My trip to the Huthmaker Violin Shop in Duluth was everything I could have imagined and more. I had a fantastic day. After an hour private lesson on tuning with Dixie Huthmaker, I spent a couple of hours trying out viola bows. Dixie brought me 7 different bows in my price range to try. I used a nicely decorated private room to play long bow, slow scales followed by different bow techniques, and then passages from some of my orchestra music. The objective was to determine which bow felt the best in my hand, reacted the best to the different bowings and sounded the best overall. So I compared two at a time and narrowed it down by elimination until I had 2 for sure and a possible third to consider. The 2 were made by the same bow maker and were exactly the same price. Dixie's husband, Roland, came in and played my viola with each bow so that I could hear how they sounded from a distance. He really made my viola sing and I was amazed by the sound he pulled from my instrument. There was a significant difference in sound quality between the top two bows and it really helped me make up my mind hearing him play. The three of us agreed on "the" bow and I am thrilled to be the proud owner of a pernambuco stick made by Brazilian bow maker C. Herculano.
The Huthmakers and staff were so extremely nice and non-intimidating. I remember going into a snooty Buckhead violin shop as a beginner and felt totally snubbed by the staff. It was a totally different experience today. I finished my shopping spree with a new case, a green Bam case from France. Sophia feels very special, I can tell.
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