Exhibiting Bow Makers
Steve Beckley
California native Steven Beckley worked as a luthier in the construction and restoration of classical guitars before becoming interested in bow making. After studying for several years with William Salchow in New York City, he returned to California to work for Boyd Poulsen.
Beckley currently builds bows from his studio in Mendocino, where he also runs summer bow making workshops. He is a frequent presenter at the Violin Society of America conventions, has collaborated with D. William Halsey, William Salchow, and Boyd Poulsen on a bow donated to the International Pernambuco Conservation Initiative, and has been featured on the DYI Network’s Handmade Music series. Beckley is also the founder of BowWorks.com, a source of bow making materials.
Emmanuel Begin
Canadian bow maker Emmanuel Bégin began his training at the age of 14 with his father, Louis Bégin, in Montréal. He moved to Lille, France to work with Yannick Le Canu for several years, before returning to Montréal to open his own workshop.
He has won several recognitions from the Violin Society of America competitions, including a Gold Medal for a cello bow and Certificates of Merit for his violin and viola bows in 2012. In the 2014 VSA competition, he won Certificates of Merit for a viola bow and cello bow, a Gold Medal for a violin bow, as well as an additional Gold Medal for a bass bow made in collaboration with Eric Fournier.
Noel Burke
Irish bow maker Noel Burke began his career in 1989, after apprenticing with Charles Espey in the United States, and Stéphane Thomachot in Paris. His bows are owned by some of the world's top orchestral players, chamber musicians, and soloists, including violinists Leonidas Kavakos, Anthony Marwood, Isabelle van Keulen, violist Lawrence Power, and cellist Frans Helmerson.
Burke has won numerous awards for his bows, including six Gold Medals from the Violin Society of America, the Grand Prix de la Ville de Paris for a violin bow, and a Gold Medal for cello bow at The Strad Cello and Bow Making Competition at the Royal Northern College of Music Cello Festival.
Burke is the brother of renowned Irish fiddler Kevin Burke, who plays on one of his brother's bows. He currently builds bows and teaches bow making from his workshop in Carlow, Ireland.
Eben Bodach-Turner
American bow maker Eben Bodach-Turner crafts violin, viola, cello, and bass bows from his workshop in East Montpelier, Vermont.
Bodach-Turner began making bows in 2000 at the University of New Hampshire Violin Craftsmanship Institute under Lynn Armour Hannings. Through the Violin Society of America Bow Making workshops at Oberlin College, he has worked with some of the finest bow makers in the world today.
Bodach-Turner holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Recording from Ithaca College and performs regularly with several area orchestras and chamber groups on the double bass.
Jon Crumrine
American bow maker Jon Crumrine studied bow making with numerous distinguished bow makers in the United States and Europe, including Jerry Pasewicz, Lynn Hannings, George Rubino, Markus Wörz, and Jean Grunberger. Also a professional violist, Jon holds a degree in viola performance from the University of Michigan.
Jon has held positions at some of the top violin shops in the U. S., and currently rehairs, repairs, and restores bows for Carriage House Violins, while maintaining his career as a bow maker.
Eric Fournier
French bow maker Eric Fournier discovered bow making at an early age. In 1998, he began making bows under the tutelage of Stéphane Müller in Toulouse. He has trained with many other prestigious makers, including Edwin Clément, Gilles Duhaut, Eric Grandchamp, Yannick Le Canu, and Georges Tepho, with whom he currently shares a workshop in Quimper, France. Fournier has won numerous awards for his bows, including two Gold Medals in the Violin Society of America competition of 2014 for a viola bow and a cello bow.
Pierre-Yves Fuchs
- Pierre-Yves Fuchs silver-mounted cello bow no. 98
- Pierre-Yves Fuchs silver-mounted cello bow no. 1402
Swiss bow maker Pierre-Yves Fuchs is one of the most celebrated bow makers working today. He studied with Stéphane Thomachot, Gilles Duhaut, Pierre Guillaume, and Benoit Rolland, and established his own workshop in 1997.
