ANDREW DIPPER. RESTORATIONS & MUSEUM SERVICES VIOLIN AND BOW MAKER, HISTORIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT SPECIALIST CATALOG of HISTORIC BOWS A representative cross-section of the Baroque and Transitional period bows from the workshop of Andrew Dipper that were made in the past or are currently for sale. If you have any particular requirements or a special request, please feel free to contact us and every effort will be made to assist you. Contact details on back page. A box of bow-making tools from the Dipper workshop ANDREW DIPPER has been restoring, conserving and building historic musical instruments for forty-five years. Originally founded in London, his workshop relocated to Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1990. Dipper offers for sale fine examples of original historic instruments and excellent copies of works by the best makers of past times. He has specialized in the restoration and conservation of historically significant and ornate fretted and bowed musical instruments, with a special interest in the period of 1570-1830. A new separate violin catalog will be available. Tel: 612.375.0708 Toll Free: 800.279. 4323 Fax: 612.375.0096 andrew@dipperrestorations.com www.dipperrestorations.com DIPPER RESTORATIONS 1004 Marquette Avenue Suite 205, Minneapolis, MN 55403 USA Andrew Dipper, 2009: Swan headed and fluted snakewood bow with a stabilized-bone button and african-blackwood frog, in the shape of a crouching lion. This is a copy of bow #3389 from the Witten-Rawlins collection of the National Music Museum, Vermillion, SD. Summer 2013
Andrew Dipper in his workshop in Minneapolis. He is involved in the first stages of the process of bow making. After sawing the blanks for the sticks out of the logs, the next stage is to shape the rough stick to an intermediate form. This rough stick is then left to season for up to a year before being checked for warping and faults. The next stage, including the bending of the wood and cambering of the bow stick, is done slowly and very carefully by hand using heat and moisture from a small gas burner. The Dipper Restorations workshop at 1004 Marquette Ave, in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Page 13
ANDREW DIPPER RESTORATION AND MUSEUM SERVICES Andrew Dipper has extensive knowledge of baroque instruments and has lived and worked in London, Oxford, Cremona, and Minneapolis. He continues to work on the restoration of musical instruments for private clients and is a Consultant Conservator for the Yale University Collection of Musical Instruments. Examples of his restoration work can be found in many of the world s foremost public and private musical instrument collections, including the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Federal Musical Instrument Museum of Berlin, the National Music Museum in South Dakota, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Cristiani bow, tip detail The famous cellist Lise Cristiani holding what appears to be an experimental cello bow, perhaps a model of a novel steel bow by J. B. Vuillaume. Andrew Dipper bows are available with sticks made of Caesalpinia grenadilla from South America or Snakewood from Guyana, and frogs made of African Blackwood, Desert Ironwood, Mountain Mahogany, Pink Ivory (wood), stabilized-bone, or silver. A wide variety of eyes and decorations are available. Andrew has a special interest in the works of Antonio Stradivari. He has just published LIBREM SEGRETI DE BVTTEGHA, a translation of a rare Italian 18th century manuscript on violin making, which is now a part of the Fondo Patetta of the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana. Typeset and illustrated by Andrew, it contains footnotes, explanations, illustrations, and interpretations of the manuscript s historic secrets, rules, and formulas. Andrew Dipper is the co-translator of other technical works on Italian violin making including the English edition of The Secrets of Stradivari by Simone Sacconi. In 1988 he co-translated and published the violin making notes of Count Cozio di Salabue, the first collector of the instruments of the Amati, Stradivari and Guarneri families. He has written other technical works on violin making including a book on the theory of violin geometry and construction. Andrew has also published articles in The Violin Society of America Journal, concerning the works of the Italian makers, their varnishes and working methods. His violin making and restoration has been illustrated in a book on the modern Cremonese makers and in the journal The Strad. Unless otherwise specified, stabilized-bone is used for fittings, mammoth ivory is available for additional cost. All fittings and wood are from sustainable sources. Page 12 Page 1
Andrew Dipper is involved in the restoration and repair of original historic bows, and these bows are often used as models for the reproduction of new baroque and transitional bows. Templates and measured drawings are made of the originals, and these records act as a database and reference for ongoing work. A Dutch or Northern French bow with a hatchet head modelled after the fashion of the pedagogue, Willhelm Cramer. Pernambuco stick, Ivory frog, and Ivory button. Restored and sold by the Dipper workshop in 2011. The head of this bow is similar in pattern to a known example which is part of a pochette set by Johannes Cuypers. Most of the bow work is done by hand using traditional tools and techniques. French 18th century cello bow in the manner of François Xavier Tourte, probably made between 1800 and 1810. Made of Amourette wood and ivory. The Dipper shop is currently making some copies of this pattern. Andrew Dipper, special order bow 1997; with a carved tip in the shape of a 16th century grotesque mask. The frog and button were fabricated from silver sheet. The inlay in the engraved frog was made from Baltic amber with gold foil backing. The button for the frog mechanism was made of silver with amber and gold trimmings. Page 2 Page 11
