Work In Progress

  This is a lovely project. It’s a commission from close to home, a violinist in Manchester’s Hallé Orchestra who lives quite near me. Philippa had seen one of my violins and heard quite a lot about my work before she visited. When we chatted about what she was looking for, I thought that a …read more

  This is something of a dream commission for me. I’m a big fan of the work of Paolo Maggini and many of my violas in particular are based on his work. He also made a number of violins during his lifetime, some of dimensions which correspond roughly to today’s standard, and some which are …read more

I met the original of this cello in 2015, when I and three colleagues made a collaborative copy of it for the Royal Northern College in Manchester. The RNCM owns this lovely instrument, and we were lucky to have it to hand while we were working. It’s since joined my repertoire of cello models. This …read more

This viola is currently available for sale at £9000. Every year, the British Violin Making Association organises a Makers Day in London, a one-day exhibition of contemporary work. At this year’s event I found myself eating my hurried lunch sitting next to Ben Hebbert, the BVMA chairman. He whipped out his phone and showed me …read more

This is a lovely commission; a viola that has been ordered to be ready for a small viola playing son, and also when he has outgrown it to become part of the collection of the Benslow Loan Scheme; ‘”to put something back” as my customer says. Good for him. I’ve made many of these small …read more

  This model is an old friend. The original belongs to David Strange, who has had a distinguished career as principal cellist at the Royal Opera House and  Royal Philharmonic Orchestras, and latterly as Head of Strings at the Royal Academy of Music. I met him early in my career and he kindly let me …read more

This has been the most popular viola model recently; its rich and powerful sound belies its manageable size. The one I made at the end of 2017 generated two new orders, and this is the second, for a talented young player who has just started her studies at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst …read more

This is currently a very popular model; its size makes it super-manageable for players with a restricted stretch, and it has a lovely sweet, warm sound with a rich and solid C string. It’s a commission from a player who has a back problem which makes it all-but impossible to play her larger viola. We …read more

This viola is a commission from a player in Suffolk, who has seen and liked a viola of this model that belongs to a colleague. The model is actually based on a Paolo Maggini violin. Maggini worked in Brescia, northern Italy at the end of the 16th and early 17th century, and is known particularly …read more

I’ve been working on this design for several months. One of my customers contacted me to float the idea of a commission for a new model viola. She has one of my 15 inch two-cornered violas, which she is generally happy with, but felt that a new instrument with a few changes would suit her …read more