Violin bow information

[AaronS76]

After starting my bow thread yesterday, a JTL labelled Medio Fino I purchased cheaply online to play around with turned up. And it also came with a bow. I am now after info on this bow. I can’t imagine it is top quality considering it came with a Medio Fino or by itsattributes. Does anyone have any thoughts on the wood type, era or even maker? I’m under no illusions here especially considering it had a plastic(?) head to tighten the bow.

I also know nothing of taking photos of a bow so please let me know how to take better photos of needed  

TIA

[Gtone]

I would think that it is a Mirecourt bow for the same kind of price point of a Medio fin.

Possibly from JTL 1880 maybe earlier?,see what the experts say.

Bone screw adjuster and it may not even be made for a pearl slide.Just open trench?

 

[Blank face]

1 hour ago, Gtone said:

I would think that it is a Mirecourt bow for the same kind of price point of a Medio fin.

Possibly from JTL 1880 maybe earlier?,see what the experts say.

Bone screw adjuster and it may not even be made for a pearl slide.Just open trench?

 

Yes, a low grade Mirecourt bow ca. 1900. These open trench frog bows can have bone (like here) or synthetic adjuster buttons and as it's visible in the photo they didn't bother to cut straight the end of the milled mortice. They can be very good players.

[Gtone]

34 minutes ago, Blank face said:

Yes, a low grade Mirecourt bow ca. 1900. These open trench frog bows can have bone (like here) or synthetic adjuster buttons and as it's visible in the photo they didn't bother to cut straight the end of the milled mortice. They can be very good players.

Thanks Blank.

I'd be tempted to get it rehaired, I've also found they sometimes play well.

[fiddlecollector]

These were made up to the 1920's or later .  As BF points out with unsquared off mortice in the handle,theres a  preconception among many people  that a round ended mortice like this means German/ Czech/ far East type manufacture , but its simply a product of mass production.These bows were sold by the dozen and all mortices are usually made  with a series of round holes in a line. So each end would be rounded unless it was squared off which takes extra time . The head chamfers on this bow look ok ,many are very rough.

[AaronS76]

All very interesting info. Many thanks. I might look into getting it rehaired for the hell of it. Frog is broken one one side. Can’t imagine it would affect its function. 

[Gtone]

Here's one I found recently I think from the same part of the world.

I can't get the screw out( I didn't do that damage you can see either)

.....so it's in the 'too hard' basket at the moment.

Nice chamfers on this one and I think it's abeille?

Sorry for the tangent Aaron but thought it was interesting enough to add.

 

[Blank face]

6 hours ago, Gtone said:

Here's one I found recently I think from the same part of the world.

I can't get the screw out( I didn't do that damage you can see either)

.....so it's in the 'too hard' basket at the moment.

Nice chamfers on this one and I think it's abeille?

Sorry for the tangent Aaron but thought it was interesting enough to add.

 

This seems to be from the Markneukirchen area "school of Knopf", and yes, Abeille wood.

[Gtone]

6 hours ago, Blank face said:

This seems to be from the Markneukirchen area "school of Knopf", and yes, Abeille wood.

thanks Blank,

does this(pic) help point to a time,you said previously that the octagonal button gave you an idea of when it was made.Trying to learn more,if you get a chance.

[Blank face]

6 hours ago, Gtone said:

thanks Blank,

does this(pic) help point to a time,you said previously that the octagonal button gave you an idea of when it was made.Trying to learn more,if you get a chance.

Yes, this is an interesting feature, but for dating a bow only one out of several. In general I would expect an early frog/button to have thinner metal, also the buttons being more bold.It’s also often difficult to tell if a button belongs originally to the bow ( very easily to change). I would think the bow is from the end of the 19th/early 20th century.

[Gtone]

2 hours ago, Blank face said:

Yes, this is an interesting feature, but for dating a bow only one out of several. In general I would expect an early frog/button to have thinner metal, also the buttons being more bold.It’s also often difficult to tell if a button belongs originally to the bow ( very easily to change). I would think the bow is from the end of the 19th/early 20th century.

 thanks again,

I'll be trying surgery on this one soon(screw is stuck) and I'll see what that reveals.

[AaronS76]

Going back to the bow I posted. What timber would it likely be/does it appear to be?

[fiddlecollector]

Its abeille wood  i think ,but photo not very good for wood i.d. Sorry zoomed in on the handle definitely abeille.

[AaronS76]

Thanks for the reply

 

 

[uguntde]

On 7/4/2024 at 7:56 PM, Blank face said:

This seems to be from the Markneukirchen area "school of Knopf", and yes, Abeille wood.

Whatever school of Knopf means, I don't see any Knopf.

[Blank face]

1 hour ago, uguntde said:

Whatever school of Knopf means, I don't see any Knopf.

If one could see any Knopf, it would not be “school of” with inverted kommas, but simply Knopf.