Late 19th Century Violin Bow Leipzig – Bausch & Söhn Workshop – Stunning!

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The violin bow is so much more than a piece of South American wood you throw hair on. It’s not an accessory for the instrument. The bow is an essential contributor to the violin’s sound as well; a well-known secret still a bit underestimated by many players. Violin players invest so much money into their instruments and often forget about the other half of the instrument. The bow has so much to do with the sound of your instrument!

This is a fine unstamped violin bow out of Leipzig, Germany and the workshop of Ludwig Bausch & Söhn. The stick and frog have many fine attributes: firm but elastic stick, finely carved delicate head, light brown perfect color wood, dense grain pernambuco in octagonal-section, and a handmade half-lined frog which seems to widen towards the bottom of the frog. The frog is nickel mounted and rectangular in geometry with hand cut mother-of-pearl crests/shields on each side. The ferrule and the solid endscrew button are the only nickel jewelry work on the bow. The nacreous slide is a gorgeous iridescent white. It is a handmade late 19th century bow in very good condition. There is a small amount of wear to the handle of the stick, mostly discolored from normal playing; this is the darker pernambuco color directly above the frog. The screw mortise has been bushed which is normal maintenance on a bow over 100 years old. The winding originally found on the bow was tinsel. It was too far gone to save so we restored using the same silver tinsel for the stick with leather thumb and lapping leather collar.

This is a beautiful old school violin bow that plays powerfully. The bow feels like it sits into the strings not on top of them. It is a little thicker at the frog end but very carefully crafted to specific measured thicknesses throughout the entire shaft. The bow is easy to throw around for articulations and gives an immediate response. It gave me good attacks and a bit of crunch when I wanted it in my Scottish fiddling. The is old-world craftmanship, different than anything being made today. This bow is totally fun to play and is in better shape at over 120 years old than I am at 60 years old (I’m having some eye problems this month). The bow has guts and will help a player liven up a possibly sluggish or less responsive violin.

Weight fully haired 61.7 grams.