Keith M. Peck was a highly acclaimed American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 bow

Bow (music)

In music, a bow is moved across some part of a musical instrument, causing vibration which the instrument emits as sound. The vast majority of bows are used with string instruments, although some bows are used with musical saws and other bowed idiophones....

 maker from Evanston, Illinois

Evanston, Illinois

Evanston is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois 12 miles north of downtown Chicago, bordering Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, and Wilmette to the north, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan...

. His bows are used on instruments such as those created by master makers Giuseppe Guarneri

Giuseppe Guarneri

Bartolomeo Giuseppe Antonio Guarneri, del Gesù was an Italian luthier from the Guarneri house of Cremona. He rivals Antonio Stradivari with regard to the respect and reverence accorded his instruments, and he has been called the finest violin maker of the Amati line...

, Giovanni Battista Guadagnini

Giovanni Battista Guadagnini

Giovanni Battista Guadagnini ; was an emiliano luthier, regarded as one of the finest craftsmen of string instruments in history.-Biography:...

, Giovanni Grancino

Giovanni Grancino

Giovanni Grancino , son of Andrea Grancino, was one of the early Milanese luthiers, and may have worked with his brother, Francesco.Grancino's workshops were all located on Contrada Larga, now Via Larga in Milan...

, Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, and many others.

Peck began playing cello

Cello

The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...

 at age nine and continued to study the cello with Howard Jones at University of Idaho

University of Idaho

The University of Idaho is the State of Idaho's flagship and oldest public university, located in the rural city of Moscow in Latah County in the northern portion of the state...

. It was his other cello teacher, Arthur Ross, who got him intrigued in bows by stressing their importance and eventually his focus turned to bow making. Started making bows in 1971. Moved to Seattle, Washington

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

 in 1975 and worked for David Saunders from 1975 to 1976.

Established own shop in 1976, making his own model as well as copies of Dominique Peccatte

Dominique Peccatte

Dominique Peccatte was an influential French luthier and bow maker. He was apprenticed in Mirecourt and later worked with Jean Baptiste Vuillaume....

, 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 Francois Nicolas Voirin

François Nicolas Voirin

François Nicolas Voirin was a French Archetier , known in his time as the "Modern Tourte."F.N. Voirin was born in Paris France, the brother of Joseph Voirin and cousin to Jean Baptiste Vuillaume...

, and frog copies of François-Jude Gaulard

François-Jude Gaulard

-Biography:F.J. Gaulard was born in Mirecourt in 1787. Son of Louis Gaulard, a Mirecourt luthier and archetier / bow maker.His early style of bowmaking suggests that François Jude Gaulard worked with Louis Simon Pajeot....

, John Dodd

John Dodd (bow maker)

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...

, Francois Lupot, Nicolaus Kittel

Nicolaus Kittel

Nicolaus Kittel, fully Nikolai Ferdinandovich Kittel was a Russian bow maker who until recently thought to be of German origin, and was known as the "Russian Tourte"....

, Pierre Simon

Pierre Simon

Pierre Simon , later known as Paul Simon, was a French archetier/bowmaker.Became one of the most important makers of his time. He worked in Paris for Peccatte, Vuillaume and Gand Frères. In 1847 he purchased Dominique Peccatte's business. His bows have 2 distinct head models, one his own and the...

, Voirin

François Nicolas Voirin

François Nicolas Voirin was a French Archetier , known in his time as the "Modern Tourte."F.N. Voirin was born in Paris France, the brother of Joseph Voirin and cousin to Jean Baptiste Vuillaume...

 and many more. Peck is widely known for being the creator of the Amber

Amber

Amber is fossilized tree resin , which has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Amber is used as an ingredient in perfumes, as a healing agent in folk medicine, and as jewelry. There are five classes of amber, defined on the basis of their chemical constituents...

 Frog Bow, a bow commissioned by Gennady Filimonov.

The Amber

Amber

Amber is fossilized tree resin , which has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Amber is used as an ingredient in perfumes, as a healing agent in folk medicine, and as jewelry. There are five classes of amber, defined on the basis of their chemical constituents...

 Frog / Picture bow (copy of F.N. Voirin

François Nicolas Voirin

François Nicolas Voirin was a French Archetier , known in his time as the "Modern Tourte."F.N. Voirin was born in Paris France, the brother of Joseph Voirin and cousin to Jean Baptiste Vuillaume...

), is the first documented amber frog bow (made in 1996-97) , that was (and is) a complete success. It is still being played by Gennady Filimonov.

Amber used for the frog, was Baltic amber

Baltic amber

The Baltic region is home to the largest known deposit of amber, called Baltic amber or succinite, with about 80% of the world's known amber found there. It dates from 44 million years ago...

. Thus, the amber frog (and of course the rest of the bow) was made entirely by hand by Master Bow Maker Keith Peck.

Quotes

""..his bow was a perfect piece of work showing the right spirit of Vuillaume-Voirin..........As for the owners of his bows, they should be honored to be in possession of such bows." - Jean Francois Raffin (1998) Bow Expert/Master Maker Expert Pres La Court D'Appel de Paris

"....seeing a Peccatte copy which he made, was one of astonishment..." Elmar Oliveira Concert Soloist (1998)

"..superb copyist in the Great French Tradition.." - Bernard Millant (1998) Maitre Luthier-Archetier Entente Internationale des Maitres Luthiers et Archetiers d'Art

External links

• Keith Peck official website
• Gallery of Bows by Keith Peck
• Filimonov Fine Violins http://www.filimonovfineviolins.com