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Hi Stephen,

Two of the bows used in this recording were already in use in Tchaikovsky's time, and two were newly built. Important elements that influenced our perception of sound:

- There was more variation in the different types of wood used for bow building. One of the bows is of an ironwood type, two are made out of amourette wood and only one with the nowadays considered 'standard' pernambuco. Could you guess which one's which?
- The amount of hairs on a bow: nowadays often 160+ for a violin bow whereas people wrote about around one hundred around the time Tchaikovsky was born

The full variety of bows used in 1876 was much broader throughout Europe, the ones that are still in fashion are the ones that are able to produce 'full sound' when touching a steel or synthetic string.

Looking at this wonderful timeline Richard Gwilt made about bows from 1600-1800 http://baroque-violin.info/bowtimeline/bowline.html we felt encouraged to think that evolution didn't stop going in multiple directions after Tourte, even though many lines died out after 1900.

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