Pemambuco wood is the accepted type of wood from which the stick of the bow is fashioned. The left hand basically finds the notes but the bow is perhaps 85 percent of the music making.

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Pernambuco wood grows only in the amazon delta region in a brazilian state of the same name.

Making a violin bow. The final pupil of william retford watson continued to make bows after leaving the hill firm and built a reputation as an authority on british bow making. In the ten minute video below william watson employed by w e. Making a violin bow.

When i think about the bow and the instrument says masao kawasaki violin faculty member at juilliard and brooklyn college and an owner of three of ron s bows we have two hands. Have you ever wondered how a violin bow is made. William watson a former employee of w e hill sons shows the complete process from the well seasoned bow blank to the insertion of the mongolian horse hair.

It requires a lot of patience a good eye for detail and much filing and sanding. The making of the bow begins with the selection and rough cutting of the correct woods and raw materials. Hill sons from 1945 to 1962 demonstrates the bow making process from start to finish.