Books › An Encyclopedia of the Violin, 1925 › scan 148
Scan 148
An Encyclopedia of the Violin, 1925
26 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 122. See the scan on archive.org.
1patron, and later this gentleman and myself did much to support him, not alone by buying his bows, but also by coming to his assistance at times when he lacked the common necessities of life.
3"We visited him at the Richmond workhouse, where he died on October 4, 1839, of bronchitis, at the age of eighty-seven. He was buried in Kew, and not, as Forster declares, in Richmond.
5"He was very small of figure and tripped rather than walked along. He was negligent in his dress, wore a wretched coat, old and frayed, short breeches and a broad-brimmed hat. He was most regular in his irregular habits, even to visiting the bars and public houses four times a day. His favorite beverage was a mixture of gin and beer called 'purl.'
7"He would never consent to take an apprentice, insisting that he did not wish to initiate any one into his manner of building bows, and it has been said on good authority that he refused £1,000 which was offered him for his secret.
9"On his deathbed, when asked whether he were a Catholic or a Protestant, he replied: 'A little of both.'"
11Louis Panormo, the son of the violin maker Louis Panormo, succeeded Dodd in the mastery of bow manufacture, and his bows are much esteemed by violinists and command a high price.
13THE BOW
15For each one of the string instruments which have been considered in the first part of this work, there exists a particular variety of bow. The bow of the violin has a length of 73 centimeters (29 1/2").
17The viola bow differs from the violin bow in only one respect: its stick is somewhat heavier, since the viola bow is obliged to cause strings to vibrate which are larger than the violin strings.
19The bow of the bass or violoncello is 67 centimeters (25") long.
21Double-bass bows are infinitely varied in form and dimension, and nothing very definite can be said regarding them. Incidentally, they are so easy to make, that the first chance craftsman at home in cabinet work could make a double-bass bow once he has seen one.
23The same does not hold good of the other bows; making a violin bow, for instance, calls for a great deal of skill, and an experienced hand, and workmen who can make good violin bows are very rare.
25The bows of the violin, the viola and the violoncello are haired with white horsehair. Black hair is always taken for those of the double bass; the stronger the better. The idea that red horsehair is preferable to white—it is sometimes recommended on the theory that it "bites" better, consequent on the action of the dye—is a mere fallacy, an increased coarseness of tone being the only noticeable results of its use.
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