His bows are in high demand among professional players worldwide and have won numerous awards at international competitions. In the Violin Society of America competition of 2004, Fuchs received the unprecedented honor of winning four Gold Medals: one for each of his violin, viola, cello, and bass bows, earning him the title of “Hors Concours.”
His bow making style is inspired by Peccatte, Maire, and Pajeot.
Klaus Grünke
German bow maker and restorer Klaus Grünke is among the most esteemed bow authorities in the world today. Grünke began studying in 1975 with his father, Richard Grünke (b. 1930), who had studied in H. R. Pfretzschner’s famous Markneukirchen workshop from 1946 to 1948. After moving to the United States to work with Hans Weisshaar in Los Angeles from 1980 to 1982, Klaus returned to Grünke & Sohne in Bubenreuth to work with his father and brother, Thomas Grünke, also a bow maker. Grünke developed his own models based on Dominique Peccatte, François Nicolas Voirin, and more recently, Nikolai Kittel.
Grünke’s bows have won the highest honors in international competitions, and he has served on the jury of several competitions. He is a member of Verband Deutscher Geigenbauer und Bogenmacher, Entente Internationale de Luthiers et Archetiers, and is a founding member of the International Pernambuco Conservation Initiative (IPCI).
In the year 2000, Grünke collaborated with bow making colleagues C. Hans Karl Schmidt and Wolfgang Zunterer to write and publish the encyclopedia “German Bow Makers.” Grünke also co-authored the book “The Bows of Nikolai Kittel,” published in 2011 with colleagues Josef Gabriel and Yung Chin.
Eric Lane
After receiving a Bachelor of Music degree in double bass performance and music theory, Eric began studying bow making with Jon Crumrine in Atlanta and Reid Hudson in British Columbia. He furthered his studies with Jerry Pasewicz, Rodney Mohr, and David Orlin at the Oberlin College Bow Makers Workshops in Ohio, paying significant attention to advanced restoration.
At the Oberlin workshops, Eric learned traditional French techniques from Stéphane Thomachot and Eric Grandchamp, as well as English and German techniques from Tim Baker and Klaus Grunke, respectively.
Eric joined the staff of Reuning & Son Violins in 2002 to lead the bow repair and restoration department. His own bows are inspired by Pajeot, Simon, and Maline. Eric is a member of the American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers and the Violin Society of America. He has won several Certificates of Merit for Workmanship at various VSA and International Society of Bassists competitions.
Jianfeng Li
Chinese bow maker JianFeng Li studied with celebrated American bow maker John Norwood Lee. He currently works from his studio in the port city of Ningbo in northeast China, and is a member of both the Violin Society of America and the Violin Society of China.
Li’s bows (stamped “Lee”) have won numerous prizes in international bow making competitions, including Silver Medals for his violin and viola bows entered into the China International Violin Making and Bow Making Competition held in Beijing in 2013. Based on 19th century French models, Li’s bows are praised for their elegance and tone production, and are owned by professional players across the globe.
Stephen Marvin
Bow maker Stephen Marvin became interested in bow making in 1980, while pursuing a career in early music as a violinist and violist. He learned the basics of modern bow making with William Salchow in New York, then began researching bow models made before 1800. After examining and measuring historical bows found in museums and collections in Europe and the United States, Marvin began building reproductions of early bow models and developing his own, from his workshop in Toronto, Canada.
Marvin builds bows based on models from the late 17th century through the Classical era of bow making after models by Tourte and Dodd, as well as later modern models. Numerous professional players from top early music orchestras all over the world own Marvin bows, including musicians in the acclaimed Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, where Marvin has been a violinist for over 25 years.
Marvin’s articles on historical bow making have appeared in The Strad and other string instrument publications, and he is an avid writer of fiction.
Rodney Mohr
Rodney Mohr is one of today’s most prolific and celebrated bow makers. He has won numerous Gold Medals at the Violin Society of America’s bow making competitions, earning the title “Hors Concours,” and has served as president of both the VSA and the American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers.
In high demand as a maker and a teacher, Mohr is currently co-director of the VSA Oberlin Bow Restoration summer workshops, and hosts his own series of workshops from his studio in Ashland, Ohio, where he continues to build and restore bows.