FX Tourte Transitional model. Pernambuco stick, open hair channel ebony frog with fresh-water pearl eye surrounded by silver or gold pointille work, with an ebony and silver button, copied after a bow from a private collection in Paris. Pochette Bows Augsburg Pochette model. Copied from the original in the collection of a private client in 2007. Amourette wood stick inlaid with silver wire, and Ebony frog. This model can also be made as a violin bow. Violin bow in Snakewood, canellated stick, ebony frog, and stabilized-bone button. Shown 2x larger than life size, this is a copy of bow # 3389 in the Witten-Rawlins Collection of the National Music Museum, Vermillion SD. It was made as a special commission in 2005. A novel feature of the frog is that the hair mortise of the bow frog is hidden inside the body of the lion, which is made in two pieces. The pieces are held, locked together, with small brass screws that can be undone to re-hair the bow. The hair ribbon exits from a channel in the lion s nose. The frog is fitted to the fluted canalations of the stick. The stabilized-bone button is an Italian model that matches the rest of the work on the stick. The carved lion was copied and carved by Andrew Dipper, from measurements and photographs of the original. French Pochette model. Guyana Snakewood stick, Ebony frog, and stabilized-bone tip and button. This bow was also copied from an original in the collection of a private client in 1997. This bow is typical of the very small bows that accompanied the pochette en Bateau of the French dance masters. Page 10 Page 3
Violin Bows Italian 1630 model. Viola da Gamba or violoncello bow model. Caesalpinia grenadilla stick, Desert Ironwood frog, and stabilized-bone button. This is an affordable model for a beginning student and can be used for a whole range of repertoire. Italian Model 477. This is a copy of Bow Catalog number 477 in the collection of the Stradivari relics in the Cremona Museum. Guyana Snakewood stick and clip-in frog, with decoration in silver pointillé work on the frog faces. Usually supplied with two heights of frog, one for Summer and one for Winter. Cello Bows Corelli model. Guyana Snakewood stick, Ebony Frog, and stabilized-bone button. French 1760 model. Guyana Snakewood stick, African Blackwood frog, and stabilized-bone button. A copy of an historic bow sold by the Dipper shop in 1998. This model handles very well and is a very reliable and perfect model for demanding performances. Stradivari 1690 model. Guyana Snakewood stick, African Blackwood frog and stabilized-bone button with silver pointillé work decoration on the frog faces. Dodd 1820 model. Copy of an original bow in the Dipper collection. Caesalpinia grenadilla stick, Mexican Chicozapota frog, and stabilized-bone button. A heavy bow for volume and clarity of sound. Page 4 Page 9
Tourte c. 1770 model. Copy of a bow in the National Music Museum, NMM 3409. Amourette wood stick, Mountain Mahogany frog, and stabilized-bone button. Stradivari 1720 model. This model is designed after the model NMM 4802 in the National Music Museum, SD. Amourette wood stick, African Blackwood frog, and stabilized-bone button. Tourte c. 1790 model. Copy after a bow from the Dipper collection. Amourette wood stick, African Blackwood frog with a mother of pearl shield and stabilized-bone button. This special order was engraved by Andrew Dipper with a coat of arms. This model is usually made with fresh-water pearl for export outside the USA. Viola Bows Stradivari 1720 model. Marblewood stick, African Blackwood frog, and stabilized-bone button. Stradivari Spanish model. Guyana Snakewood stick, Ebony frog with decoration in gold pointillé work, and stabilized-bone button with gold inlay. The frog model is designed after the frog templates from the Stradivari collection Cremona. Italian 1690 model. This model was designed after a bow in the Stradivari Collection in Cremona. Guyana Snakewood stick, African Blackwood frog, and stabilized-bone button. This Dipper model has an adjustable frog instead of the clip-in type of the original. The frog pattern is from the Stradivari collection in Cremona. Page 8 Page 5
Italian 1630 model. Caesalpinia grenadilla stick, African Blackwood frog, and stabilized-bone button. This is an affordable student model and can be made as a cello or viola da gamba bow. Italian 1700 model. Amourette wood stick, African Blackwood frog, and stabilized-bone button. French 1770 model. Guyana Snakewood stick, stabilized-bone frog and button. This is a very good bow for the professional musician. German model. Un-figured Snakewood stick, stabilized-bone frog and button. French model. Caesalpinia grenadilla stick, Pink Ivory wood (Berchemia zeyheri) frog, and stabilized-bone button. Tourte 1789 Model. Caesalpinia grenadilla stick, Mountain Mahogany frog, and stabilized-bone button. This is a copy of an original French bow of the Tourte school restored in the Dipper shop in 1994. Page 6 Page 7