Work In Progress

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 photos of an extraordinary viola. “I think you should …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

  This viola is a commission from a player in London, a member of the London Lawyers’ Symphony Orchestra who has some arthritis in his hand and therefore needs a really manageable instrument. We met a couple of times and I was able to show him violas of different sizes. This was the one that …read more

I’m making this viola for my rental scheme, and there is already a young player lined up for it, who is currently hiring a smaller viola from me. I have made these violas regularly over the years, and refined the design to make an instrument that is easy to play, light and which sounds really …read more

I’ve made these violas regularly over the years. I came up with the design as a way of making a manageable instrument with an excellent sound that would be slightly less expensive to make than a standard viola design, so ideal for younger players. Several institutions have asked me to make these violas for loan …read more