20th Century American Violin Bow – Philip Kraus circa 1975-1980

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Philip Kraus (1915-1986) was born in Montclair, New Jersey. He was trained as a machinist for Texas Instruments until 1963, the year I was born, and I grew up just 20 miles from Montclair. 16 years later I was totally into bow work. Kraus made his first violin in 1951 and moved to Dallas, Texas in 1958. He made 8 violins until 1961, then totally focused on bow making. He must have liked the very detailed technical side of bow making. I’m sure much like making fine tools. In the world of fine bows everything is so exact, measured to a thousandth of the inch. Bow making is four arts in one and full of precision engineering. It is woodworking, jewelry work in gold or two types of silver, sterling or nickel, its leather work that captures and softens the winding, and its hair dressing. Kraus opened his own shop in Dallas in 1975 and retired in 1983. Kraus made about 200 handmade violin bows of which we have one. In the Dallas area he was known for his bow restoration work and bow rehairing. His bows are patterned on a Tourte model, very detailed in the style, and are stamped “KRAUS – DALLAS.”

Our Kraus violin bow is completed in sterling silver mounts and an ebony frog. The stick is pernambuco and in octagonal section. Kraus’ background in machining is evident in the execution of the bow and how well it is made. The bow well represents fine modern American bow making. I have gone over the entire bow, cleaning the stick and using an oil mixture I use to pull out the color of the pernambuco and protect the stick. I kept the original whalebone winding and the thumb grip. It is all good and will last for decades. The head of the bow flanges towards the back of the head and gives a very strong masculine appearance and feel to the bow. I really like it. The frog has a large mother-of-pearl shield/crest on each facial of the ebony frog. Kraus used fine pin work in attaching the heel and the lining. The mother-of-pearl slide is fisheye gold shell, all original, I kept the pearl even though it has been repaired once in its history. It still looks like a knockout in color, is easy on the eyes, and it will last for decades. The entire bow is a Wow! It is completed with a fancy three-piece button with the center section featuring 1.9 mm pearl dots surrounded by the ebony and a pearl abalone eye at the end of the button. This is a professional level pernambuco violin bow waiting for the next player to enjoy it for many more generations.

Weight fully haired 57.9 grams