K. Gerhard Penzel Sterling Silver Violin Bow – Stuttgart circa 1960

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Stamped:

The Penzel name has been associated with fine bow making for over 110 years. The first Penzel maker was Emil Max Penzel (1887-1953), the great uncle of the present business owner. Max started the family business in Erlbach, Germany which is in the Vogtland/Sachsen area, a major hub of musical instrument making in the world. Kurt Gerhard Penzel (1929-2017) the maker of this violin bow, trained first with Alfred Stohr in Erlbach at age 17, later then with his uncle Max. The family survived the war and in 1948 Kurt became a journeyman for his uncle Emil Max Penzel in Erlbach. Max had worked with H.R. Pfretzschner for 10 years before starting his own shop in Gopplasgrün near Markneukirchen in 1907. The family passed the craft from generation to generation and retained its wealth of experience and retained its very precious older pernambuco wood pile even after moving to southern Germany after the war in 1950. In 1953 Kurt started his own bow making workshop in Stuttgart. He moved the shop to Ostrach, Germany in 1974 where the family continued its bow making tradition with son Roland, who retired in 2020, and grandson, Matthias whom I know personally, who continues the business.

Our bow stamped “K. Gerhard Penzel” was made around 1960. Blind eye frogs were made for his bows after Kurt graduated with his master examination in 1956-57. The pernambuco in this bow is old wood, choice and its dark in color, chocolate-like with a touch of red/brown. The octagonal section stick is without flaw. It has a beautiful fleck in the wood grain, indicative of other bows I’ve seen made in the Markneukirchen area. I would have loved to have seen the pile of pernambuco wood drying in a barn amassed by the Penzel family. Kurt Gerhard’s bows generally have a slightly smaller head than the Penzel model bows made beginning in the year 2000. I carved a new facial in tip armor and replaced the leather thumb and lapping on the original winding. The blind eye frog is very dark ebony mounted in sterling silver with a two-piece heel and a three-piece end button. The bow is balanced, responsive, and strong- in short, great to play with.

Weight fully haired 62.5 grams