Richard Grünke Viola Bow- Bubenreuth circa 1970-1975

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Richard Grünke, born in Poland in 1930, ended up in the upper Vogtland region in 1944 during the turmoil at the end of WW II. He began his apprenticeship as a bow maker in 1945 with Edwin Herrmann in Schönlind, then completed it in the H.R. Pfretzschner workshop in Markneukirchen between 1946 and 1948. He remained in this workshop until 1950, when he went to Berlin to work for Alfred Leicht. The years in Berlin were to augment the training he had received in the H.R. Pfretzschner workshop and had an important effect on his later working career. In 1952 he moved to Bubenreuth to work for Roderich Paesold. With his masters examination in 1957, the Paesold company began to stamp his bows “Richard Grünke.” The style of his early bows was clearly influenced by the Pfretzschner workshop. Later, with the inspiration and study of old master bows and suggestions of important musicians, he developed a very personal model which he followed for his entire career. In 1975 Grünke set up a business of his own near Bubenreuth. The workshop developed with great success and became a highly frequented address for professional German and international string players. In 1996 he founded a new company with his two sons, Klaus and Thomas, named “Richard Grünke & Söhne GmbH”.

For myself as a young guy learning the bow trade, I spent much time studying Grünke’s sticks because they were available to me. I studied the graduations, camber increments, layout of his bows, and the H.R. Pfretzschner style frogs. I learned to restore, and rehaired hundreds of bows. I had the opportunity to handle and study many fine French and German Bows. In addition, I worked on many Grünke sticks for customers in the New York/New Jersey area from 1978 through 1988.

We have a great collection of Richard Grünke’s bows, 18 sticks that I purchased from an Austrian collector in 2005 to restore and eventually sell. Two of the bows in the collection, one viola and one violin, were gold mounted and have already been sold here at the shop. There are a few more bows to complete. The sticks are excellent examples of Grünke’s violin and viola bow work and are in various gram weights. What is interesting to me is the quality of the pernambuco chosen and his style of making while he was at the famous Paesold shop. He used different brandings on the frogs, and he made subtle changes to his sticks when he began his own shop. The pernambuco wood is exceptional on this viola bow, round in section, and sterling silver mounts in a Parisian eye ebony frog. The frog carries the Grünke insignia crest: RG initials inside the archery bow crest. The bow is in excellent condition, all original except for a new leather thumb and fresh hair.

Weight fully haired 70.4 grams