These are bows that I have repaired over the years. Interestingly in February 2017 there were six bows with broken off heads that I had worked on or was in the process of working on.

Another head break showing some of the various steps.

IMG 20200718 141654 6ortega IMG 20200718 141654 6ortega	IMG 20201123 105750 7Ortega IMG 20201123 105750 7Ortega	IMG 20201123 110858 9Ortega IMG 20201123 110858 9Ortega
IMG 20201123 114126 4Ortega 1 IMG 20201123 114126 4Ortega-1	IMG 20201123 115809 7Ortega IMG 20201123 115809 7Ortega	IMG 20201123 120706 4Ortega IMG 20201123 120706 4Ortega
IMG 20210216 131229 6 IMG 20210216 131229 6	IMG 20210216 131032 9 IMG 20210216 131032 9	IMG 20210216 131932 1 IMG 20210216 131932 1
IMG 20210216 132041 7 IMG 20210216 132041 7		IMG 20210217 133142 7 IMG 20210217 133142 7

Here is a bow that someone repaired using a spline. Part of the spline held but on the other side of the bow it broke in a new spot. It was quite a mess.

IMG 20200619 165745 0 IMG 20200619 165745 0	IMG 20200619 165802 7 IMG 20200619 165802 7	IMG 20200619 165851 5 IMG 20200619 165851 5
IMG 20200722 113410 2 IMG 20200722 113410 2	IMG 20200723 154509 6 IMG 20200723 154509 6	IMG 20200723 154551 6 IMG 20200723 154551 6

One more broken bow that had previously been repaired with a spline.

IMG 20200615 103309 7lee IMG 20200615 103309 7lee	IMG 20200615 103409 8lee IMG 20200615 103409 8lee	IMG 20200625 141552 1lee IMG 20200625 141552 1lee
IMG 20200625 142203 8lee IMG 20200625 142203 8lee	IMG 20200627 143812 4lee IMG 20200627 143812 4lee	IMG 20200627 171923 5lee IMG 20200627 171923 5lee

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My dog ate my bow.

IMG 20200522 152937 7 IMG 20200522 152937 7	IMG 20200527 105451 0 IMG 20200527 105451 0	IMG 20200527 105508 7 IMG 20200527 105508 7
IMG 20200528 164532 5 IMG 20200528 164532 5	IMG 20200528 164544 1 IMG 20200528 164544 1

Another broken bow with a few more photographed steps.

IMG 20191119 135647 6 IMG 20191119 135647 6	IMG 20191121 155459 6 s IMG 20191121 155459 6-s	IMG 20191121 160200 7 IMG 20191121 160200 7
IMG 20191121 160713 2 IMG 20191121 160713 2	IMG 20191121 161108 2 s IMG 20191121 161108 2-s	IMG 20191126 103420 6 IMG 20191126 103420 6
IMG 20191126 103545 0 IMG 20191126 103545 0	IMG 20191126 103613 1 s IMG 20191126 103613 1-s

Here is a bow that I believe had broken many years ago and he brought it to my shop. The break  of the head and the stick no longer ligned up so I had to fit it a little before gluing it together.

IMG 20190608 155055 1 IMG 20190608 155055-1	IMG 20190608 161303 1 IMG 20190608 161303-1	IMG 20190710 095422 IMG 20190710 095422
IMG 20190710 095439 IMG 20190710 095439	IMG 20190710 095454 IMG 20190710 095454

This is a bow that was dropped off for a rehair. I noticed that I had repaired the broken head years ago. After thinking about it my customer remembered that it was in 2000. He had originally taken it to another fine shop and they told them that it could be repaired but they were not sure it would hold. He dropped it off at my Hollywood shop and he thought the repair would last a couple of years, so he had me repair it. It's one of his working bows and as you can see it still almost looks like it was never broken.

IMG 20170224 140645 IMG 20170224 140645

IMG 20170224 140634 IMG 20170224 140634

IMG 20170224 140728 IMG 20170224 140728

Another broken violin bow. Oops I forgot to take the before photo.

IMG 20180111 170613 IMG 20180111 170613	IMG 20180111 170804 IMG 20180111 170804	IMG 20180111 170924 IMG 20180111 170924

This is a viola bow with a broken head.

IMG 20170225 155614 IMG 20170225 155614	IMG 20170306 112559 IMG 20170306 112559	IMG 20170306 112633 IMG 20170306 112633
IMG 20170306 112800 IMG 20170306 112800

Here is a cello bow with the head broken off. It's unusual that the break goes all the way into the stick.

IMG 20170301 131933 IMG 20170301 131933	IMG 20181003 112319 IMG 20181003 112319	IMG 20181003 112334 IMG 20181003 112334
IMG 20181003 112413 IMG 20181003 112413	IMG 20181003 112425 IMG 20181003 112425

This is a nice violin bow that had a very odd break. Most heads break off parallel to the hair. This bow snapped off at about a 45 degree angle. It was somewhat difficult to glue back together.

IMG 20170310 152021 IMG 20170310 152021	IMG 20170310 152059 IMG 20170310 152059	IMG 20170310 160525 IMG 20170310 160525
IMG 20170310 160543 IMG 20170310 160543

Here are two other violin bows where the head has been repaired. One still needs to be rehaired and the other one is ready to be picked up by the customer.

IMG 20170301 132235 IMG 20170301 132235

IMG 20170301 132356 IMG 20170301 132356

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I have repaired around a hundred bow breaks without it breaking again. A customer came in and wanted to know if their bow could be repaired. I looked at it and because of the break I said no because the break was so close to the edge of the stick. I looked at it more closley and noticed that I had repaired the head before and it was now broken in a new location in the head. The customer said his daughter dropped the bow. The original repair held but the force caused the bow to break in a new spot.

IMG 20181009 103034 IMG 20181009 103034

IMG 20181009 103042 IMG 20181009 103042