrupt or tapering inward to a small radius. So this simple shape bounded on three sides by the rest of the frog can manifest an almost infinite number of shapes that express the personalities behind them.

The throat is shaped with a knife and here as in the head we rely on tools that give us the measure of control we need. Once the shape is fully defined, some strokes of a needle file smooth it out and we are ready to go on. Now the frog looks complete except that there are no channels, mortise or pearl eyes and slide. The polishing will come later.

SILVER. The Frog part 2.

Bow making requires a number of techniques that a jeweler uses and that includes cutting and shaping silver or gold and joining them with solder. Normally we work with silver. Each nation has precious metal standards and England and the US have the Sterling system. France has had several standards over the last two centuries but for quite some time their silver has been called ‘argent premiere titre’ and it consists of 95% silver alloyed with 5% copper to harden it. Since Sterling silver has 92.5 % silver and 7.5% copper it has a slightly different luster than the French silver we use in this shop.

Gold commonly accompanies the finest work of a maker but this is not necessarily the case. All we have to do is look at the elegant silver mounted bows of the great makers Francois Tourte or Dominique Peccatte; it is often evident they went all-out to make a given bow, the stick is phenomenal. A silver bow may have been made for a great professional player who could not justify the expense of gold and indeed at the time gold mounted bows were likely destined for the nobility or the wealthy. It is also a fact that of all the precious materials in a great bow, gold is the most easily obtained. The gold is expensive but the stick is priceless. Gold also weighs more than silver; gold mountings will weigh about a gram more, which is sometimes an important consideration. But some contemporary makers consider a bow with gold mountings to be their highest grade so in this case purchasing gold mountings from them is well worth consideration.

After the rough frog piece has been prepared, we make the ‘passant’ or ferrule that contains and spreads the hair. According to Bernard Millant this ring was invented by Francois Tourte in 1782 or 1783 to accommodate the demands of Viotti and Kreutzer who were troubled with the hair bunching as they played at the frog. Prior to this time the frog was open with the hair coming out of a mortise in the same way it does from the head. A jeweler’s saw is used to cut out two pieces of silver, one of which is bent into an arch. Then they are heated to red-hot and soldered together to form a ring. This ‘D’ shaped ring is hammered out to shape and it is then filed to size. Now it’s ready to fit on the frog.

EBONY. Beginning the frog.

There are many living things that go into a bow but after the Pernambuco wood, the bowmaker is perhaps most thankful for ebony. This amazing wood grows initially a creamy white in color before turning after some years to a black as dark as coal. So the sapwood or exterior inch or so of the tree trunk is white and the heartwood or interior of the tree is black. Over time the wood’s pores become filled with the minerals from the earth and when the wood is polished these minerals shine in little silvery lines. The polished wood takes a luster like marble.

Ebony wood refers to a number of different species in the genus Diospyros and only a few are suitable for bow-making with a jet-black color and a tight grain. The ebony of legend, Mauritius ebony or Diospyros tesselaria, has not been exported since the 19^th century. In fact it is exceedingly difficult to find ebony suitable for really fine bows. Years ago Stephane Thomachot and I bid for and won a lot of this ebony at the Drouot auctions house in Paris. It was from the estate of André Chardon and the crate, which had been stored in the coal cellar actually contained coal as well, which we dubbed ‘le charbon de Chardon’. Since that time it has been occasionally possible to locate ebony from Ceylon or Madagascar with the required qualities. A bowmaker needs only a very small quantity of ebony but nonetheless the conservation of these trees is of concern as the world’s forests are cleared. Replanting of the trees as we are doing with Pernambuco wood is necessary for the future.

The basic ebony piece that will become a frog is split or sawed from a larger block and worked down with a gouge and a plane. The minerals in ebony will dull a sharp tool in minutes so we have to sharpen often. When the blank is cut out we drill a hole where the ferrule will go and saw out the rough throat. Then we put the piece aside and prepare the silver for the ferrule.

WILL’S BOW Part 16. Completion.

Will Fedkenheuer’s bow is now finished and we can weigh it. It weighs 59.4 grams which is right where we want it. Without the light unlined frog the bow would weigh about 60.5 grams. It is now rosined and can be played and among other things, this is the final test of whether the total amount of camber is right for the bow’s intrinsic strength.

