What is a Violin bow made of?
What is a Violin bow made of?
A pernambuco or carbon fibre stick strung with horsehair, which grips the string only because of rosin.
The bow does not rub the string so much as repeatedly grab and release it. Rosin makes the hair sticky enough to drag the string sideways until the restoring force overcomes the friction, at which point the string snaps back and is caught again — the Helmholtz stick-slip motion, repeating at the pitch of the note. This is why a bow with fresh hair and no rosin produces almost no sound at all. Pernambuco, from the Brazilian Atlantic forest, was listed under CITES Appendix II with tightened controls agreed in 2022, and international travel with a fine bow now involves paperwork, which is one reason carbon fibre bows have become normal for touring players.
Component by component
| Part | Material | Why that material |
|---|---|---|
| stick | pernambuco wood, or carbon fibre composite | Pernambuco has an unusual combination of density, stiffness and damping; carbon fibre is the only material that has come close. |
| hair | horsehair, from the tails of stallions in cold climates | The hair has a microscopically scaled surface that holds rosin; nylon substitutes exist and are noticeably worse at it. |
| rosin | purified pine resin, sometimes with beeswax or metal additives | Bare hair slides silently over a string; rosin creates the stick-slip friction that pulls the string sideways and releases it hundreds of times a second. |
| frog | ebony with mother-of-pearl inlay and a silver or nickel ferrule | It holds the hair ribbon flat and provides the mass at the heel that balances the bow in the hand. |
| screw and eyelet | a threaded steel screw in a brass eyelet | It adjusts hair tension, and it should always be slackened after playing or the stick takes a permanent set. |
Other musical instruments objects
- Guitar string A high-carbon steel core with a wrap of nickel or bronze — or, on a classical guitar, nylon.
- Piano key A spruce or basswood lever with an acrylic top and a plastic sharp — ivory has been out of use for decades.
- Drum head A polyester film tucked into an aluminium hoop with epoxy — plastic replaced calfskin in the 1950s.
Common questions
- What is a Violin bow made of?
- A pernambuco or carbon fibre stick strung with horsehair, which grips the string only because of rosin.
- What is the stick of a Violin bow made of?
- Pernambuco wood, or carbon fibre composite. Pernambuco has an unusual combination of density, stiffness and damping; carbon fibre is the only material that has come close.
- What is the hair of a Violin bow made of?
- Horsehair, from the tails of stallions in cold climates. The hair has a microscopically scaled surface that holds rosin; nylon substitutes exist and are noticeably worse at it.
Related pages
- Guitar string A high-carbon steel core with a wrap of nickel or bronze — or, on a classical guitar, nylon.
- Piano key A spruce or basswood lever with an acrylic top and a plastic sharp — ivory has been out of use for decades.
- Drum head A polyester film tucked into an aluminium hoop with epoxy — plastic replaced calfskin in the 1950s.
- Pencil Stationery and paper
- Tennis ball Sport and games
- Banknote Around the house
- Golf ball Sport and games
- Paper Stationery and paper
- Glass Building materials
Sources
- Typical range compiled from manufacturer specifications — At One Place