Roy Quade viola bow

Roy Quade is an award-winning contemporary bow maker and is considered among the leading contemporary makers in North America. Quade completed his initial training with the prominent American bow maker and restorer, William Salchow, in New York and completed prestigious summer workshops at Oberlin College where he worked with the highly respected French bow maker Stéphane Thomachot.

Quade’s bows are known for the precision of their craftsmanship. He describes his process: “When I am finishing a bow, I set the plane so fine that the wood comes away in tiny, almost transparent shavings. My kids call it angel hair.”

His illustrious career earned him several awards, including four gold medals for his bows at the Violin Society of America competitions (violin in 1996, viola and cello in 1998, and viola in 2004) and their coveted Hors’ Concours designation; a silver medal from the British Violin Making Association; and numerous merit awards at competitions in the U.S. and Great Britain.