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Nineteenth century French bowmakers were all very aware of their illustrious predecessors, Francois Xavier Tourte in particular. Occasionally an interesting nod is made to an earlier more experimental time with the production of bows like this one, with tis elegant, more sloping “swan" shaped head...

Paul Beuscher founded the Parisian music shop bearing his name in 1850, accessing violins and bows from a wide range of makers, some famous and some not, in the violin making town of Mirecourt, in the Vosges. This attractive, silver-mounted example, stamped “J. P. Beuscher", was probably made in t...

Old European bows like this, with stamps so worn they can hardly be read, can intrigue us for hours if not days. What we can say is that this bow was made with a well-selected, strong piece of pernambuco, that the head was carved in style, and that the bow produces a crisp, vibrant sound with very g...

Herman Richard Pfretzschner working for Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume before forming his own renowned workshop in 1880, with his understanding of French bow making having a profound influence over German bow making ever since. After his retirement, he handed the business over to his sons and the H. R. PFR...

German violin bows by makers from the Nurnberger and Pfretzschner families, are now being recognized and valued for their proper worth. This unstamped but well-crafted, silver-mounted bow, has very good playing characteristics including an excellent ricochet and a steady legato without bringing a la...

W.E. Hill and Sons made four grades of bows that we commonly see in New Zealand. While those stamped “Hill" are technically their lowest #4 grade, they are often as good as or better than higher grade bows from a player’s perspective. This bow, made by Edgar Bishop in the earl-mid twentieth cent...

This well-loved French violin bow was used by a good professional musician for a number of decades. Unofficially attributed to one of the great masters of French bow making, Francois-Nicolas Voirin, its stamp has disappeared from the well-worn handle, though its subtle “Vuillaume"-style frog fitti...

S707W.E. Hill and Sons established four main categories of bows, all well- known to New Zealand players. After the prosperity of the decades before WWI, Hills faced a market and supply disruption in the 1920s that caused them to search for wider markets and establish a partnership with the prestigio...

This simple but finely-crafted French violin bow, stamped “Tourte" was evaluated by the international bow expert Bernard Millant as a probable product of Charles Nicolas Bazin’s workshop, and make around 1900. Bazin was the most prominent member of an illustrious family of French bow makers. The...

This elegantly carved violin bow made with well-selected pernambuco comes from the workshop of Eugène Curiot, trained by his father Pierre in the Bazin style. Eugène added “Hury" to his name after his marriage into a prominent piano-making family. While Cuniot-Hury continued to work primarily in...

Charles Louis Bazin was the son, pupil and successor to the famous French bow maker Charles Nicolas Bazin, continuing his father’s workshop in Mirecourt and employing a fine list of archetiers, including Jean Claude Ouchard. This strongly worked bow is a good example of his output, with a round st...

W.E. Hill and Sons dominated the English-speaking violin world from the late nineteenth century through to the second half of the twentieth. As well as having a renowned level of expertise, they became famous for their violins and for their bows, which were ranked into four distinct tiers. This bow ...

Richard Weichold studied violin making under Carl Gottlob Pfretzschner, one of the best makers of this large and talented family, before returning to his birthplace in Dresden, where shortly after his father was recorded as a bow maker. Bows stamped either “A.R Weichold Dresden" or “R. Weichold ...

Siegfried Finkel learnt his bow-making skills in the mid-1940s from his wife’s father, the renowned bowmaker Paul Weidhaas, before the young couple fled Markneukirchen and the newly-established East German communist regime to resettle in Brienz, Switzerland, and establish what became a world-famou...

With its Peccattle-style head and round-backed frog, this well-crafted German violin bow has plenty to offer, with a warm, creamy tone, good articulation and a very controllable spiccato and sautillé. It weighs slightly under the modern norm, at 58.1 grams but the strength of the selected pernambuco stick and the size of the head give it a well-balanced feel in the hand.

Marc Laberte, honing his expertise through his fine personal collection of Classical era instruments, inherited the Mirecourt violin making workshops, Laberte-Humbert, from his father and continued to build the company, both in size and quality, until the 1960s. Although mostly known for the instrum...

Arcos Brasil was founded in 1995 to develop Brazilian bow making expertise and market it around the world. One of their senior bowmakers, Marcos Pereira, started working with bows at twelve years old, and graduated to making his own bows six years later, refining his skills in the workshop of Belgia...

This elegant old German violin bow, with its “Tourte"-style head, has been well-restored in our workshops to maximise its playing potential. Its light weight, at just under 54 grams, will suit a player looking for a bow with nuance and that doesn’t sit heavily on the string. There is still plenty of strength and resistance in the stick, along with a clean response and good articulation.

Charles Bazin

“Schumann" bows with wooden brazilwood sticks are an excellent model for entry level and lower grade players who prefer a traditional look and feel, at a very affordable price. Like their carbonfibre counterparts, these Schumann bows have neatly-made ebony frogs fitted with Parisian eyes and nicke...

“Schumann" carbon fibre bows are visually attractive with cleanly-finished ebony frogs featuring Parisian eyes and nickel silver mounts. This model has a dark red-brown stick, subtly flecked to look like pernambuco wood. As a result, this well-performing bow has a far more traditional look than th...

These well-finished, silver-mounted, Chinese violin bows are marketed under the “Schumann" brand, although the sticks themselves are not stamped. The workmanship is very clean, and the pearl slides are particularly attractive. The sticks, made from “ipe" wood, a fine-grained alternative to perna...

Along with James Tubbs, John Dodd is considered England’s pre-eminent bow maker, working at a time when the modern “Tourte" style bow was still establishing itself west of the English Channel. This German bow, while owing little to the gracefulness of Dodd’s work, is a good example of the high...

In contrast to many German bows stamped “Dodd", the name of one of England’s most prominent bow makers, this intriguing, silver-mounted violin bow not only has superior playability but shows some awareness of Dodd’s making style, with its rounded head and slender stick. Despite its elegance, t...