Bass Bow Literature...

[gems07111]

I'm looking for some books discussing the history of Bass Bows... besides Paul Brun's contributions in his book, what other books can I check out?

[Pops]

I think Chris Brown of the St.PAul Chamber orchestra had a book , with lots of cool pictures and stuff

[quenoil]

Yes, Chris Brown's book is the one to check out- I think it may be out of print... not sure. Its called Discovering Bows for the Double Bass. A quick search brought up a copy for sale for $445... :/

[anonymous12251111]

Originally Posted by quenoil

Yes, Chris Brown's book is the one to check out- I think it may be out of print... not sure. Its called Discovering Bows for the Double Bass. A quick search brought up a copy for sale for $445... :/

This book is at my university. Don't even bother, it's fun to skim through but no real concrete knowledge.

[Pops]

it's fun to skim through but no real concrete knowledge.

MAybe your school got the canadian version

[JimGullen]

Greetings!

As mentioned, Chris Brown's book is REALLY expensive. It has quite a bit of history on the makers and shops. If you get the SUPER REALLY expensive version, you get some overlays that have measurments of many of the bows.

One thing to note: This book deals almost exclusively with French style bass bows. (I believe there are 3 that are not French). Playing German myself, this was a bit of a bummer.

The book is excellent. Whether or not it's good value FOR YOU depends on how serious you are. I would recommend trying to find someone with a copy to peruse before thinking about shelling out the $$$$.

Best regards!

Jim

[anonymous12251111]

Originally Posted by Pops

MAybe your school got the canadian version

Actually, it's the University of Toronto which has the largest collection of music in Canada.

[Pops]

Actually, it's the University of Toronto which has the largest collection of music in Canada.

[gems07111]

Thanks for the heads up Mr. Gullen... I play German as well, but I may find some value in checking that book out...Pops, that bird is kind of creepy!

[anonymous12251111]

Ya, nightmares.

[Felessan]

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians is _always_ a great place to start your research. Find the entry on double bass or bows or whatever, read it, and definitely check out the bibliography at the end of the section/article.

Also, check out the New Harvard Dictionary of Music.

Both are fantastic resources for any music-related research, or even if you're just curious about something!

Happy hunting!

-Trevor

[cbarosky]

it's not my nature to comment so irrelevantly, but WHY IN THE @(#)&*@$ing WORLD IS A BOOK ON BASS BOWS THAT IS 275 PAGES WORTH THAT MUCH?!?!?!

[gems07111]

Yeah, you got a point cbarosky...that bird is still creepy Pops!

[JimGullen]

Originally Posted by cbarosky

it's not my nature to comment so irrelevantly, but WHY IN THE @(#)&*@$ing WORLD IS A BOOK ON BASS BOWS THAT IS 275 PAGES WORTH THAT MUCH?!?!?!

Greetings!

Well, the economics answer is that it's worth that much because some people will pay that much.

A more useful answer is that it is a unique resource in that in this one volume you have a collection of full size photos (and possibly measurements) of critical parts of the bows from many of the great makers. This information can be invaluable to someone who is working on or making bows. Making copies of bows is not that uncommon. Note: When I say copy, I don't mean counterfeit or forgery. For example: I'm currently working on a bow that will have a head much like a Pfretzschner german bow, but it will have my stamp on it...I would never try to pass it off as a Pfretzschner...not that my work is that good, yet! :-)

Besides, I got my Ph.D....I'm used to paying $$$$$$$$$$$$$ for books! (although this one did make me gasp!)

Best regards!

Jim

[cbarosky]

that makes sense from an economic standpoint, but WOW.... i'll be damned if i ever spend that much on a book!

[Bob Branstetter]

Originally Posted by KSB - Ken Smith

I have thousands of dollars of violin type books in my shelves. The quantity printed and sold in the violin field is a fraction then say of a cooking book or mystery novel. The costs of printing and set-up are even more per book because of the lower volume of books printed. Some books I have are numbered limited edition books with only 500 or 2000 at most printed. Imagine now a bass book with a fraction of the audience of lets say a violin book which serves all the strings instruments and bows but the bass edition does not attract the violin field at all, just us 'bottom feeders'.

A Bow book I believe by Raffin came out a few years ago and I believe it sold for $2500-$3000 or so. If sold out, it would sell for even more after market. The Henley dictionary was $260 when I got my copy a few years back just before they went 'out of stock/out of print'. Now I see them used for $350-$450 on line all day long. I bought the Italian makers Book by Jalovec back in the early 70s I believe and paid from $60-$80 I think I recently bought several Jalovec books on Ebay and paid more than 5-6 times that per book. If you are in the business or want to study it along with all the mistakes and contradictions then the money is well spent. You think Science gets things right the first time? Why should violins and their makers history's be any different?

Books help in a way with history of the makers but to ID a product you must have a developed eye. Pictures in a book make it more valuable. In the case of the Elgar book where so many Basses are mis-named or wrongly attributed, it's about half it's value because of the errors. For example, the 5-string Gagliano Bass is actually an English Bass from the 19th century. I don't think any of the Basses called Amati are as stated either. How much value is there in studying the wrong Bass or Bow to later try and ID another?

I think the Chris Brown Bass Bow book is a good investment and one of these days, I will get one just for my collection if not for anything else.

Well said Ken.

When I started buying violin books, I looked at them as an educational expense. Even the books by Elgar were of great value to me because at the time, there were no other books available to me on basses. Even with the mistakes (which I didn't discover until many years later), the 3 Elgar books were my introduction into bass repairing. Today, many of the trained bass luthiers tend to dismiss the Elgar books because their inaccuracies. However, I can honestly say that there isn't a single book in my rather large violin family library that I didn't learn something that was useful. Many of today's violin makers got started by reading Violin-Making: A Historical and Practical Guide by Edward Heron-Allen. This book was first published around 1885 and it is still in print despite numerous "mistakes". Remember, these guys didn't have Google around to do their research.

[David Potts]

I can almost see you old guys salivating as you discuss old books,bows and basses!

I know the feeling. I get it when I go to the annual Working With Wood show here. Thousands of grey haired men (and a few women!) drooling over everything. My wife says she's going to pick her next husband there.

Oh, and I get the same feeling hunting up old basses!!

DP

[JimGullen]

Originally Posted by David Potts

I can almost see you old guys salivating as you discuss old books,bows and basses!

<rest of post snipped>

DP

Old guys?!....OLD GUYS?!?!?!

Didn't you hear...39 is the new 15!

Now get off my lawn! :-)

Best regards!

Jim

[Don Higdon]

Unfortunately, the new 72 is still 72.

[JimGullen]

Originally Posted by KSB - Ken Smith

and... 55 is the new 25.

Wanna race?

I'd love to...in the spirit of full disclosure...here's what I do when I'm not playing Brahms. This is me coming out of turn 1 at Grattan in western Michigan!

I got a spare helmet if you want one!