Page 19 - Industrial Technology EXTRA 27th July 2020

tried many general-purpose adhesives, but the joint player wants to enhance their sound it is far more
comes apart after a short time.” cost-effective to seek out a better bow rather than
Then, as fortune would have it, a personal pay half a million pounds, or more, for a new
recommendation for Loctite 330, prompted violin.”
Matthews to give it a try. “Loctite 330 is In contrast, although the cost of a bow produced
marvellous; the joint sets really hard,” he states. “In by Mr Matthews varies depending on specification,
addition, we can work with it shortly afterwards as a typical price range is around £2,000 to £3,500.
the adhesive goes off quickly.” Despite the fact that he describes his mother of
To satisfy his curiosity, Matthews has tried on pearl inlay as little more than a “piece of fancy
several occasions to deliberately separate the joint, decoration”, discovering a product able to adhere it
but a variety of mechanical methods failed to prise to the ebony frog has been a huge relief. “In actual
the materials apart. “I even boiled the joint in a fact, the mother of pearl I use is very special as it’s
saucepan for 30 minutes, but it still wouldn’t from the Jersey Ormer shell,” says Matthews.
separate,” he says. “Having tried further “Ormer is found around the Channel Islands, where
techniques, I discovered the joint was so good that it is fished for local restaurants. However, it is
the mother of pearl would break up before it becoming increasingly rare due to pollution, which
separated from the ebony. I was very impressed and is reducing population numbers.”
will not be using anything else. From experience, I Many of the famous French bowmakers of the
know a lot of bowmakers have the same problem, 19th Century used this same type of shell, which
so it’s good to share the success of this leap they called Ormeaux, making it revered among
forward.” players of bowed string instruments. “To be honest,
Matthews produces each bow to order, we don’t want to be wasting mother of pearl due to
according to the player’s exact requirements, failed adhesive, which is why it’s so great that I’ve
adjusting factors such as weight, balance and found Loctite 330,” concludes Matthews.
strength accordingly. Most bows take around 10-14 www.henkel-adhesives.co.uk
days to complete. Over the
years he has produced
several hundred bows for
players of violins, violas,
fiddles, cellos and double
bass instruments
“Bows are underrated
items and often get treated
as accessories, but people
who know what they’re
doing realise that a bow
can bring an instrument to
life and improve a player’s
performance, helping him
or her to get better work,”
says Mr Matthews. “If a

July 2020 • INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY EXTRA! • p19