The Carruthers
Five String Fiddle
A Professional 5-String Built for Power, Balance, and Playability
The Carruthers Five String Fiddle is the result of a five year collaboration between award-winning violinmaker Andrew Carruthers and master fiddler and dealer Brandon Godman.
In 2019, we set out with a simple goal:
Build the best acoustic five-string fiddle on the market.
Today, having combined the rigorous standards of classical violinmaking with the real-world demands of modern fiddlers, we believe we’ve achieved it.
How does a Carruthers 5 String Fiddle sound?
“Andrew’s instruments are really fantastic. I am fortunate to keep in check with most of the folks who have them, and they really blossom over time. They also have a unique voice in the 5-string world, having a very convincing C string with power and gusto, while retaining the sweet, bell quality of the E that we get with a 4-string. ”
— Brandon Godman
Developed Through Collaboration and Stage Experience
Developing the Carruthers Five was not a solo effort
Working alongside Brandon’s shops, The Fiddle Mercantile of San Francisco, and The Violin Shop of Nashville, the world’s leading dealership for acoustic five string fiddles, we were able to evaluate and refine the instrument in professional performance environments.
Every design choice was informed by artist feedback, from players who perform at the highest level.
What Makes a Great 5-String Fiddle?
Several critical factors determine whether an instrument truly performs, or merely has an extra, fifth string. When shopping for a five-string fiddle look for:
A Powerful, Credible C String
The C string is the defining feature of a five string fiddle, and also its greatest design challenge.
The C must have:
- Depth and clarity
- Strong fundamental tone
- Enough power to hold its own in ensemble playing
All of this without making the body oversized or sacrificing comfort.
Brilliance and Nimbleness in the Upper Register
While the C string defines the instrument, most playing happens on the top three strings.
A professional five-string must retain:
- Sweetness and brilliance on the E
- Clean articulation in fast passages
- Clarity that avoids muddiness in double stops and chordal playing
Balanced Tone Across All Five Strings
A great fiddle should sound unified.
- Notes should match in character across strings
- No jarring “hot” or “dead” spots
- Even response up the fingerboard
All five of the strings should feel like a part of the same tonal family.
Projection That Carries
In performance settings, projection matters.
True projection isn’t harshness, it’s usable volume combined with tonal presence that carries through an ensemble, reaching to the back of a hall.
Easy Response Under the Bow
How quickly does the instrument speak?
A professional five string should:
- Respond immediately
- Allow dynamic control
- Offer a solid “platform” under the bow without “bottoming out” when pushed
Designed for Amplification
Modern fiddling is frequently amplified.
Whether mic’d or played with a pickup, the instrument must:
- Maintain tonal integrity
- Avoid harsh frequencies
- Translate warmth and clarity through sound systems
From the beginning the Carruthers Five was designed with amplification in mind.
Comfortable, Violin-Like Dimensions
The Carruthers Five:
- Maintains violin-like proportions including an accessible neck that is not too wide
- Allows an easy transition from four string fiddles
- Fits most standard violin cases
What fiddlers are saying:
“Out of the gate, Andrew’s 5-strings are serious instruments with clarity and power”
Casey Driessen
Otherlands
“I started playing it and it was explosive. Miles of projection and a beautiful tone.”
Ivan Strunin
Athens, Georgia
It was a Saturday morning and I was visiting my friends at Casey Driessen’s fiddle camp and waiting for a bow to be rehaired. I have three really wonderful five-string violins made by repeated luthiers, all of which I love to play so I can honestly say I had no intention of purchasing another five-string fiddle. Well my friend Fred Carpenter was there representing Brandon Godman’s “The Violin Shop” and had many fiddles to play. I picked up a few and then I picked up the Carruthers. I started playing it and it was explosive. Miles of projection and a beautiful tone. Well I had to have it. I’d never heard a fiddle with so much projection. The tone is balanced and rich. Full on the low end as you would expect from a five, but the high end is sweet and with the same fullness as the low end. Equally as important, so you are not taking just my word for it, every fiddler and violinist who has tried my Carruthers falls in love with it.
As to the instrument itself, it is beautiful especially with Andrew’s unique scroll design. I realize Andrew is new to the world of five-string fiddles but he has clearly established himself in the pantheon of premier five-string fiddle builders.
“I played one note and knew I had to own that 5-string fiddle.”
Daniel Boner
Director, Bluegrass, Old-Time, and Roots Music
East Tennessee State University
It has the tone and response that only a few 5-string fiddles possess.
Having owned probably six 5-string fiddles through the years, including John Silakowski’s first ever 5-string built for the late Randy Howard, this one stands proudly above them all.
I simply can’t live without it!
“It has the oldtime grit I use in my playing, the high end violinish zing and the awesome power of the low C.”
Owen Ragland
Sonora, California
I had been playing and gigging on my first full size fiddle which was over 10 years old. A solid instrument I had picked out when I was 12, it had helped me fill countless bar, club, and festival air with the sound of the fiddle. I had my mind set on getting a five string and had just started to seriously look when I picked up a Carruthers instrument at The Fiddle Mercantile booth at a California Bluegrass Association festival. I felt immediately I had found my instrument and would have gone home with it if I had more money than your average professional bluegrass musician in there 20. I came back each day I was at the festival to play it, and went to work in the coming months saving and begging for money. A little under a year later I had the money together! I called the Fiddle Mercantile and was crestfallen to learn that my fiddle had just sold.
Unwilling to give up, I contacted Andrew about the possibility of building another similar instrument: and to my excitement he agreed to do it! He and Brandon Godman (the owner of the fiddle mercantile) arranged for me to get Andy’s 3rd five string.
A few years later, my Carruthers is my new workhorse instrument. It’s played hundreds of shows with me, rode in vans and cars, flown in planes, and come out of the case to be shown off to just about every other professional fiddle player I’ve run into along the way. It has the oldtime grit I use in my playing, the high end violinish zing some 5 strings lack and the awesome power of the low C. It and my D28 are by far my most prized physical possessions.
As to the instrument itself, it is beautiful especially with Andrew’s unique scroll design. I realize Andrew is new to the world of five-string fiddles but he has clearly established himself in the pantheon of premier five-string fiddle builders
Built by Award-Winning Violinmaker Andrew Carruthers
For over 35 years, Andrew Carruthers has built and restored fine classical instruments.
- Graduate of the Welsh School of Violinmaking
- Restorer with Bein & Fushi in Chicago
- Independent restorer of high-level classical instruments
- Maker of international award-winning violins, violas, and cellos,
- Creator of intriguing experimental instruments
Developed in Collaboration with Brandon Godman and The Violin Shop, Nashville
Since 1988, The Violin Shop in Nashville has served professional fiddlers and acoustic five string players at the highest levels of performance.
Their experience representing dozens of contemporary makers, combined with deep artist relationships, made this collaboration uniquely powerful.
Together, we built an instrument that brings rigorous classical craftsmanship into the world of modern fiddling.
Where can you try a
Carruthers Five String Fiddle?
Contact me directly to find out when the next Carruthers Five will be available, or to discuss any questions or inspirations about custom features
Your Five String could be made with wood from the estate of the late Five String master maker John Silakowski.
Contact The Violin Shop, Nashville to check on stock and availability or to see if Brandon is showing one at a Bluegrass festival near you.