Robert Morrow
American bow maker Robert Morrow resides in Port Townsend, Washington, a town renowned for its bow making. Before working with bows, he was part of a community of Northwest Coast Native American artists, where he was known for his wood carving on traditional art—such as totem poles and masks—and credits this experience for training his eye in the details of fine wood working.
He studied bow making with Charles Espey, and currently builds his bows based on models by the classic French makers, including Tourte, Pajeot, and Lupot.
He has won numerous awards for his bows in international competitions, including five Gold Medals between 2004 and 2008 at the Violin Society of America, which has earned him the top honor of “Hors Concours” status.
His bows are owned by professional players throughout the world.
Evan Orman
Born in Colorado, Evan Orman studied cello at the North Carolina School of the Arts, the Banff Centre in Canada, and the New England Conservatory. He made his first bow in 1994 and subsequently worked in the shop of Denver violin maker, Rock Eggen.
Having regularly attended the bow making workshop at Oberlin College since 1999, Evan honed his skills while working with many of today’s top makers, including Stéphane Thomachot, Eric Grandchamp, Lee Guthrie, Jean Grunberger, Steven Beckley, and many others. His bows are in the hands of many top players, including Edward Dusinberre of the Takács Quartet, and cellists Rainer Eudeikis and Jeremiah Campbell.
He currently works from his shop in the Alliance Française building in Denver.
Stephen Salchow
Son of renowned American bow maker William Salchow (1926–2014), Stephen Salchow (b. 1965) studied with his father in New York City. He worked at the Salchow & Sons workshop with his nephew Isaac Salchow from 1995 to 2013, then moved to Philadelphia, where he is currently the bow maker for Frederick W. Oster Fine Violins. Some of the world's top soloists play Steve Salchow's bows, including Jamie Laredo, Steven Tenenbom, and Kazuhide Isomura. His bows are also owned by members of the Philadelphia Orchestra, London Philharmonic, and the Cincinnati Symphony.
Jean-Luc Tauziede
French bow maker Jean-Luc Tauziede (b. 1962) is a native of Anglet in Basque country in France. He studied cello before beginning his training in bow making under Jean-Francois Raffin in Paris in 1992, and continued his studies with Stéphane Thomachot.
In 2001, Tauziede was featured in The Strad for an extraordinary bow he made named “Le Souverain,” an elaborately decorated bow mounted with 66 diamonds and a button fashioned into a crown of white and rose gold, valued at over $100,000.
Tauziede currently builds bows based on classical French models, as well as transition period and baroque model bows. His bows can be found in the hands of players across the globe.
Georges Tepho
World renowned French bow maker Georges Tepho studied with Bernard Ouchard and Roger Lotte at the Mirecourt School of Violin and Bow Making. He has participated in expositions in Paris, Frankfurt, and Tokyo, as well as in numerous competitions, where his bows have won numerous awards.
He currently works at his shop in Quimper, France, perfecting his craft and mentoring up-and-coming bow makers. Tepho makes his own model of bow, influenced by the elegance of 19th century French bow making, as well as models inspired by the bows of Tourte and Pajeot.
His bows are in high demand among professional players.
Matthew Wehling
American bow maker Matthew Wehling (b. 1962) apprenticed in the workshop of William Salchow in New York, before continuing his studies in France with Benoit Rolland. In 2001, after working for Georges Tepho for several years, he returned to the United States to Port Townsend, Washington, a major center of American bow making, to collaborate with other prominent bow makers. Settling in Northfield, Minnesota, Wehling established his own business where he currently restores and makes bows. Wehling has won numerous awards for his bows, including five Gold Medals and several Certificates of Merit in competitions held by the Violin Society of America since 2006, earning the title of "Hors Concours." In 2011, he won first prize for a cello bow at the Etienne Vatelot Competition in Paris. A regular contributor of articles for Strings magazine, The Strad, and numerous VSA journals, Wehling was also among the bow experts chosen to contribute to the monumental reference book The Conservation, Restoration, and Repair of Stringed Instruments and Their Bows, published in 2011. Wehling's bows are owned by prominent string players.
