Wood or Carbon Bows- Which are Better?

By Andy Fein, luthier at Fein Violins
 & Martha McDermott

Recently, a Facebook friend asked a reasonably simple question, "Which are better, wood or carbon bows?" And the definitive, absolutely right answer is......

Pernambuco or Brazilwood, What's the difference?

If you're an avid fan of stringed instruments and their bows, you might have noticed two names for wood bows- Pernambuco and Brazilwood. So, what's the difference? The answer is- not much. In fact, they come from the same tree 'Pau Brasil' (Caesalpinia Echinata)

The Pau Brasil tree.

Archetier, or in England-Bowmaker

Written by: Andy Fein, luthier at Fein Violins

Predecessor to Cramer and Tourte Bows

The English have as old a love for stringed instruments as anyone else in Europe. English musicians have patronized and cultivated some of the finest violin and bow makers the world has seen. We previously looked at Early English Violin Makers. But without bows, these fine stringed instruments would just be plucked!

c.1800 School of Dodd Ivory Mounted Cello Bow 

Without Trees There Is No Music: The Conservation of Pernambuco Wood

By Stefan Aune of Fein Violins

Since the earliest European bow makers first sought to perfect the stringed-instrument bow, "pernambuco," or "Brazil wood," has reigned supreme as the material of choice. Sadly, the history of pernambuco is intimately tied to the processes of colonization and resource extraction that have had devastating consequences for the peoples and environments of North and South America. For a frame of reference on the history of pernambuco, check out a previous blog I wrote on the relationship between colonial resource extraction and the wood's rise to prominence in the hands of European bow-makers. Today pernambuco is endangered, and the continuing demand for wood bows is making the material increasingly difficult to acquire. Pernambuco's natural forest habitat is currently at about 10% of its pre-Columbian size, and pernambuco trees are notoriously fickle when grown in controlled, farm environments.

The harvest of pernambuco wood during the colonial period

The Greatest Bow Maker You've Never Heard Of- Nicolaus Kittel

By Andy Fein, luthier at Fein Violins

Tourte,Vorin, Vuillaume, Hill, Nurnberger, Sartory, Kittel. Wait, Kittel? What's that name doing in the ranks of great bow makers?

Here's another list: Heifetz, Seidel, Vieuxtemps, Elman, Stern, Kochanski, Rosand, Erica Morini, Zimbalist, Kogan, Menuhin, and Vadim Repin. What do they have in common? (OK, besides that most of them are MOTs!) They are all violin soloists that used and loved Kittel bows. And preferred them over any of the French bow makers, including Tourte.

Yehudi Menuhin preferred Kittel bows

François Tourte and the Making of the Modern Bow

Written by Andy Fein, luthier at Fein Violins
 and Angie Newgren

The 18th century was a period of great productivity in the arts and commerce. Many changes were going on: World trade, the French Revolution, the  end of the Baroque period and the beginning of the Classical period (circa 1750). For string players, luthiers and bow makers, the advance in playing techniques demanded better and different equipment. Bows underwent a profound change, from the Baroque bow, which was the standard, to the "modern" bow, which we now use.

Up until the middle of the 18th century, bows were more of an accessory for a violin instead of an integral part of the instrument's sound. Bow makers were continuously experimenting with different techniques and materials, but they never went too far out of the "guidelines" that were documented for bow making.

The baroque style bow was usually made of snake-wood (a stiffer and denser wood) rather than the modern bow which uses pernambuco (Pernambuco Blog).  Baroque bows were shaped into a convex curve, which is the opposite of how today's bows are shaped. The bow was arched more extremely, looking more like the bow from a bow-and-arrow. The hair on the bow was bundled, and only half the amount we use today was put on a baroque bow. Lastly, the length of the hair was only about three-quarters of the length of our modern bows.

Colonizaton & Commerce: Pernambuco Wood and the Development of the Modern Bow

Written by Stefan Aune of Fein Violins

In 1492 Columbus made his first voyage to what he called the "New World" - a voyage that sparked the European colonization and settlement of what we now know as North and South America. This voyage triggered a rush of settlement and conquest that lasted for hundreds of years, with the great European powers carving up both continents into colonies dedicated to the extraction of resources, the conversion of indigenous peoples to Christianity, and the creation of settlements. The profound exploitation of natural resources coupled with the catastrophic loss of life for indigenous peoples made the colonization of the Americas a grim chapter in human history. The politics, economics, and entire social fabric of much of our modern world comes out of this colonial period, and you might be surprised to find that stringed instruments and bows are no exception. The modern bow, as developed by Francois Xavier Tourte and other bow craftsmen in Europe during the 18th century, made use of a wood known as "pau-brasil," "brazil wood," or "pernambuco." This wood would revolutionize the bow-making world, but at great cost to both natural resources and human lives.

A "Brazil Wood" or "Pernambuco" Tree

Round or Octagonal Bows?

Written by Amy Tobin of Fein Violins

Design question- Octagonal bow stick or Round bow stick - We get asked this question a lot!
The answer is really whichever bow sounds best with your violin (or viola, or cello), and whichever bow feels best to you (hopefully they are one and the same!).

This photo is an example
of a round stick:

Violin bow with round stick

And here is an example

Bows

Written by Andy Fein, owner and luthier, Fein Violins:

Pernambuco. Per- nam- boo- koh.
Pernambuco wood has been the standard wood for violin, viola and cello bows since about 1780 when Francois Xavier Tourte began to use Pernambuco and developed the modern violin bow. Pernambuco is the best possible material for bows. It possesses the right qualities that can be transformed into a good bow stick - rigidity, strength, responsiveness, elasticity, acoustic quality and beauty. Anything else is a substitute.

Amazingly, your bow is half of your sound.