[Eric Swanson]

One of my former teachers, Terry Plumeri, once gave me his #3 bow, a Louis Morizot, out of pure generosity. I was young, going out into the world to play, and he wanted to help. I was broke, as a kid/young adult, so the gift was a mind-blower.

The bow came to me ungripped. Compared to more beautifully made sticks, it certainly never looked like much, but it always worked effortlessly. Sadly, after damaging the tip, I took it to a bad (unmentionable) man who wreaked some crudity on it with crazy glue.

Wanting to be a good steward for the bow, I took it to a wonderful bowmaker, Eric Lane, here in Boston:

http://www.reuning.com/other/our_company/lane.html

I needed to have the tip fixed, and wanted, possibly to have a grip installed.

Eric looked at it critically, as a professional bowmaker, noticed that the stick was kinked at a grain change, slightly twisted, and straighter than usual. He curved the stick a bit more, lessened the kink, made a lovely leather/silver wire grip, elegantly repaired the tip, and then weighted the tip slightly to keep the balance point the same (offsetting the grip’s weight).

Interestingly, now the bow didn’t work well. It felt “dead” and unresponsive. The sound was muted and quiet. Ken Smith, on his “A Late Bultitude #3” thread, advised me to have the tip-weight removed (as a first step) and I followed this advice. I also asked Eric to try to return the stick to its original shape, kink, twist, and all.

The bow has come back to life and the much of the old sound and feel has returned. Eric Lane understood exactly what had happened and talked about “moving the stick’s nodes of vibration.”

I am strongly considering having the grip removed and the stick straightened a bit more (it is still a bit more curved than before; the “feel” is still a bit less lively than the bow was before all of this started. I am pausing, allowing the bow to get used to the changes, before doing anything else.

So, why relate all of this? Because I was impressed by the experience. I know little about the bow makers’ craft, but I am now more aware of its' subtlety.

Interesting that my Morizot, while not especially beautifully carved, was set up to work well, just the way it was, twisted, kinked, ungripped, and very light (126g, ungripped). When we changed a couple of details, this bow, suddenly, just didn’t work.

Anybody else with any experience, changing bows slightly, regripping them, etc. and noticing changes in sound and feel? Maybe repairs that have changed your bows, in one way or the other? Different tones corresponding with different grip types?