In today’s orchestral world many musicians are looking for a bow that does everything well, since a concert that starts with an overture by Karl von Dittersdorf could end with a symphony by Bruckner and there is no sense in changing bows to suit each piece. To those ends, the Parisian bows of Eugene Sartory have become appreciated as the ultimate in versatility and flexibility. However, there is a reason why violin cases have as many as four holders for bows, as different bows can be as radical as the instrument itself in shaping sound and providing character. A bow with the liveliness to command the string crossings of a Paganini caprice may by fairly unremarkable for anything with the physical heft of Shostakovich. A bow that pulls an enormous sound can be a fairly sluggish bow requiring harder work to play fast passages. A lighter bow for simply exploring the tonality of the instrument in practice or at home, but may make the ideal concerto bow when paired with an exceptionally responsive instrument. Likewise, one kind of bow can suppress the limitations of one instrument, just as another can enhance it, and all of this excludes the technique and musculature of the all-important third element to violin playing – the musician themself. To those ends, it doesn’t have to cost a lot of money to begin exploring bows that work well for different reasons, especially with the recent explosion of quality in contemporary Brazilian bows that area mostly priced below £2,000. At the other end of the scale, I have been delighted to handle superb bows including examples by Tourte and Peccatte, and famous bows including examples played by Louis Persinger, Fritz Kreisler (he famously left Hills on each visit with bundles of bows under his arm, so that this really isn’t a boast to be impressed about), Kathleen Parlow, the Pierre Simon “Ex-Paganini” (seen above), and the James Tubbs “Edward Elgar, Ex-Sammons”.

As with our instruments in stock, please contact me first to discuss your needs as it helps me to narrow the search and provide a better selection to meet your needs.