Last month I had the opportunity to fill a gap in my luthier's education. Even during the Redwood Violin project where I made a violin from scratch, I did not cut and process my own wood, yet this is something that some violin makers do for themselves, and I had...
As part of the Violinabox project I carried the violin down to Mexico. The first stop was to visit Damian Stoppani, one of the most unusual violinmakers you'll ever come across. Originally from Villa Constitución, Argentina, Damian now lives and works in a 1970's...
A month in Mexico. In the pursuit of a deeper knowledge, in the hope of recharging the creative batteries, and for a simple love of travel, I spent October in Mexico with violin maker Maestro Ernesto Ramirez. In his beautiful workshop in Tepotzlan, near Mexico City,...
For many years I have wanted to attend the annual, two week,Violin Making Workshop at Oberlin, Ohio. It attracts makers from all over the world and this year was attended this year by sixty violin makers and about a dozen bow makers. With so much talent and...
I recently fulfilled an old dream: to deliver an instrument to a musician in an exotic part of the world. Daniel Prazeres is principal viola at the Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira, in Rio de Janerio. He has been searching for a viola with particular rich and dark tone...
Last Saturday, night I attended the viola and cello demonstrations at the Contemporary American Violin Makers Exhibition, put on by Metzler Violins, Los Angeles. It really is an impressive collection of high quality instruments at a wide range of...
I will be in Houston TX for four days 2/20 - 2/24 with recent instruments available to try. Please contact me to arrange a viewing, let me know if there is anything in particular you would like to see, or just to say "Hello!"
Violin Society of America holds an annual conference and every second year the conference is combined with an international violin making competition. This week long event is a great place to pick up inspiration for new things to try, to look for answers to questions...
No violin maker that I know relishes the sales part of the job, given a choice I'd rather be at the bench, making the next instrument, the instrument which will surely answer some of the many questions that I still have about the best way to do things. However reality...
I took a working vacation at Mark Moreland’s Violin Shop in Battle Ground, Washington, spending two weeks working on a fiddle while Mark worked on a new cello for a Singapore client and took care of his normal day to day business. Apart from the social call I had...