All great string players are well-known for playing on exquisite Italian instruments made by either Stradivarius or Guarneri ‘del Gesu’. However, the instrument only makes one half of the sound of stringed instrument players. An exquisite bow for stringed instruments is usually not talked much about and word is they are much harder to find than a good violin. In fact, one can say that it is the bow that governs a string player's sound more so than the instrument itself thus making it more important in the sound production of a string player.
Before today, Baroque music was mainly played on Baroque bows, made of snakewood and having a distinct convex curve. The length of a Baroque bow was much shorter and weighed lighter than the modern bow, while also having much less horsehair between the frog and bow tip. The standard practice was also to use gut strings on Baroque instruments. This combination of gut strings and Baroque bows produced a sound that was more ‘supple’ and ‘spoken’.
(An example of a Baroque Violin and Bow)
Due to the increasing compositional demands of music and soloists, bowmaking transitioned from having a convex curve into a more solid concave curve on the stick. This allowed for more even distribution of sound, increased pressure on the string and more robust response for advanced string techniques. The great French bowmaker (archetier), Francois Xavier Tourte, is credited with standardizing the design of the modern bow with the collaboration of Giovanni Battista Viotti. It is this standard blueprint that all great archetiers have followed faithfully without question.
(Tourte, the ‘father’ of the modern bow)
In the United Kingdom, British bows have an equal standard of craftsmanship, beauty and tone to their more famous (and expensive) French counterparts. Amongst some of these great British archetiers include James Tubbs and John Dodd (dubbed the ‘English Tourte’). The W. E. Hill & Sons firm is the most successful violin restoration firm from the UK, but their workshop also employed multiple fine archetiers to create fine bows for string players.
(An exquisite example of a Gold-Tortoiseshell mounted violin bow from the Hill firm)
Amongst one of these archetiers was John W. Stagg, who worked for the Hill firm until 1983. Then, Stagg left to pursue bowmaking independently. Amongst some of the people who Stagg inspired was Howard Green, a living contemporary archetier based in Scotland. Howard has crafted bows for some of the world’s leading string players, including Cho-Liang Lin, Rodney Friend and Ilya Gringolts. We are honoured to be able to interview one of the most experienced archetiers of today.
An honest interview with Master Archetier Howard Green
Wei Ken: Hi Howard, what inspired you to start making bows for string musicians?
Howard: As a young man, I always had an interest in working with wood. I come from a long line of woodworkers on my father`s side. I had a brief stint as a professional cellist in London before coming across bow making which immediately took my attention because of my interest in woodworking. The many bows that I saw struck me with their beauty and the practicality of the art. As soon as I started making bows, I realised that I had come home to a creative process that I really belonged in.
Wei Ken: Which are the most special bows you have ever created and for whom did you make them?
Howard: I like to think that every bow I make is special in its own way. When I am making a bow I do not reference any other bow that I have made previously, so that the current one I am working on is my sole point of focus. I have made many bows for some very fine players and their testimonials can be seen on my website www.howardgreenbowmaker.com
(A fine viola bow, mounted in gold and ebony, with a shield inlay on the frog and abalone slide)
Wei Ken: How do you determine how a stick of Pernambuco will turn out? As you know, there are many varying grades of wood and no two sticks of wood from the same tree may come out sounding exactly the same.
Howard: When I first started making bows my lack of experience in selection of wood was tempered by my very good feel for wood in general. As I gained experience my feel for good quality wood developed. I got to the point where I was no longer depending on the Lucci readings that were assigned to the wood in my stock. Many of these Lucci readings do not necessarily reveal the hidden quality of the wood such as elasticity, which is incredibly important for tone production and can make a huge difference to how the stick bends. When wood is obviously beautiful it is relatively easy to know what to do with it. The real challenge is with wood that isn’t necessarily good but can make superb bows with careful treatment.
Wei Ken: Why do bowmakers like to use very exotic materials for their best works? Say like ivory or tortoiseshell frogs inlaid with fancy gold/silver designs?
Howard: Bowmakers, like all artists, love to demonstrate their skills. Some of the great old masters really demonstrated their superlative skills using ivory and tortoiseshell (which of course is no longer possible to use). Modern bowmakers have found alternatives to make the very best of their work as I have with the use of buffalo horn, which I find particularly beautiful as it is so varied even within one piece.
Wei Ken: Do you have any interesting stories to share about particular commissions?
Howard: Before I learned how to make Paris eyes, I developed an alternative in the form of small dots of pearl or silver round the eye in the shape of a star. Those early bows still appear now and then and I am very proud they still exist. More recently I sent a client a violin bow on approval and the day he received it he had a particularly demanding concert that evening and used the new bow in the concert so successfully he immediately purchased it.
(A fine example of one of Howard Green’s earlier bows with a ‘dotted’ design)
Wei Ken: For a master bowmaker like you, do you train any students to ever take over your work?
Howard: Unfortunately, I am so busy with work I do not have the time to train any students in bowmaking. Although I am thinking about it for the future (which will require an expansion of my workshop space).
Wei Ken: Are there any bowmakers (living or deceased) that inspire your work? Who and why?
Howard: John W. Stagg wrote a book on bow making that I find particularly useful as he was a superb Hill maker and has enormous depth of knowledge of both history and making. There are many modern makers whose work I admire for the clarity of their work. I was fortunate enough to be able to see the wonderful collection of master bows owned by Emanuel Hurwitz who over several years helped me to understand the great mastery of some of the world`s best bows.
(A fine violin bow mounted in gold and buffalo horn, with shield inlay and mother-of-pearl slide)
Wei Ken: Have you ever been commissioned by a client to make smaller bows? If so, what is the smallest bow you ever made and for whom was it for?
Howard: Some years ago, I was commissioned to make a half size violin bow for a very young prodigy student of a great master teacher. It had to play like a master bow in miniature and was quite the task! But I am happy to say I got it right.
Wei Ken: What is the shortest amount of time you need to make a bow properly?
Howard: The most important task prior to actually making the bow is wood selection. This is a painstaking process that requires the longest time. Selecting the wood requires more than a cursory examination and often requires cutting the stick down to the point where it can be bent and tested for its characteristics including flexibility, stability, speed of response and basic strength. Having established that, the work continues fairly swiftly providing there are no hidden surprises in the wood. All gold mounted bows require extra attention and therefore require more time, especially if I am looking for a particular characteristic as requested by the client. All things being equal the time taken to complete a bow would be between 5 and 10 days.
(Howard’s prolific output of cut and pre-bent sticks)
Wei Ken: In face of the CITES proposal to move Pernambuco to Appendix 1, do you ever believe there will come a time where you will be forced to rely on alternative wood species to continue bowmaking?
Howard: It is my understanding that the current appendix II assignment of CITES is the best solution that we currently have for managing the forests and the intelligent supply of Pernambuco worldwide. My own stock of wood is very old and formerly came from the Hill firm which I have been using most of my bow making career. I have a plentiful supply of wood to keep me making bows for the foreseeable future so I do not have any fear of running out of work. My hope is that I will not have to use an alternative as I love working with this wood. The current level of bow making skills around the world is very high and I feel it would be a possible tragedy that future bow makers may not have access to Pernambuco in the future. It is my sincere hope that CITES does not transition from appendix II to appendix I.
Howard Green is currently based in Scotland. His bows are well-known for their incredible tone production and easy playability.
His bows are owned by some of the world's finest violinists and teachers including Randall Goosby, Ilya Gringolts, Rodney Friend and Cho-Liang Lin.