John Dodd

DODD, John Born 1752, died 1839 Kew, London UK. Bow maker. Eldest son of Edward Dodd (I), above. Trained as a gun-lock fitter. Worked in London from c.1780; recorded in trade directories in 1794 as a bow maker at 10 Gray’s Walk, Lambeth. Moved to 11 Lower Row, Lambeth 1796, and by 1803 was settled in Kew, Surrey. Died in Richmond Workhouse in very diminished circumstances. Known as the ‘English Tourte’, he developed many of the key elements of the modern bow at about the same time as Tourte in France, but his workmanship was less consistent, and his tendency to make his bows a little short has placed him on a slightly lower rung of importance than Tourte. Tourte had an early training as a watch maker, and for both men, their experience with fine engineering provided them with the skills to produce the screw-adjusting mechanisms which helped make their bows so superior. His work developed from early forms having ‘axe head’ shapes, with an extended rear lip and no facing, and ivory frogs (often subsequently replaced) lacking slides, to the fully developed modern bows with all the furnishings of slide, face, ferrule, and ebony frog. Some are highly ornate, even bejewelled, and Dodd was one of the first to use tortoiseshell for the frog. Dodd’s bows bear clear brands on the frog and stick, but this is widely imitated. He supplied many other makers and dealers, and their brands are often superimposed on his; Betts, Forster, J. & H. Banks, and Norris & Barnes marks can all be found. Both octagonal and round sticks made.

He was born in Stirling, died in Richmond workhouse, and was buried at Kew. He is styled ” The English Tourte,” and much of his work justifies the title. Had he lived a more virtuous life, he probably would have turned out work of uniform excellence. Many of his bows were evidently made in haste, and sold for a few shillings, to meet the exigencies of an empty cupboard and a parching thirst. His intemperate habit was the cause of many troubles to himself, and to others who interested themselves on his behalf, and he came nigh the last stage of starvation many a time. Had it not been for the kindly offices of Dr. Selle and Mr. Richard Platt, of Richmond, he would have ended his days on the roadside ; as it was, he ended them in the workhouse.

He was the pupil of his father, the Edward Dodd previously noticed, and he improved so much upon the work of his father, and upon everything else in the whole of the violin world (excepting the work of his greater contemporary, Francois Tourte), that his bows have maintained an undiminished celebrity down to our own days. His method of cutting his bows was primitive, and it has not been adopted by any great maker since his time. He cut the bow in the curved form out of the block, and dispensed with the ordinary plan of cutting it straight and bending by heat. I have seen a large number of Dodd bows, and I am convinced from a close examination of them that they have all been cut in this manner. One of the finest specimens which I have seen is now in the possession of the Rev. J. Rhys Jones, Priest-in-charge, Maesteg, Glamorganshire. It is a fine stick, with a graceful camhre and good balance. Its length is exactly 28 1/4in., and the length of the hair 25 1/8in. It is of medium weight, and very dark in colour. The face of the heel is decorated with mother-of-pearl, and the ferrules are of thick silver. Dodd’s name was stamped on all sorts of wretched nondescripts in the middle of last century, and his fame suffered considerably in consequence. But his work has suffered more than his fame, for there are hundreds of mongrel “Dodds”” about, some with genuine heels, others with genuine heads, and not a few patched up in divers manners. The owner of a genuine Dodd, of regulation length, or anything near it, and made in his best style, has a treasure that he can well be proud of.

Eldest son of Edward Dodd ; b. 1752, Stirling; d. Oct. 4, 1839, in Richmond Workhouse; was buried at Kew. He was first a gun-lock fitter, then a money-scale maker, and finally found his true vocation in making bows. They are made of magnificent wood and the work is so beautiful that he is known as ‘ The English Tourte”; their only defect is that they are sometimes too short. He would never take pupils, preferring to keep secret his method of cutting the wood, and refused to reveal it for a bribe of £1,000, although he was often in great poverty.

Dieser ausgezeichnete Bogenmacher, der zuerst Büchsenschlosser und dann
Goldwaagenmacher war, steht in England in gleichem Ansehen wie Fr. Tourte
in Frankreich. Seine Bögen sind ebenso gut wie die seines französischen
Rivalen, wenn er auch ihre Eleganz nicht erreicht. Er war der älteste Sohn
von Edward D. und Bruder von Thomas D. und wohnte New street, Covent
Garden. Seine Stangen haben vielleicht den einzigen Fehler, nicht immer lang
genug zu sein. Trotzdem brachte er es im Leben nicht vorwärts und starb
als 87jähriger Greis im Armenasyl (workhouse) zu Richmond. Er hatte nie
einen Schüler, da er seine Geheimnisse des Bogenmachens nicht verrathen
wollte; er soll sogar, wie behauptet wird, trotz seiner Armuth ein Angebot von
1000 Pf. Sterling für die Preisgabe seines Geheimnisses abgelehnt haben.