Learning the art of bow rehairing: the RAB Trust Bow Course

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On the evening of Thursday 2 July, a group of eight professional violin making students gathered in a pub in Cambridge, talking animatedly and playing along with the Irish folk session that was taking place there, mixing with the local crowd and delighting everyone with their contribution to the tunes.

They were accompanied by their tutors, distinguished professionals Jutta Walcher and Gilbert Cox, and Libby Summers from the RAB Trust, relaxing after an intense few days. 

These students had gathered together to attend the inaugural RAB Trust Bow Course, held at Cambridge Violin Makers, owned and run by Chris Beament, on Hartington Grove. The course was the brain child of the RAB Trust Chair, Libby Summers, supported by the other trustees Mark Robinson, Judith Blackwell, Adam Winskill, Sheena Laurie, Lauri Tanner, Thomas Padday-Muir and Luke Lindforth-Delaney.

The project had been two years in the making and planning and this Thursday evening was the penultimate evening of the course. For years, the RAB Trust has been supporting students of violin making with workshop placements, grants and funded places on short courses run by the BVMA. The awards are made annually on merit and this cohort of students were hand-picked from more than 30 applicants to learn the art of bow rehairing from scratch.

How this course came about is a story in itself. It has not gone unnoticed by all professionals in the trade that the violin making courses in the UK have neglected to teach bow repairs as part of the curriculum. There is a massive shortage of trained workers who can rehair a bow or put a new lapping or thumb leather.

There has been a decline in apprenticeship opportunities in the UK and Europe. As a result, gaining the training required for bow repairs is a challenge for students. Some short courses exist already, but they are prohibitively expensive for a student budget. As musicians cannot play their stringed instruments without bows, this situation is more than unsatisfactory. 

It is with all this in mind that the Chair of the RAB Trust, Libby Summers, the eminent tutors Jutta Walcher and Gilbert Cox, and Chris Beament of Cambridge Violin Makers, collaborated to launch the first bow making short course designed specifically for violin making students. 2026 will see the first eight students graduating from their courses with some fledgling bow skills, after intensive training from two of the country’s best bow rehairers, Jutta Walcher and Gilbert Cox.

Four of the students came from the Newark school and two each from Merton and West Dean. They were taught from scratch the techniques and skills required to rehair and revitalise worn out bows. This process starts with assessing them, taking them apart to remove the old hair, cleaning them safely, examining the internal mechanisms, and making adjustments, if necessary, in order to be able to rehair them.

Many musicians will not be aware of the complexity of the preparation involved. A couple of the students on the course who are professionally trained musicians, commented that, even as violin makers themselves, they had not appreciated the level of skill involved in the rehairing process and will now convey this to their musician colleagues.

 A couple of the students commented that they had not appreciated the level of skill involved in the re-hairing process and will now convey this to their musician colleagues

Once the preparation had been taught and practised, the students went on to learn how to cut the wedges to hold the hair in place, tie and secure the knots, sort and comb the hair, assess the length required and complete the process of fitting the hair and making the final adjustments to achieve an even, perfect ribbon.

The two tutors had slightly different methods so the participating students were able to see two ways of carrying out the same process and could then choose which way suited them better.

It was heartening that all students picked up the skills well and some of them took to it really quickly. All of them went away with several bows having been successfully rehaired. Some also learnt to do lappings and leathers. The tutors put everyone at their ease and created an atmosphere of curiosity, openness and trust. It was wonderful to have the space of the Cambridge workshop, already set up for courses, with tools and vices on hand, and a new sharpening corner kindly created by Chris especially for this course.

The beautiful secret garden at the back of the workshop was a welcome respite from the all the activity at break time, and Chris also organised all the accommodation for the students, making everything run smoothly. There is a nice sense of continuity holding the course in Cambridge, as Chris’ late mother Juliet Barker had been a trustee of the charity for many years and Rowan Armour-Brown herself had taught on the summer courses back in the late 1980s. 

The RAB Trust would like to thank each and every person involved in making this course such a success and not least the students themselves who committed to the course with enthusiasm and a willingness to learn. We all came away feeling proud of their achievement. 

In the words of student Evelyn Marten, ’I started the week with no experience working on bows and finished it with the knowledge to start developing my own skills. I feel confident that I can now rehair a bow using the proper methods and get a good result, especially as I continue to build on my new skills.

’I would absolutely recommend this course to anyone looking to learn rehairing, especially to those with no prior experience. The tuition was exceptional and over the duration of the course I felt supported to make and learn from mistakes while developing new skills.’ 

’Just over two years ago, I was approached by Libby Summers, chair of the Rowan Armour-Brown Trust to see if we would host a bow repairs course at our workshop,’ said Chris Beament of Cambridge Violin Makers

’I was immediately on board, felt this was an excellent idea, and one I was more than happy to accommodate into our summer course schedule. Overall, it turned out to be an excellent week.’ 

We all hope this will be the beginning of an important journey for the trade to hand down to the next generation the knowledge and skills enjoyed by experienced professionals such as Jutta and Gilbert, to make the UK a centre of excellence for bow repair and re-hair in the future.

All photos courtesy Chris Beament.