Work In Progress

After a busy summer with lots of visitors and catching up with odds and ends in the workshop, I'm back properly at the bench with a new viola. This is one of my favourite models; it's small enough to be really comfortable for anyone with problems playing a larger viola, but the sound is still powerful enough for professional use; I've made it more than once for players including a member of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. I've had fun picking out the wood for this viola, and was … [Read more...]

I find that as life goes on it gets more varied and I collect additional interests, sometimes more than I really have time for. Recently I've developed a side interest in restoration, mainly just from my own curiosity, so the last two or three months have been spent on that, including a fantastic course run by the British Violin Making Association at Halsway Manor in Somerset, where I developed my skills with the help of three outstanding tutors. And latterly I was back at Halsway for a course … [Read more...]

It's lovely to be back making a new violin after a prolonged period pursuing other violin making projects.  This one is for an American player; I made them a 14 1/4 inch cornerless viola a few years ago which has worked well. So now a violin is to be added to the collection. Abi wanted a slightly undersized violin so this model fits the bill. Many of the Guarneri del Gesù violins are on the smaller side, with a shorter string length, so they work perfectly for players who like a … [Read more...]

I have a real soft spot for this model, the first of Stradivari's violas. It's an outlier amongst his output in a number of ways; the model is a little broader than the later violas, the back is poplar rather than the more usual maple. The original is played by Antoine Tamestit, and in his hands the sound quality is immediately arresting and compelling. It's been in my mind for a while that it could be an interesting project to reduce the viola from its original 16 1/4 inches to a smaller … [Read more...]

This violin is a commission from a young player whose family have been renting a 3/4 size violin from me. We chatted about what sort of model would suit her - she has quite small hands so we were thinking a slender instrument with a slim neck. One of her musical interests is baroque music, so mulling it over I thought it might be appropriate and fun to pick a Peter Guarneri of Venice model, which would tick all the relevant boxes. Peter of Venice was the brother of the more famous Giuseppe … [Read more...]