M. Penzel Violin Bow Erlbach, Germany circa 1908-1918

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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, 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 violin bow out of Erlbach, Germany and the workshop of Emil Max Penzel (1887-1953). What’s neat about Max is that he not only was a fine maker, but Max also took the time to train many young up-and-coming bow makers in Erlbach, including many in his family. One of Max’s relatives, Matthias Penzel, still makes handmade bows in Germany for us here at our shop. Our M. PENZEL stick and frog have many fine attributes: semi firm but supple pernambuco stick, finely carved delicate head, dark red/brown color wood, dense grain older pernambuco in octagonal-section, and a handmade fully-lined frog which enlarges toward the bottom of the frog. The frog is nickel mounted, with a one-piece heel, nice pin work, and the model and shape is indicative of where and who Max Penzel trained with, H.R. Pfretzschner in Markneukirchen. The mother-of-pearl slide is a gorgeous iridescent smattering of blue/green/purple hues. It is a handmade early 20th century bow in very good condition. The pearl eyes at 8.0 mm are large and the whale bone winding is original that I saved on the bow while replacing the old thumb grip with a new leather. This is a remarkable older violin bow that plays powerfully. The bow lays into the strings, not on top of them. The stick increments are a little thicker at the frog end but very carefully crafted to specific thicknesses throughout the entire shaft. The bow is easy to throw around for articulations and gives an immediate response. I feel I could attack my playing; yes, I love that in a bow. The stick has a bit of crunch attitude when I wandered into my Scottish fiddling. I like that too. 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 100 years old than I am at 60 years old (I’m having some eye problems as I get older). The bow is balanced well. The weight of the bow falls middle to the frog and the tip feels like there is no weight, a feather. I found the bow very easy to handle.

Weight fully haired 55.0 grams