Bow woods

[Joshua Phelps]

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

Please, do a bit of research on your own, everyone with that question and see the name of the Botanical species of both Brazilwood and Pernambuco. You will be enlightened.

Basically speaking, Pernambuco is Brazilwood that grows in the town of Pernambuco. Like Sparkling wine and Champagne.

Before this wood became the standard for bow making, woods like Snakewood and Ipe' (Pau d'arco) were used for bows. Many old violin bows by the great masters of a century ago have been seen with nail holes in them. Why? Because the wood was used to make barrels for goods imported from Brazil. The Bow makers got the wood cheap and I assume used what they could as long as the holes did not affect the integrity of the strength of the bow or were easy to fill.

Weird. I thought that pernambuco was the core wood of the tree & the brazil wood was closer to the outside. Guess I'm a noob