This is a beautifully preserved Tourte model bow by Franz Albert Nürnberger – a massive bow with a silky smooth sound.
Franz Albert Nürnberger is the most respected name in 20th century German bowmaking – he was a meticulous craftsman, very prolific, and very successful in his own lifetime.
This is a rather special bow made following a Tourte model – unusually it’s branded under the frog, on the diagonal facet on the player’s side.
The stick is of octagonal section mid-brown pernambuco with a light figure, mounts are silver and ebony.
The condition is excellent – nothing to report other than some very minimal wear to the top of the handle and a tiny bit of thumbnail wear.
If you look at the weight, this should be a complete bruiser of a bow, but it’s perfectly balanced and it feels very natural in the hand.
There’s a unique quality to this bow, a kind of concentrated sweetness that can only be attributed to the excellence of the wood. It offers great control off the stick, and the legato is remarkable.
It’s hard not to see its stability and smoothness as Germanic traits – if this bow was a car it would definitely be a Mercedes, cruising along effortlessly but capable of huge surges of power, hugging the road even at speed, always safe and reliable.
This would be an ideal bow for someone alternating between violin and viola, but it’s equally well suited to an orchestral player looking for a supremely controllable stick.
