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My Space: Andrew Carruthers’s Santa Rosa workshop

2026-10-30T08:47:00

00 Main photo

The maker presents his Californian shop

I haven’t always been a violin maker. After graduating from college I moved to the US to work as a lab technician in Berkeley, CA. Then my American girlfriend was accepted on to a PhD course at the University of Bristol, so I moved back to the UK to be with her, and started training at the Welsh School of Violin Making. After we’d both finished our studies, we returned to the US and I got a job with Bein & Fushi in Chicago, specialising in cello restoration. After three years we returned to the West Coast and I’ve been based in Santa Rosa ever since. I have a very subtle sign outside, made from a violin back plate with my house number on it, as I don’t want to attract too much attention…

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