Mr. 6067 !!!It was not possible to use the 6167, because it had a "cancer", but this beautiful 6067, however, was extremely healthy, and as you can see it was turned into a magnificent Bow. But if this stick in a way is a miracle, it is a curse on the other way !
The stick displayed in the photo "was" the greatest one I ever saw in my career, so thanks to M° Navea Vera ,with whom I am every day prouder to work, and who made an excellent job, it was transformed into one of the greatest bows I have ever seen in my career, and I didnt' see a few. Nature has done his best here. This stick has been perfectly cut, very important detail (WOOD CUTTING),it has a think texture, a beautiful color, and above all an impressive sound propagation speed. Except for the above mentioned 6167 , I have never seen anything like this in my career, also considering that I handled about five or six cubic meters of good Pernambuco cut into sticks. Thankfully it arrived at the right time. You see, both building or playing a bow with such a material is a little bit like making a cross-country race balancing a jar of nitroglycerin on the head. .
The problem from the construction point of view consists on taming its enormous strength , without compromising the physical structure. In other words, to make this stick playable, even if not docile, it is necessary to make it very light , but because of its high density, the more wood is removed the smaller the diameter of the stick section becomes.When the relationship of magnitude between stick diameter , frog and the head size plus length, are very disproportionate, the bow starts to have serious balance and structure problems. . You can not perceive the actual size of the stick from the photos but I guarantee that the appearance is comparable with that one of a bow of high density, i.e. about 5700 m / s, and weighing 58 gr . Then you put it on the scale, and you do not believe your eyes: 63.5 grams, and with the lightest existing frame. In some moments I saw Daniel with a hopeless glance , he looked at me and said : - I go on planing and planinjg but it doesn't decrease even of one-tenth of a gram! -
Anyway, I challenge anyone to build a playable bow with a such a wood, 63.5 grams, not destroying both violin and the performer's arm . M° Navea Vera has succeded in it thanks to his concept of curve and the sensitivity he had in making it. He managed to transform a, wood of a disproportionate anger and vehemence into a playable one, even if by just few players. When I say that it came at the right time, however, two are the reasons to be mentioned: I have already said the first one, my luck to work with a craftsman of the highest level. The second one is that a moment after I saw it, I got a call from M° Boris Belkin, in which he said he was willing to have another bow by M° Navea Vera, .....no way to refuse !
M° Belkin was impressed by the result. I promised him the greatest bow of his career, but I think he took my words as the exaggeration of a salesman , but after having seen it, he completely changed his mind . It has three times more the sound of his Pajeot, even if this is one of the most beautiful, healthy, and less brittle bows I ever saw and it has a warm and immersing tone that is really rare to find in a modern bow. In addition this bow and its author have also received a prestigious , unexpected, and appraised appreciation. When I went to Siena, where M° Belkin has been keeping his master class at the Chigi Academy of Music since more than twenty-five years, to deliver it, I met M° Jean-Jacques Rampal, founder of the French violin making, in the same way as Millant and Raffin, who had enthusiastic words both for the work and the quality of the wood and invited us to visit him in his atelier in Paris.
M° Belkin with his new D.T. Navea Vera's bow
Mr. 6067 Ebony violin bow, silver and heart-shaped mother of pearl.
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