Violin Forum/Message Board

[jethro]

I am away from home and away from my reference books, does anyone
know the dimentions for the rectangular holes at the front and rear of the
violin bow (4/4) ? I am going to try to make a stick from scratch
(my first) while out of town. I have my practice bow to get an
approximate width but how long and how deep (about) I don't want
to un-hair my only bow because I will be using it and have no way to
rehair it here ! It will be an "experimental" attempt at bowmaking
Thanks ahead of time If anyone can remember !
Tim

[Ed]

For the tip, I make mine about 8mm deep, with the lower edge of the mortice (the one nearest the frog) at least 5mm from the lower edge of the head. The top edge of the mortice (closest to the tip) is about 10mm from the same lower edge of the head, making the total length of the mortice 5mm (approx). This size varies depending on the bow, but is pretty close. The width of the mortice would vary with the head shape also, but must be at least able to hold the tied hair knot, of course. The head must be shaped already and the ivory/bone (or metal) facing already installed before creating the tip mortice. The frog hair mortice should be about 10mm deep, 4mm wide by 6mm long (approx). I find that the narrower the mortice (just enough to fit the knot in) the better, otherwise the walls of the frog get too thin, causing the pearl eye installation to have problems with possibly penetrating into the hair mortice. If you use a pearl eye cutter with a center point, this is even more likely. Here's a drawing from the side of the bow head mortice - typical shape: