Over the last 5 years I have plunged into the world of violins. One of the biggest surprises to me was that the shop for violin bows is much separate from the violin market. Like violins there seems to be a shop for an every day practice bow and then there is a separate shop for the personal bow. That is the one that the violinist will use when he wants to play for his pleasure or for others pleasure. The hunt for this bow is often for the best bow that the violinist can afford. It is more personal and more permanent than the buy of the violin. A musician will keep a bow straight through the buying and selling of several violins.
A good bow has 4 characteristics that I can identify. The first is potential construction. The wood of option is Pernambuco aka Brazilwood. It is noted for its color, its lightness and that it does not warp over time. If the maker of the violin bow makes the exertion to use the best wood, the shaft of the bow is practically always six sided.
Music Teacher Supplies
By lightness of the bow the reference is literally to the weight. Most high potential bows are in between 56 and 64 grams. This is a weight that good violinists find most comfortable. It is a appropriate in both modern and old violin bows.
The other technical aspect is the balance of the bow. Most high potential bows have a silver or whale bone wrap just above the frog on the shaft for balance. It gives the bow a nice look as well.
The history of a bow seems to have a huge impact on reflecting potential and thus shows up in the pricing. Three of the names that are well know in the world of old violin bows are Tourte, Lupot and W E Hill and Sons. Hill bows justify best what makes old bows valuable. To this day the firm is noted for producing the top potential violin bows. old examples of these bows have diminutive marks and symbols on the frog, on the shaft and under the tip that recognize which worker made which part that was then assembled into the bow. There is a book that reports the complete history of who was employed by this firm and what parts he produced from what year to what year.
Quality bows withstand the test of time. It is a fairly simple instrument that has one fatal flaw. It warps. A bow has camber, the natural bowing that maintains the tension on the horse hair. However, the vast majority of bows will warp laterally over time. By that I mean that when you put the frog to your nose and you look down the bow it will bend to the right or left a diminutive bit or quite dramatically. Any warp of this kind reduces that value of a bow.
So what gives a violin bow value? Like every thing in this world it is the military of provide and demand. The inquire for potential violin bows increases with the constant growth in good violinists. However, most violin bows do not survive the test of time. There is a very diminutive provide of potential old violin bows and it will never increase. This is similar to the reality of old violins. However, provide is much more restricted for old bows than for old violins. Habitancy who do have a potential old violin bow are less likely to put it on the shop so provide is restricted because of that. The second part of the equation is that fewer old bows survived. In our collection we had over 60 violins. practically without exception, each of them was in a case with a bow. We were able to heal 50 of the violins. Only 4 bows were in good enough shape to save. Those that we chose to sell were sold in a heartbeat. I presuppose that we could have gotten an even best price than we did so we have a consolidate of very happy buyers. So if you are looking for a good violin bow, expect to pay a handsome price but it is a lifetime investment.
What Gives a Violin Bow Value?
No comments:
Post a Comment