Student's Bow, Thoughts?

[Spelman]

This is a student's bow and we were wondering exactly what it is. 

 

Also, is the long thumb leather original to the bow? We were thinking about getting it replaced and I don't know if the replacement should be long like this, or a standard length.

 

I'm happy to take more pics if needed. Thanks in advance!

[Brad Dorsey]

3 hours ago, Spelman said:

This is a student's bow and we were wondering exactly what it is….

 

It is exactly what it says it is: a Richard Grunke violin bow.  Because it is silver-mounted and made by a well-respected workshop, it is in the upper range of student bows, and it could play quite nicely.

[Guido]

The long leather short wire combo seems to have been popular for a period, maybe the 70s or 80s.

For my taste it looks a little odd, but it would be a matter for player preference.

The effect on balance is probably negligible.

The bigger question is if the wire continues all the way under the leather.

The head mortice seems rather small, with plenty of margin all around; and the face plate rather thick. Maybe a replaced face plate not opened up as far as it could have been.

[Brad Dorsey]

23 hours ago, Spelman said:

…is the long thumb leather original to the bow? We were thinking about getting it replaced and I don't know if the replacement should be long like this, or a standard length...

 

It looks original to me.  Long thumb leathers like this are characteristic of a certain type of German bow.  My theory about them is that they are this long so that the silver wrapping could be shorter, because the workshop wanted to save money by using less silver.

This means that a standard-length leather would leave a gap between the leather and the silver over which thread was wound, which would look strange.  The easiest thing to do would be to put on another leather of the same length.  And if you would like to add weight to the grip, there is room for more silver under the leather.

[Spelman]

Thanks for the help! Despite the hair being in terrible condition when I played it, it did seem to be kinda nice.