Testimonials

To say that Howard Green is a true master of bowmaking would be an understatement. His bows are exquisitely crafted with supreme attention to detail and balance.

My gold mounted bow from Mr Green has a strength, response and elasticity virtually on par with the top French makers of old. The sound that draws forth from my violin is effortless, vibrant and rich. Playing on it is an incredible experience which very few makers are able to replicate. For all professional work, orchestra and solo, Mr Green’s bows are the ideal playing tools at the highest possible level.

Howard Green is a bow maker of exceptional ability, with an understanding of what is required both tonally and technically by violinists of all levels. An important maker whom I recommend without reservation.

I like Howard Green’s bows very much. I bought two of them myself and have performed with them. I would not hesitate to recommend them to any serious performers and anyone looking for fine bows.

I have known and played with the violin bows made by Howard Green and consider him to be a maker of exceptional talent.

His bows combine strength and sensitivity and I take pleasure in using them.

I am confident that his work will be of importance in the English School

I bought my violin bow from Howard on the recommendation of a friend with whom I play quartets. Most of my playing is chamber music – quartets, piano trios, string quintets etc. The bow is beautifully made, and flows evenly over the string from heel to tip. I find that I am playing with the full length of the bow more than before, and consequently produce a fuller, richer sound. The balance is excellent, and spiccato bowing is easy to control. My violin was made in Scotland in 1905, so it seems appropriate that it should be played with a bow also made north of the border! I really love this bow, and my only regret is that I didn’t buy one of Howard’s bows years ago!

Thank you so much for making me such a great bow! It is exactly what I was looking for and I love playing with it because I don’t have to fight with it or persuade it to do things, as I did with my previous bow. It’s like going from using a trowel to having a paintbrush, and my only regret is not having got one years ago!

I recently commissioned a gold-mounted Howard Green violin bow. The bow is a joy to use.

I was extremely pleased with the bow to say the least. I was almost shocked by the feel of it in my hand. The balance was perfect, and I especially liked the feel and shape of the horn frog. It is much easier to control than my previous bow, and draws a full, rich tone from my violin. I improved over night! It is also beautiful to look at. Once again thanks very much.

Thank you for carving me the most beautiful friend for life. It is far superior to anything I had ever.

Throughout my professional career as a performing cellist, I had the priviledge to own several quality bows, old and new. My new Howard Green Bow is a great pleasure to play and perform with because of the high quality of workmanship, great balance as well as the use of the best materials; the bow is perfect for performance of the most demanding musical works. Many thanks to Mr Howard Green.

I have played with a Howard Green bow since the summer of 2006. The sound is magnificent; it has strength and yet is very flexible. It looks amazing too; beautiful wood and lovely decorated. It improved my playing and makes my violin sing as never before.

After playing just a few sounds it becomes very clear that the bow was made by a talented and thinking string player on a quest to excite, please, and give us fellow string players new possibilities. As you keep playing the bow becomes invisible in the hand, and there is a feeling of direct contact of your fingers with the string. The sound is mellow, full, but also has plenty of bite when needed. They also are beautifully made.

Howard Green Has made a bow which works beautifully in a wide range of styles from Jazz to Gypsy, from Celtic to Klezmer!

Thank you for making me such a wonderful viola bow! I am still discovering a range of sounds that I had previously never heard from my viola. In essence, I find that there is much more resonance at all dynamic levels and a perfect balance between strength and suppleness in the handling of the bow.

I am both surprised and delighted by how responsive and versatile the bow is and your attention to detail and fine craftsmanship has been very evident throughout its creation. Once again, a huge thank you!

I have recently bought a Howard Green violin bow. It has all the playing qualities we are all looking for, producing an exceptionally clear and beautiful sound. I am so lucky to have found such a fantastic bow.

My Howard Green bow works excellently in all the different types of music that I play. It can cope equally well with a Bruckner Symphony and a Mozart String Quartet. The quality that I most admire is the way that it is possible to forget that the bow is there in your hand leaving you free to concentrate on the music without worrying about whether it will bounce when you want it to and avoid bouncing when you really do not want it to!

It is also a very attractive work of art – the buffalo horn frog is good to look at and functional as well, it does not slip even in hot concert halls.

Since having had my viola and two bows stolen during a recent tour to Germany, I have been on the lookout for suitable replacements. By chance, I was shown a silver mounted bow by Howard Green which I loved straight away – beautifully made with a strong ,firm stick that draws a deep rich sound from the instrument – so much so that I bought it and commissioned Howard to make me one of his speciality bows with gold mountings and a buffalo horn frog, and a matching ‘cello bow for my wife.

This bow has just arrived and I am absolutely thrilled with it! It is stunning to look at, comfortable to hold especially whilst doing pizzicato, and the superbly weighted stick gives it the ability to respond immediately with a clear focused sound, in any part of the bow.

