|
Whatever the material -
making a high quality bow always requires plenty of qualified manual labour.
|
Carbon fiber is produced by
a small number of specialized companies. They start with a fiber like polyacrylnitril. This is stretched and "charred" in a two step
process at very high temperatures so that all elements except carbon are
burnt.
These very fine
carbon-fibers (5-8 micrometers) are bundled in "so called" rowings. Those can be woven or laid to make sheets or tubes.
|
|
We use such materials plus
epoxy and hardener to make our multi-layer one-piece bow-stick, which we
cure in a process that lasts several hours.
The resulting raw sticks
are now trimmed and finely ground on all faces. They are cut to the
correct length and receive an insert at the end in which the bore for the
screw and the long whole are cut. Most of these steps are made similar to
wooden bows, only that the carbon fiber is much harder, which makes it necessary
to work with diamond-tooling.
The serial number and the
name of the stick are engraved and laid out with paint. After that we
apply the winding and the thumb-leather. For the hair we sort every single
hair individually and take care to use exactly the right amount of hair
that will give the bows its best playing characteristics. Although we buy
only the finest hair available we usually sort out 50% due to
irregularities, kinks or weak patches. With precisely cut wedges the hair
is fixed and secured in the tip and frog. After the final quality control
the bow is now ready for the concert hall.
Frequently
asked questions regarding our bows.
|
