Article on bow head design

[MikeCanada]

A year or more ago I remember finding an article about bow head design. It very well could have been in two parts and also discussed frogs and/or buttons, but the head part is what is sticking with me. The article compared two or three well known makers one of which was Lamy, with the original design of a modern maker. It discussed the choices that can be made in designing a head, with some photos of the bows in question that allowed you to really see the differences that can be made with the curve of a throat, nose, and footprint, as well as some other decisions. I believe it was a .pdf linked from his website, and there is a possibility it was published somewhere. 

 

I am revisiting my templates again and found it helpful to have that information as a jumping off point. I have searched online and I'm not having any luck, but if someone has it bookmarked or knows what I'm talking about, I would greatly appreciate a chance to reread it. 

 

Thank you for your help.

[duane88]

Might that have been Matt Wheling's article/talk? 

[~ Ben Conover]

Eric Grandchamp does some cool new bow head patterns. 

[MeyerFittings]

Matt wrote and article on bow head tips for the big IPCA Restoration Book edited By Tom Wilder several years ago . Don't know if this is the one that you refer to or not. 

[MikeCanada]

I am not seeing anything by Matt that seems to fit. Eric's bows look nice, but doesn't seem to be what I'm thinking of either. It could have been something from the ICPI book, but I don't think it was. What I remember was a comparison of a small sample of highly regarded French bows, and the choices that are made. Things like the angle at which the throat and the faceplate meet, and what changing that angle does to the look of a head. One example featured a rather flat faceplate compared to a very curved one, and then how that relates to the rest of the head. When coming around the nose and back up into the beak, what that curve can look like if you make it a tighter radius etc. All of that was juxtaposed against the modern maker's bow, where he was talking about the influence he drew from some makers, and where he decided to do something his own. 

 

I am fairly certain one of the French bows mentioned/pictured was a Lamy, and I cannot remember the other(s). I remember it helping me to look at heads in a different way than I had been, and it helped with a few concepts. While I have no intention of reinventing the wheel and I have a cello template I'm fairly happy with, I am looking to revisit my other templates and found it a valuable resource a few years ago when I last went through template evolution.