Guido

Another consideration is if you need to do anything at all. Do you have a buzz in anything you play? Or anyone could ever play? Playing the open G string as hard as possible isn’t called for in any repertoire I’m aware of. Else, I’d start at the string grooves both in the nut and the bridge, then everything else. And don’t forget to check for a grain of sand in the adjuster barrel of the chin rest :-)

What he said. The numbers would be inventory numbers, from a dealer or an institution having owned the instrument, like a school. The cleats seem to be on the centre seem, which is the usual practice with French violins. The Compagnon sits slightly above the Medio Fino in the line up, the blonde is somewhat more popular than the dark; and yours seems in rather good condition (many are quite beaten up). I wouldn't be surprised if the asking price is at the upper end of the range mentioned above; and I have seen them North of it, too.

So, I guess they are asking well over $200,000?

That’s the brand of Erwin Georg Volkmann.

Pondering this a bit I'm currently leaning to a thin CA glue, rather than a strong (and somewhat thick) hide glue. And I think I'll want to leave it at glue-only for the time being. Any major objections before I get the glue out of the fridge?

It's harder to see bow in hand than in the photo :-) The crack running with the grain extends about the distance between the two arrows.

Good idea, structurally. I’ve seen it a few times. But whenever I see a bow with a thread over a break/ lift I always assume the worst as you can’t see the extend of the damage anymore. I was considering possibly a pin; but maybe only if glue only fails. ”Concealing” is not an objective. I’d be quite happy for the break to remain visible for what it is, especially if the bow is to change hands in the future.

This stick has a break behind the head as indicated on the picture. I runs forward with the grain a couple of cm. Under hair tension the break flexes open ever so slightly. I'm thinking to glue with a strong hide glue in anticipation of further trouble down the road. My main concern would be to get sufficient glue into the crack. I'm wondering if a thin CA glue would be more successful initially (but more trouble down the road if it fails). Any opinions/ ideas?

Looks perfect. They didn’t have that when I was shopping around for mine a while ago.

It can be surprisingly ridiculous to get stuff shipped to OZ. I gave up when I was looking for latex (a while back).

Don’t remember where I got it. Random online. There are different width roles, my wrap is 50cm wide. Smallest amount available is a lifetime supply though. I like how thin it is given the strength.

You may want to undo this and set the neck to a proper angle. Projection looks awfully low. Curious what “clear violin glue” you may have used here?

I use a type of cling wrap. But not the common kitchen variety. It comes in thicker/stronger versions on larger/wider rolls and is commonly used for pallet wrapping. I find it just about perfect. And it’s cheap and readily available. I had trouble finding suitable latex where I am, too.

Is it quite large? And do you have a pic of the end pin area?

Gruenke notes "JUL.HEINR.ZIMMERMANN" branded bows to have been supplied by a wide range of vogtland workshops of the time and in a wide range of qualities. The brand on your bow looks different. Even if it relates to the above, there is not much to be learned from it. The fit looks ok to me. The adjuster has a lot of wear. Not sure.

Me, too. Sort of. I did not note handle diameter or slight variations in winding length, nor did I graph it. But w/o leather I average about 1g for tinsel, 1.5 for whalebone, 3.4g for 0.22 silver and 4.2g for 0.25 silver. The greatest variation is probably in tinsel of different types. Leathers average around 1g but I might add that I'm not a fan of thick or large leathers. A small French style leather (18-20mm) can be as little as 0.4-0.5g.

That is 100% the situation I am in. I tend to replace tinsel (and whalebone) with a lighter gauge silver (0.22) to reduce impact of the bow's balance.

Thanks all. It's tinsel. Held together by grime. Any effort to clean it will turn it into a non-cute fur ball. Will just do a nice new grip...

The bow is nothing special, a Laberte for Mangenot. The original grip is worn and unsightly, but overall holding up surprisingly well. If there was no commercial consideration I would certainly keep it as is (I like the look, the patina, and the originality); but the bow will be for sale and I think it will be more attractive to most customers with a nice new grip. What would be your opinion?

Screws in the underslide. Obviously a indicator against French origin. But some French makes used screws. Some of the early ones. And rumour has it, some of the younger ones, too. Would a list be short enough to be compiled?

If it is so rare and inconsistent, maybe it could be a production oversight and just forgotten.

The presence of pins won’t tell you much. But that wasn’t the question. The absence of pins is still a very strong signal against a French origin. Of course there can be exceptions.

I always wondered if a tapered button often seen in French adjusters had anything to do with the need for pins, as they could only slide on/off in one direction.

Sorry, forgot in the last post. Here are some photos. The screws in the underslide seem to be silver. No pins in the beautifully double cut adjuster. Nice big and very crisp camber.

This is what I mean. If it was a French bow, somewhat unusual observations turn into strong leads for identification. I find it sad, that German trade bows are just this amorphous anonymous body, no matter how much idiosyncrasy one may observe in any one specimen. This one here, not that I would have any hope finding out "who" may have made it, was clearly made with love. Another example is the domed backing of the pearl slide. Just doesn't seem to gel with purely commercial production.