In 2017 when the late and great Bernard Millant passed away his good friend and colleague of many years wrote that Bernard was probably in heaven deep in conversation with both Francois Tourte and Dominique Peccatte about their bows!
There are, after all, only a hand full of great makers throughout history. Each generation brings its cream of the crop, each keen to bring the very best they can to their art.
After a lifetime of playing and dealing I too have a list of favourites. Perhaps ten, certainly less than twenty makers who’s bows I just love to play on. Then there are the bows to use when you’re under tremendous stress, perhaps a big solo or set of solos or a recording session. Those are the circumstances when instinctively you choose the correct bow, not necessarily the one you expect to choose.
Anyway, back to time travel! Which bow makers would I visit? If I restrict myself to eight makers here they are:
Tourte
Persoit
Eury
Peccatte
Simon
Lamy pere
Voirin
Sartory
I wonder how many of you would agree? All, without exception, first class makers with fabulous abilities and vision. How lucky the player who owns one of these bows.
This brings me to the main part of this article. If you visited Eugene Sartory to buy one of his bows from him personally (what a lovely idea) you would leave with your bow in your violin case. On the odd occasion when you did not take your case Sartory would give you a single bow case inscribed with his name and address inside. These are rare indeed, but if you have your Sartory and would like to keep it in an original Sartory case you can buy it here!
Please see below.
The price? £1,200 plus vat. Find me another!