K. Müller Engraved Sterling Silver Three Star Viola Bow – Bubenreuth circa 1950-1960 – CURRETNLY OUT ON TRIAL –

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We have a branded pernambuco K. Müller (b. 1905 Graslitz, Sudetenland–d. 1974 Bubenreuth) viola bow. The bow is pernambuco, is sterling
silver mount, and the silver is all engraved/etched- stunning. The stick is octagonal in section with a special snakewood frog with an engraved silver end button. The frog is Parisian eye model with a knockout color in the mother-of-pearl slide.

Müller was a bowmaker in the famed area of Markneukirchen, Germany. The string industry flourished in Markneukirchen because of the quality of instruments being made and exported. The violin making in the region also brought with it other related businesses like string producers, lumbering wood industries, importers and exporters working rail and water systems, case makers and many bow makers who opened workshops too. These workshops were among the oldest and most important in Germany. Müller knew and spent time with August Rau and the Pfretzschner family who had thriving workshops in Markneukirchen. After World War II Müller set up shop in Bubenreuth, Germany. A large number of violin and bow makers who survived the war and who had been displaced from the Sudetenland settled there with their families. He worked alone in his workshop without apprentices. I received much information on Müller from his friend Heinrich Schachinger of Erlangen who sought me out after seeing a fine violin bow of his I restored last year, now sold. After Müller’s death the workshop was initially continued by the well-known bow making family Richard Grünke and Sons. More can be found on Müller’s making career in the two volume “German Bow Makers” book 1945-2000 volume II. K. Müller mostly sold his bows directly to musicians and not through violin shops. There are also numerous testimonies about K. Müller in the Bubenreuth Instrument Museum.

This bow has Wow! strength and some subtle flex. The bow handles very well and is a professional level bow.

Weight fully haired 71.5grams