Tourte, Franéois

1747-1835

The man to whom we owe the perfecting of the violin-bow was a Parisian, who spent a long life in improving this  instrument, and whose model is universally conceded to be the finest ever made. His father and elder brother were also violin-bow makers, but he far outstripped them. He took the greatest pains in selecting Pernambuco wood of fine and perfectly straight grain and by a series of careful experiments determined the exact degree of heat to which to subject the wood in order to get the proper inward curve. He also fixed the exact length of the bow and the point at which to begin tapering it, as well as just where to place the nut and the point. He invented the method of spreading and fixing the hairs in the head of the nut, which was usually made of tortoise shell mounted in gold. So great was his genius for this work that he is often called the Stradivari of the Bow.