Silver Tipped Bows

[John Delventhal]

Hey Ken,

Your Sue Lipkins "Ode to Sartory" bow is one of the few Lipkins bows I've had the chance to play. I believe you let me play it with your Martini when I visited the shop a while back. I had stopped by for you to take a look at the X. Jacquet(which I wound up buying) as well as to play some of your basses. Plus, it was nice to hear someone else play the Jacquet.

You didn't talk much about that bow when you handed it to me probably because we were involved in talking about the basses. But, it was very easy to draw a great tone out of that bow/bass combination. I had played another Lipkins bow back in 2003 at the ISB convention in Richmond. This was on a friends unknown American made bass c.1920. There is no doubt she is a great bow maker which is why I wanted to get on her list.

I would probably never change out the tip from what the original bow maker intended to be on that particular bow. Just wondering is there anyone on this forum that plays a bow consistently that has a metal/silver tip? How do you like it, who made it, and do you feel that this unique/possibly heavier tip brings anything to the table?

Why are they so rare to see? Tradition maybe? Ken, you said you've seen them often on English bows. Any guesses as to why this hasn't caught on more so in other parts of the world. Again I would assume most of the logic behind this has to do with weight and balance. So, do makers add these on to unusually light sticks, or frog heavy bows? Or are silver tips kind of like a trade mark, on every bow that particular bow maker makes? The Grunberger, Bultitude(s), and Kun bows on your site have silver tips. Do these makers always use silver tips?

[Ken Smith]

Yes, all 3 Bultitudes I had were with 'metal' tips. Again, I am not sure exactly what the tip material is. The Grunberger is metal as well but that's not a Bow I use. The Bultitudes are bows that I used and they were all in the 140gram range depending on the grip. The Bultitudes were exceptional bows as they were. I don't think the Tip material mattered. When making a Bow, all good makers weight out the combined materials for the balance overall. Anyone can change a Tip but selecting and carving the Stick is where the Art of the Bow is.

On the Lipkins of mine you tried I made it a point when trying out basses not to put attention on the Bow so one can concentrate listen to the bass. On this particular Lipkins bow, the bounce/spiccato is unreal. I can make it bounce more if needed by tightening the stick or less by loosening it to lay on the strings more with just enough hair tension to play firmly.