Pernambuco Bows for String Instruments

A selection of fine bows made from traditional Pernambuco tonewood

Pernambuco (or Pau-Brazil, Caesalpinia echinata) is a slow-growing, medium sized tree growing exclusively in the Mata Atlantica or Brazilian Atlantic forest. Pernambuco grows very slowly, needing at least thirty years to grow mature enough for the red-brown heartwood to be suitable for bow making.More than two hundred years after it was first introduced to musicians, few comparable substitutes for pernambuco are known to bowmakers or musicians. Its combination of rigidity, flexibility, density, beauty, and ability to hold a fixed curve are properties which make Pernambuco a unique material for bowmaking.