This J. Thibouville-Lamy ‘TLBVA1’ is a stunning ‘Master Archetier’ Viola bow honouring the expertise of famed Mirecourt bow-maker Joseph Alfred Lamy (Lamy Père’).

Each bow blank is selected from a coveted stock of the finest 20-year seasoned Pernambuco which is first tested for resonance and elasticity using a Lucchi Meter. Only blanks achieving a rating over 5300 make the necessary grade for J.Thibouville-Lamy bows, with pieces of this resonant quality being few and far between. This meticulous grading process ensures that only the very finest sticks are selected for our very finest bows.

Bow frogs are fully mounted, cut from fine Burmese Ebony and hand-finished with ‘925’ sterling silver fittings; the grips are made of the softest leather and wound with ‘925’ Silver wire; and the bow hair is unbleached, Mongolian horsetail, prized for its thickness and strength.

Each of the J.Thibouville-Lamy bows is handmade by a Master Luthier in Suzhou, China and is supplied in a presentation box with a certificate of authenticity. 

About Joseph Alfred Lamy:

Joseph Alfred Lamy – commonly referred to as ‘Père Lamy or Lamy Père’ and whose bows were originally stamped ‘LAMY A PARIS’ – was born in Mirecourt in 1850. From a young age Joseph apprenticed in this most respected of bow-making locations until, in his late 20s, going to work as an assistant to Francois Nicolas Voirin in his Paris workshops. In 1885, upon the death of Voirin, Joseph Alfred Lamy started his own workshop at 34 rue de Faubourg Poissoniere.

Lamy Père came from a great period in French bow-making, receiving both Gold and Silver medals for his work at the Paris Exposition in 1889. Just like Francois Voirin, Joseph Lamy was influenced by Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume’s style and design aspirations, and sought to build strong, weighty bows by increasing the volume of the stick and the frog. ‘Lamy Père’ strongly influenced the work of Eugene Sartory as well as his own son, Hippolyte Camille Lamy, ‘Lamy-fils’.