Excerpt: ...can get one, that is the difficulty,) ten or twelve times the amount for a perfect Tourte, which will buy a Vuillaume! There is no doubt that Vuillaume manufactures good bows--but to rank them highest is so palpable a misrepresentation that we have thought it necessary to enter a protest against it. TOURTE, FRANCIS, Paris, born 1747, died 1835. This is conceded, by all the best judges, to be the greatest maker we have ever known, in fact the Stradiuarius of the bow. His father and grandfather were instrumental in improving the bow, but Francis Tourte brought it to the greatest perfection. His bows are light and flexible, yet straight. They are highly finished and made of the finest Brazil wood. He himself sold his bows mounted with gold, at 12 louis, (£11 4s. 6d.) each; with silver 3½ louis (£3 5s. 6d.) It is said the reason of his charging so much was that he found so great a difficulty in getting wood fine enough to satisfy his critical judgment, and that he also made no scruple to break any which did not reach his standard of perfection; he was therefore compelled to charge those sums for such as he permitted to go forth. Whoever wishes to match his cherished Cremona with an equally fine bow will get a Tourte if he can. LUPOT, of Paris, was another excellent maker. His bows are not quite so light as those of Tourte, but they are in all other respects highly esteemed. DODD, EDWARD, born at Sheffield, and died in London, at the age of 105 years, in 1810, was distinguished as an improver of the bow in England, about the same time that the Tourtes were founding their great reputation in France. The great maker of this name, however, and who has achieved the honourable title of the Tourte of England, is DODD, JOHN, the son of Edward. The best bows of this maker are highly esteemed, and partake of all the excellencies of those of Tourte. Some of them, however, are rather short, which is perhaps their only defect. After these come the...
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