Howard Green is an excellent and dedicated craftsman who understands what players want from a bow and makes considerable effort to achieve each individual’s requirements concerning weight, balance, shape of frog etc. From a playing professional’s point of view, his bows really work – and, considering the superb standard of workmanship, provide excellent value for money!

I am a lucky owner of one of your bows. It is a gold mounted one, I bought from Guiviers last July. I had been looking for a bow that would suit me for many years, tried all sorts, some exceedingly expensive ones, but none was as good as yours! Thank you, and I wish you all the success and recognition you deserve.

My violin bow by Howard Green conforms largely to the Lamy pattern. It has perfect balance, weight and evenness along the entire bow. It has an exceptional feel of clarity to the player and I am delighted to have such response and quality from a modern bow.

My new bow is exactly what I was looking for; very strong, and with a powerful sound. Projection has become much easier, and filling any acoustic requires less effort, so I can concentrate on other aspects of my playing. The bow is also reassuringly stable close to the heel, which means I can do a bit more in that area than used to be possible.

Congratulations on your latest viola bow. The workmanship is of the highest quality throughout. The wood is flawless with a lovely finish, and the frog excellent with everything cut and fitted beautifully. It produces a rich sound all along the stick, and bounces easily. The bow change is also very even. It is a player’s delight.

Howard Green is an exceptionally fine craftsman. His bows are well balanced, have beautiful heads and are very well finished. More importantly, from a playing point of view, they work!

Over the past ten years, I have bought in excess of 20 Cello bows from Howard Green. I have kept a number of these for my own use, and have passed on the rest to my students and colleagues.

I consider Howard to be a first rate craftsman with an inquiring mind and a keen eye for detail. He has a fine stock of wood, and as a cellist himself, is always sympathetic to the needs of the performer.

Regarding their playing characteristics, I would say that most of his bows have strength throughout the stick, allow for excellent articulation, and draw a deep sound from the instrument. In addition, his bows are competitively priced, and represent excellent value for money.

Once again Howard has made a bow which produces a fantastically rich and even tone. It feels elegant and responsive in the hand, and of course looks sublime. A real pleasure to play on. This brings my collection of Howard Green bows to three!

Howard Green is making bows of extremely high quality. The superb workmanship is complemented by the use of excellent materials, producing a bow that is perfectly balanced and a joy to use.

I recently purchased a Howard Green bow. It is a bow of great beauty and craftsmanship which is ideally suited to my career as a soloist and chamber musician, providing a mixture of quality sound and subtlety. I warmly recommend his work.

I recently purchased a bow of Mr. Green and I can say that I am fully satisfied with his work. He adjusted exactly the features I was looking for and communication with him has been seamless and easy. I recommend his bows without a doubt. They are very well balanced bows and provide a great sound and at the same time are capable of producing all kinds of nuances and of bow strokes suggested by the arm.

As an amateur, I used a bow akin to a thin branch of a tree for 22 years but for the last 38 years, I have used an Albin Hums recently valued £1400. After talking to Howard on and off for some months, he sent me a bow hot off his bench that he thought was what I required and he was not wrong.

I could never do a 4 octave down bow staccato scale in one bow but could manage that with one up bow. After unwrapping it and a rosin, the first test was a 4 octave scale. The bow did the staccato up and down in one bow with consummate ease. Putting it to the tests told me that tone had a better quality than before, the balance was perfect and because of that, the 63.5 g weight feels like a 52 g bow. In contrast to the 59.5 g Hums, the Hums is very good but the Howard Green is alive and works splendidly. The stick is strong and very flexible. The balance point is exactly where it should be for ease and comfort for the Presto section of Zigeunerweisen and it ‘has more talent’ than me in every department. Trying Chausson’s Poeme, my legato playing is a lot smooher than with the Hums.

Now for the surprise. I have written all of this after using the Howard Green for a little less than 2 hours and I am positive that we will both live happily ever after for the duration. Pity I did not have a bow such as this when I was 11 years old. If I did, Itzhak would have had some stiff competition.

As a violinist who spends much time performing in orchestras throughout my state (I live in Montana, in the US, and perform in most of the regional community orchestras), I just wanted to thank you for making such fine bows.

I had been searching for a bow that produces a powerful, rich, authoritative tone coupled with effortless response for several years until I happened to try out a bow that you had made in 2010. I realized within minutes that my search for the perfect bow had ended.

On my first trial run playing with your bow in rehearsal, the conductor turned to me after a loud passage with a look of astonishment. To produce a full, rich tone with commanding authority (critical for my position as section leader of the second violins in one of the orchestras) is now an effortless practice.

Conversely, I feel like I have an infinite degree of emotions that can be expressed through quieter passage work. Response for staccato is superb regardless of the bowing used (even for slurred staccato).

I really cannot find any flaws with this bow and strongly encourage aspiring orchestral violinists and professionals to consider playing on one. Thank you again!

Howard Green’s bows possess the flexibility and versatility of the finest specimen I have come across. They are a joy to play.