How to Choose a Good Violin Bow

This week I met my luthier friend John Ferwerda, master violin maker and expert stringed instrument repairer to talk about bows.
John is originally from the Netherlands, trained in Germany at the Mittenwald School of Violin Making and has worked in his art for over 50 years. He's a true perfectionist, just the kind of person you really need to fix your violin or bow. I wrote "How to Choose a Good Student Bow" in last week's post at Teach Suzuki Violin (teachsuzukiviolin.com), following up on "How to Choose a Good Student Violin". It's not as simple as choosing a violin. Stand-out student bow makers are less common, unlike student violin makers. After a little history lesson, John shows us the difference between student, commercial and handmade bows, what to look out for and what to pay.
I have a tiny little DV camera that I tried to point towards me for the intro - somewhat unsuccessfully! The interview setup was rather impromptu and I have left it mostly unedited. John's workshop fronts on to a busy road, so there's a fair amount of traffic noise. Notwithstanding these limitations, I hope you enjoy the interview. There's some really sound advice if you are looking for a good bow.

[@jlfrodsham]

It is a rare pleasure to listen to a master of their craft tell you information that is quite rare and detailed. I am fascinated by the level of nuance in a field I never knew existed. The focus of topic tends to be on the violin. I even played a bit myself for a time and never considered the importance of the bow.

[@centref0lds1]

Thank you for posting this! Mr Ferwerda seems like a really good man and everything he said is very very helpful!

[@gorangavric1796]

Remember to be realistic - you will need to put in a bit of work whichever method you decide on for learning to play violin I've been studying teaching yourself violin and discovered an awesome resource at Ajana music lessons (check it out on google)

[@johnferwerda1055]

Thanks for your kind words regarding the important information on bows in general

[@abhilashmusic]

@@johnferwerda1055 can I buy a professional violin bow from you .. I cannot come to Australia..but I trust you that you will select a good violin bow for me ...

[@johnduheaume6650]

Very useful, Mr Ferwerda explains more about bow characteristics in 15 minutes than I have learn so far, I can appreciate why a really good bow can cost as much as they do now, thank you, cheers John. 🎻

[@johnferwerda1055]

Thank you for your kind response on the fascinating description on the bow in general
Feel free to contact me by email
[e-mail]

[@JennieLynneWilliams]

Food for thought. Thank you.

[@gailrivas762]

Very enjoyable and a lot of good info.

[@icequeen2778]

This was really useful and helped me make a decision on which bow to buy! Thanks for the advice :)

[@dwightbrown2808]

Hill bow #9 is Ronald Harding. Here is his information
Ronald Harding (b. 1932 - d. 2014) (Hills 1946-1956) - marked 9 I imagine that bow would cost $7500 or so at a big shop.
There is easily accessed information on the Hill makers some of them had a number, some a mark, and some nothing at all.

[@1cleandude]

When he tapped the bow on his hand he said it had spin; what does that mean? Thanks

[@locngo]

this video is awesome. what he says is very very true. i was struggling with a ten dollar chinese bow when playing ricochet and spicato and sautille and staccato. until i upgraded i realised how shameful it was to play mendelsohn with a cheap bow

[@usernamemykel]

Duh.

[@manafjamal4965]

And now how much you spent for it ?

[@MiLaDoB]

Nice ...subbed to ur channel thx

[@LeviSiccard]

I thought this video was about: how to choose a guitar :-)

[@gregsanford3848]

Where is his studio

[@Anfxyz]

His accent sounds Australian to me, so I don't know if he means US dollars or Oz dollars.

[@TonyDaExpert]

5:30 I thought he said Grand not grams lol I thought they were super expensive for a second

[@nazgulwraith2281]

same here and I was holy smoke so the pro one will be in hundred of thousands then lol

[@dwightbrown2808]

@@nazgulwraith2281 The highest price paid for a bow is $800,000 USD. Most professional bows start at $5000.00 and up at a retail shop. (broad statement)

[@user-ls3qv5ny8b]

could you send your email

[@treatb09]

annunciate.

[@robotzombie3546]

I understood about 95% of his words. Listening to an accent and a speech impediment is a distraction. Overall not much to learn here, basically just choose wisely, the history of bows is OK I guess

[@brandydinsmore8214]

Robot Zombie I think it’s the echo in the room as well that makes it worse. It’s not very clear but I’m not disputing what he actually says.

[@mecanictransmision]

the video is too long! max 3 min!!

[@centref0lds1]

why? how could he say all these things in 3 minutes?

[@Asmr_kungfu]

Mario S ADHD?

[@johnduheaume6650]

Mario has studied bow making in detail it seems! Cheers John.

[@whigwood]

Yawn.