Players sometimes wonder how a maker like Peccatte could make such eminently playable bows and yet not play themselves. The answer is that a bow during its construction cannot be played and a maker must have the techniques and sensitivity to evaluate the stick as he is working it down. The stick is held in a certain way and flexed giving the maker a great deal of information on how the bow is bending along it’s length, the wood’s quickness of response and its level of resistance. By trial and error the maker learns to sense the things the player needs from a completely different frame of reference; how the stick feels in his hands.

Nonetheless if we have a reasonably good bow arm we can get our confirmation of the bow’s quality and also get a lot of pleasure in exploring its tonal potential; this bow got played late into last night. But no bowmaker will play at the level of his clients and so their feedback is essential. Perhaps it’s just as well for there are so many different solutions depending on the player and the instrument. The maker should approach each bow without preconceived notions based on his or her own taste.

Thanks to FedEx, Will can have the bow tomorrow and start to get to know it. For the maker this is the culmination of the performance, so much has gone into the bow and it is with a mixture of excitement and anxiety we send it off, hopeful that it will exceed his expectations. Everyone needs to serve, the violinist rehearses a Beethoven Quartet for weeks or months to be able to share Beethoven’s own gift, the parent nurtures their child, its part of human nature.

WILL’S BOW Part 15. The grip or winding and thumb-leather.

Now that the bow is haired we take the time to make sure the camber is exactly as we want it and make a few corrections if necessary. The argent-sur-soie grip is wound on the bow under tension and smoothed with a burnishing tool.

Then the thumb leather is fit and reduced to a knife edge on each end. When it is glued on, the two ends overlap perfectly and the joint is nearly invisible. Here we are using Morocco leather, a tough goatskin with a beautiful grain. The finest Morocco leather actually comes from Nigeria and is used primarily by bookbinders.

ARGENT SUR SOIE

The traditional French ‘garniture’ or winding material is called ‘argent sur soie’. It is composed of a silk thread wrapped tightly with a flattened filament of silver, not unlike a violin string. Argent-sur-soie was much used for military epaulettes and ecclesiastical robes as well as bows. It is also known as ‘French tinsel’ but this is unfortunate as it conjures up the stuff on Christmas trees; argent sur soie is actually significantly more expensive than silver wire and requires a lot of skill to make. You see it on bows going back to Tourte when it was mixed with alternating bands of colored silk. Later in the 19^th century it was put on straight with a rather short thumb leather. When I was starting my career, the authentic argent-sur-soie had largely been replaced by a cheaper silver-plated material wrapped around nylon thread and the real thing was very hard to find. So it was a relief when the French maker Jean-marc Panhaleux discovered a workshop capable of recreating the original high quality argent sur soie. Not only were they able to make it in silver but also with the 18 carat French rose gold we favored for gold mountings.

Solid silver wire to the best of my knowledge appeared on the scene sometime after the second world war. Perhaps in part due to the Russian school, the vogue was for heavier bows and silver wire was a convenient way for a dealer to add several grams to a bow when it changed hands. Note however that this was extraneous weight that added nothing to the bow itself. It only enabled a dealer to say a given bow was 60 or more grams when it originally weighed 58. Over time silver wire became the norm except in England where Hill & sons often used whalebone grips. On a violin bow, an argent-sur-soie grip with the thumb leather weighs 2.3 grams. The same grip in the lightest silver wire weighs about 5 grams although if it doesn’t run under the leather it could weigh 4 grams. So silver grips typically weigh 2.5 or 3 grams more and this weight is not in the stick where it could do some good.

WILL’S BOW Part 14. Hair in the bow.

With everything completed except for the winding and thumb leather, the bow is ready for its hair. The horsehair is in a bundle weighing about a pound and secured at one end with thread and a clamp. It is hung from a convenient spot and the bow’s hair is selected. Since hair is variable one must always remove a number of twisted or weak hairs until a hank of the correct amount is ready.

The hank is tied with a whipping or ligature at one end and inserted into the mortise in the frog. Then it is secured with a fitted wooden wedge and the pearl slide and ferrule are replaced. Another wooden wedge, the spread wedge, keeps the hair spread out evenly at the ferrule where it leaves the frog. The hair is dampened and combed out evenly towards the head and another ligature is tied at exactly the right length just beyond the head’s mortise. Another wooden wedge has been prepared for the head and the tied off hair is secured in the head as well. When the hair has dried the hair is wiped clean with alcohol and it is ready to rosin.