ARCHET TÊTE-BÊCHE CLASSIQUE
For over 25 years, alongside his traditional bowmaking work, Gilles Nehr has been meticulously developing a revolutionary bow model: the Tête-Bêche.
The Tête-Bêche bow model is a pragmatic and empirical solution designed to elevate the essential attributes of traditional bows. Mostly chosen for its superior sound quality, it also offers a self-rehairing feature and a unique fine-tuning balance system.
The Tête-Bêche model is tailored to elevate the playing experience with a perfect blend of innovation and tradition for violinists, violists, cellists, and soon, double bassists.
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DESIGN
The Tête-Bêche bow doesn’t seek to look different; its appearance follows necessity. Everything not essential remains unchanged from the most traditional bow. Its distinctive form emerges naturally from performance-driven design, making technical innovation elegant rather than ornamental.
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The bow features a wooden stick, round or octagonal, available in Pernambuco or Giraffe Thorn Acacia. Its head and frog are made of titanium, and the button and hook are cast in bronze.
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The titanium head and frog come in three finishes: black (DLC), golden (TiN), and natural polished titanium.
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FIXED FROG
Unlike traditional bows, the Tête-Bêche features a fixed frog, perfectly fitted and secured to the stick. This eliminates all movement between the frog and the stick, a common source of instability in standard designs. The result is a bow that feels completely solid in the hand; stable, responsive, and reliable in every playing condition.
The distance between the frog and the thumb grip remains constant, unlike traditional bows where this distance varies with the hair length, which changes depending on humidity, weather, and natural stretching over time. With the Tête-Bêche, these fluctuations no longer affect the hand position or balance, making the bow feel consistently stable and predictable. And because it never shifts, the exact distance a musician chooses as most comfortable stays the same, always.
Beyond stability, this design enhances the acoustic connection between the stick and the frog. Vibrations are transmitted more directly and efficiently between the two, allowing for greater sensitivity and response.
SOUND
A major step in the development of the Tête-Bêche concerning the sound was the introduction of a fixed frog, perfectly fitted, glued, and pinned to the stick. Traditional sliding frogs create a subtle but unavoidable gap between the frog and the stick under hair tension, disrupting vibration flow. With the Tête-Bêche, this gap is eliminated; the seamless connection enhances clarity, richness, and harmonic depth.
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As the design evolved; following a purely empirical work based on trial and feedback; it became clear that the less material involved, the better the bow sounded. Simplifying the structure and reducing transitions between components allowed vibrations to travel more freely through a single, continuous material. This led to the use of a single block of metal for the frog and head. Aluminum was used first; followed by titanium, brass, and silver. Over time, titanium was chosen and retained; not only for its strength and lightness, but also for its remarkable acoustic properties, which allow sound to pass fully without being dampened.​
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The way the hair is attached also plays a key role in the bow’s acoustic behavior. The thread knots at both ends are fixed to hooks at the frog and head, which hold a significant amount of tension; the hair then passes with that same tension over bridges, which are integral to the same solid block of metal. The playable hair band is held in tension between these two bridges; one at the frog, the other at the head. Much like the crest of a violin bridge, their narrow profile concentrates the transmission of the sound.
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After many variations in shape and structure, it became apparent that hollow metal frogs offered greater resonance. The first hollow, one-piece metal frog by Gilles Nehr was created in 2007 for a client. At the time, it was one of many experiments; by 2015, it had become the definitive choice. Since then, all Tête-Bêche frogs have been made hollow from a single block of metal.
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BALANCE
Achieving each player’s perfect balance is essential for optimal performance.
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The button is positioned inside the bow’s frog, lower than a traditional button and adding weight closer to the hair level, resulting in enhanced stability while playing.
Every Tête-Bêche bow comes with a set of seven interchangeable buttons: each adding an extra 1g respectively. Changing these buttons is quick and easy, allowing musicians to adjust the bow’s weight effortlessly.
The Tête-Bêche uses a light silk thread, with these buttons acting as the primary weight adjusters.
While thicker wood dimensions are sometimes used during bow making to add weight, this approach is limited, as it can make the lower part of the bow too stiff and reduce its responsiveness.
The adjustable button system provides a precise and refined way for musicians to achieve their ideal balance, offering unparalleled personalization to match their unique needs.
SELF-REHAIRING
The Tête-Bêche is a self-rehairing bow, allowing you to easily replace the hair yourself using ready-made Tête-Bêche hanks. If you ever run out of these hanks, the bow can still be rehaired using the traditional method.
Hair hanks are shipped worldwide, each contained within a cassette that is sealed in a vacuum pocket to protect against dust, bugs, humidity, and dryness, allowing for long-term storage. Empty cassettes are re-used, and returning them reduces the cost of your next hair order.
Thanks to the fixed frog, musicians can select their ideal distance between the frog and the thumb grip, and this distance will always remain the same, regardless of how much the bow is tightened or loosened.
Additionally, the extended path of the hook that holds the hair within the frog eliminates issues with hair being too short or too long due to usage or weather conditions.
DURABILITY
The Tête-Bêche bow is built to last. Its unique construction eliminates nearly all the fragile components that typically require maintenance or repair on traditional bows.
Thanks to the strength of titanium, the single-piece metal button, and the fact that the Tête-Bêche has no moving parts except the bronze hook inside the frog, it requires virtually no maintenance. It also avoids nearly all the typical repairs associated with conventional bows.
There is nothing to replace. It is a bow designed not only to save money on repairs, not just to perform, but to endure.
WOODS
Pernambuco
The legendary wood of choice for bows, renowned for its unique qualities.
With Pernambuco classified as an endangered and protected species, its rarity has intensified, and available stocks are dwindling. Gilles Nehr’s own precious supply, secured over 25 years ago, is now small, but it still allows him to craft bows of extraordinary artistry.
Pernambuco's natural color varies from vibrant orange to rich red and deep brown.
A Rare Find: Forgotten Wood from the Bazin Family
Gilles Nehr recently had the rare fortune of acquiring a small number of bow sticks from the legendary Bazin family, one of Mirecourt’s most renowned bowmaking dynasties, active from the 1840s well into the 1980s.
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These sticks were mistakenly cut too narrow for conventional bow heads, which is why they remained unused for so long; set aside and forgotten. The distinctive design of the Tête-Bêche bow, where the head wraps around the stick, allows this precious wood to finally be brought to life.
This unique and aged pernambuco may be a century old, or even older. At first glance, these blanks appear rough and unremarkable: dark and dusty, with no visible grain or depth. But beneath the surface lies a hidden beauty. With careful planing and a touch of oil, the wood reveals its deep glow and rich character.
After nearly a hundred years of waiting, these sticks are finding their voice. They offer not only historical value but also a sound that is unmistakably that of old French bows: rich, warm, and full of soul.
Giraffe Thorn Acacia
Giraffe Thorn Acacia stands as an exceptional alternative to Pernambuco offering a responsible choice for those mindful of ecological impact.
This wood is particularly well-suited for players seeking strength and projection without sacrificing depth in the lower range, unlike some dense Pernambuco that can lack bass presence. It is responsive and powerful, producing a sound that is both focused and warm.
While its light natural color may be less striking and the variety of types more limited, its consistency is a significant advantage. Almost every stick of Acacia is suitable for bowmaking, unlike Pernambuco, which requires sorting through lower-quality wood to find the best pieces. This results in less waste of Acacia trees, making it an almost entirely usable and high-quality resource.
Where to buy a Tête-Bêche Classique
Montreal
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San Francisco
Bay Fine Strings​​​​​
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Seoul
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