VINCENT AND THE TRIDIMENTIONALITYWhen I started doing this job I could have never really believe that my passion for wood could almost turn in a sickness. Having some good material in stock is, for those ones doing this work, like owning a precious treasure, the luthiers and bowmakers often risk even failure to buy wood. Not long ago I heard a fellow luthiers saying, "Hey, look what a beautiful back part, it is not a particularly good time to buy, but as soon as it saw me he called me Daddy, I could not avoid to take it home."
The same thing happened to me a couple of years ago when I was in front of a huge lot of Pernambuco just arrived from Brazil and not yet seen by anyone. Even for us, as for our colleague, it was not an exceptional time to buy, but handling such a thing, we almost lost our mind, it was like as we reached The Land of Toys.
The rude awakening came when , after having finished our choice, the seller showed us the bill. At the first sight we almost fainted, but the efforts made to take it home were more than repaid. A lot of beautiful wood, consisting of pieces of gold, more than sticks, with some tops of the range , one of which, probably the most beautiful, is in front of you.
Like all our bows, especially those mounted in gold, also the wood of Vincent has a very high sound propagation velocity ; 5932 m / s, furthermore the cut is perfectly radial. Already from the moment of the first selection, I realized I had something special in my hands, but still had no idea to which extent.
Before processing such a high levelled stick it is essential, at least for me, to find a musician able to appreciate such a particular item. Too often I had to sell excellent bows to musicians who had the financial means to buy them, but not the sensitivity to understand and value them, and when that happens, I'm happy because obviously I pay my bills, but in my mouth I feel a slightly bitter aftertaste.
A few months ago I met a guy, who in my opinion was very smart and sensitive so I said him: - "Francesco, are you interested to play with a wonder?" -. "Yes!". The circle was closed: big stick, big bowmaker and a proper customer. Ready, Go!
The construction has been a real struggle . The wood with such a hard character is a serious business for any bowmaker , even for someone like Daniel, who has managed to tame it, but not without difficulty, we have to take into account that seeing him work, you may think how bow making is easy, so great is his ease and the elegant technique of his gestures.
When we had to to rough it with a Stanley, things went quite smooth, the troubles arrived at the first bend. The wood had an impressive force and it was necessary to heat it a lot in order to bend it.
Then came the scraper. This particular instrument, especially used in the Italian construction school, is already a very tiring one, being the angle of incidence of its blade at ninety degrees. Furthermore when, as in this case, the material is very hard, to pull an octagon becomes a hand-to-hand combat. At the end of the fight Daniel won, but his back has been hurting for a couple of days!
Just by working it with a scraper, I started to understand that what led me to choose this stick was just a part of its beauty. I was leaning on the desk in front of Daniel when he started working on the left side of the head. He gave quick and light shots , and as soon as the plane took hold, I started to hear very high hisses. Obviously since pernambuco is a sound wood, it can emit groans under a cutting tool, but not in such a way. I picked up the phone and called the customer - "Do you hear it ?" -, - "Yes!!!" -. It was singing.
When Daniel finishes the bows , in particular those at this level, I use to let them play for at least half an hour by an instrumentalist who kindly accepts to do it , but this time I could not find any violinist. The only resource left was my friend, the cellist Jakob Ludwig and then Vincent had its baptism of fire on a cello. We were astonished, I heard many cello bows get less sound than this newly-born. Deep and defined even in the third and fourth string, and so wide that even Jakob, one of the best connoisseurs of our work, was impressed .
Why Vincent?
To tell the truth, the name of this wonder is not mine, but of its lucky owner and it comes from a discussion we had in those days, about one of the most famous Van Gogh's painting: Vincent's bedroom in Arles . The first time I saw it in real, I think I spent half an hour in front of it . Well, not in front, but moving and watching it from different points. If you happen to visit the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, try this experiment, you will find that changing the point from which you look at the painting, it will look different every time. Technically, the Master has achieved this effect by completely removing the shadows and forcing shapes as in a wide-angle lens . Speaking of of our Vincent, nature made it all. Daniel was very clever to let the medullary rays get out so well , but the design they show is not thanks to his work. If you come back to see the second picture of the post, rather than three-dimensional it seems alive. Even Van Gogh himself would not have been able to reach such a perfection.
Vincent – Violin bow D.T. Navea Vera Stick : Pernambuco wood – dark orange with round section, sound velocity 5932 m/s, radial cut , ancient curve . Frog : Ebony, gold and heart-shaped mother-of -pearl Button : In three parts , ebony, gold and heart-shaped mother-of -pearl So long Paolo To Francesco and Vincenzo
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