John Dodd (bow maker)
Encyclopedia
John Dodd an English bow maker.
He was a gunlock fitter and then a money-scale maker before turning to bow making.
John Dodd was a contemporary of François Tourte
and worked in London. He arrived at a similar bow design to Tourte, though entirely through independent means.
He made fine bows, but his measurements and quality of bows are never entirely consistent. For example, some bows were made slightly shorter than the norm.
His later bows are particularly fine, though judged to be a little short.
Though Dodd was often in dire need of funds, it was recounted that he was very secretive about his art, and once turned down an offer of 1000 pounds sterling for a copy of his pattern. He also refused to teach pupils for the same reason. Dodd used 2 forms for the head ; the slender "swan" type and the squat " hammer " head type, more common in Italy and France.
An excellent choice of Pernambuco wood was available to Dodd and much of this came to England in the form of Barrels. This explains the numerous traces of nail holes which sometimes run right through his sticks.
According to Pierre Baillot, it seems that Viotti may have used a Dodd bow which was about 2½ cm shorter than the Tourte model.
Many of Dodd's bows have this fault of not being long enough.
Dodd had the innovative idea of using double saws to cut the curve of the bow directly out of a plank of wood - rather than bending a straight bow with heat to achieve the curvature. While this method creates a bow that draws and excellent tone, it lacks the ability to bounce off the string that the classical method supports.
He was a gunlock fitter and then a money-scale maker before turning to bow making.
John Dodd was a contemporary of François Tourte
François Tourte
François Xavier Tourte was a Frenchman who, though trained as a watchmaker, soon changed to making bows for playing classical string instruments such as the violin....
and worked in London. He arrived at a similar bow design to Tourte, though entirely through independent means.
He made fine bows, but his measurements and quality of bows are never entirely consistent. For example, some bows were made slightly shorter than the norm.
His later bows are particularly fine, though judged to be a little short.
Though Dodd was often in dire need of funds, it was recounted that he was very secretive about his art, and once turned down an offer of 1000 pounds sterling for a copy of his pattern. He also refused to teach pupils for the same reason. Dodd used 2 forms for the head ; the slender "swan" type and the squat " hammer " head type, more common in Italy and France.
An excellent choice of Pernambuco wood was available to Dodd and much of this came to England in the form of Barrels. This explains the numerous traces of nail holes which sometimes run right through his sticks.
According to Pierre Baillot, it seems that Viotti may have used a Dodd bow which was about 2½ cm shorter than the Tourte model.
Many of Dodd's bows have this fault of not being long enough.
Dodd had the innovative idea of using double saws to cut the curve of the bow directly out of a plank of wood - rather than bending a straight bow with heat to achieve the curvature. While this method creates a bow that draws and excellent tone, it lacks the ability to bounce off the string that the classical method supports.