250
West 54th
Street, Rm. 805
New York, New York
10019
Phone: (212)
586-
4805 Fax:
(212)
586-
4818
Business Hours: Monday-
Friday 9:00
A.M. - 5:00
P.M.
BIOGRAPHY OF WILLIAM SALCHOW
| William Salchow got his start in bow making at the violin house of Rembert Wurlitzer where he worked as a cello salesman. Here, under the guidance of Simone F. Sacconi, he began to make and repair bows. Befriended and encouraged by the great cello pedagogue Luigi Silva, he received a Fulbright Grant to study bow making as an apprentice in France. In Mirecourt, cradle of the French violin and bow making art, he learned traditional French bow making techniques which had been handed down unaltered from master to apprentice since the time of Tourte c.1800. His teacher, Georges Barjonnet, had been an apprentice together with Andre Richaume and Emile Ouchard, Fils. in the shop of Emile Ouchard, Pere. |
| After serving his apprenticeship in France, Salchow returned to New York and opened his own studio where he has been making fine bows in the French tradition since 1960. Here he has assembled the raw materials: logs of permambuco, Snakewood and ebony, and ivory tusks from elephants, blocks of tortoise shell. Each bow is crafted individually according to the wood. Each stick is carefully graduated for strength and flexibility and balanced for optimum playability according to the player's preference, with frogs of ebony, ivory and tortoise shell and inlays of ocean pearl shell and mountings of gold and silver. While he often copies classical French designs, he also has his own model which has been designed to give greater flexibility at the head. |
| In addition to bow making, Salchow maintains a large stock of old and new bows, instruments, and accessories for sale. |
| Some of the world's finest players have used Salchow bows, including Joseph Fuchs, Oscar Shumsky, Benno Rabinof, Samuel Mayes, Joseph Silverstein, Leonard Rose, Lynn Harrell, Raya Garbousova, Jules Eskin, Joseph DiPasquale, Mischa Mischakoff, Zara Nelsova, Ida Kavafian and Pierre D'Archambeau. |
