About the Author

Eric Norman Paulu began a deep, abiding and lifelong passion for music and musical instruments from infancy. Born into a prominent musical family in Madison, Wisconsin, he began playing the violin at 5 years of age, with his first lessons taught by the famous Japanese pedagogue, Shinichi Suzuki. Paulu studied violin and piano seriously through college, while also letting his other interests reign free in many other areas. He graduated from the University of Colorado in 1986 with a B.A. in History, with an emphasis on the American West. While at the University of Colorado, he kept his passion for music alive by studying with well-known Professor William Starr, and playing in the University symphony and opera orchestras. After college, he played professionally in numerous symphonies, as well as nationally-known chamber music festivals throughout the United States.

But it was ultimately Paulu's undeniable talent for craftsmanship which led him to a career in the specialized field of making and restoring violin bows. By the time he graduated college, he had acquired advanced skills in metal smithing, wood working, and jewelry making; and combined with his extensive knowledge of music and performing violin and viola, he decided that forging a career in bows was both an obvious and a natural choice for his future.

As his introduction to the many nuances and subtleties required of a bow craftsman, he began the difficult and painstaking task of mastering rehairing bows. After that, he studied the art of traditional French bowmaking with the famed New York bowmaker William Salchow, at Salchow's summer workshop at the University of New Hampshire in 1987. Independent by nature, Paulu turned down numerous job offers at major violin shops, and went on to form self-employed businesses in Phoenix, Ann Arbor, and ultimately in Boulder, Colorado, where he has been established for the last 25 years.

In the previous 3 decades, Paulu has made dozens of bows entirely by hand, has rehaired well in excess of 30,000 of them, and performed intricate restoration work on bows made by such fabled and important historical makers as members of the Peccatte family, F.N. Voirin, Gaullard, Sartory, Ouchard, Fetique, Dodd, Tubbs, among many others. Some of these restorations have involved faithful reproductions of missing, broken or worn metal parts, as well as wood grafts and crack repairs. His own bows have been purchased and used by prominent string quartets, professional orchestra players, and touring masters of Irish, cajun, jazz and bluegrass music. While he has written hundreds of appraisals based upon his extensive knowledge of bows and ability to assess their condition and market value, he is not a buyer and seller. It's Paulu's dedication to the elegant, simple beauty of a bow which motivates his talents as a craftsman, and which explains his success in such a fine career niche.

Aside from the hours spent devoted to his love of violin bows, Eric Paulu also has a variety of other wide-ranging interests and activities. Those include significant accomplishments in architecture, classic automobile restoration, interior design, pottery making, culinary arts, photography, furniture making and metal smithing; and as an avid hiker, bicyclist, and outdoorsman.

[Contact Eric Norman Paulu at epaulu@aol.com]