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All Lutherie articles
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Premium ❘ FeatureThe Strad Calendar 2027: Norway’s pride and joy
The Strad Calendar 2027 features eleven Stradivari instruments, all taken from the collection of the Anders Sveaas Charitable Foundation. Christian Lloyd examines the treasures
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Premium ❘ FeatureAn overlooked wonder: Pietro Barbieri
Despite having made only a handful of instruments in his career, Pietro Barbieri proved to be one of Mantua’s most accomplished luthiers. Philip Kass and Andrea Zanrè look into his life and examine an instrument from 1826
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Premium ❘ FeatureMy Space: Daniel King and Joe Roach’s Cardiff workshop
The two luthiers present their workshop in the Welsh capital
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Premium ❘ FeatureIn the midst of transition: the French transitional period – part two
In the second of two articles on the French transitional period, Florent Boyer examines the development of the violin in Paris between 1790 and 1830 – and how Nicolas Lupot’s influence proved to be seismic
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Premium ❘ FeatureMaking Matters: Achieving a glow from within
The varnish of many Cremonese makers seems to glow from within – but how did they achieve this without knowledge of optics? Tamás Guminár investigates – and argues that one secret ingredient may be kaolin
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Carving a Gofriller-style scroll
Alessandro Peiretti shares a method on making a personal interpretation of the Venetian scroll model
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Premium ❘ FeatureIn Focus: A c.1850 violin by Lorenzo Arcangioli
Peter Körner examines the mid-19th century instrument
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Premium ❘ ArticleAnalysis September 2026: Ten years on from the Brexit vote, how have instrument workshops been affected?
A decade after the UK’s split from the European Union, the impact is still being felt by both musicians and makers. Peter Somerford looks at how are regular instrument workshops dealing with the changes?
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Set-up guidelines for the five-string violin
Jennifer Halenar shares some tips that take into account the differences in bridges, strings, dimensions and fingerboards
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Premium ❘ FeatureMatthew Hardie: ‘The Scottish Stradivari’
Matthew Hardie, who died 200 years ago this year, was possibly Scotland’s most influential violin maker. To mark the anniversary, David Rattray tells the story of his life and examines a selection of his violas
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Premium ❘ FeatureMaking Matters: Comparing volume of air within the violin soundbox
John Waddle and Steve Sirr use CT scanning to examine how the amount of air inside a violin soundbox varies between the works of several early Cremonese makers
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Premium ❘ FeatureIn Focus: A 1776 mute violin by Nicolò Gagliano
Nazrin Rashidova and Peter Beare take a look at the unique instrument
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NewsObituary: British luthier Colin Irving (1945–2025)
The instrument maker, who began as an engineer in the 1950s, became best known for his cellos
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Premium ❘ FeatureChanging of the guard: French transitional period – part one
The ‘transitional period’ in French lutherie usually refers to the period of change from the Baroque bow to the Tourte model. In the first of two articles, Florent Boyer illustrates how violin making also underwent a seismic shift through the 18th century and into the 19th
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BlogsWhy did the violin stop thinking? The Renaissance, Japanese aesthetics and the search for sound
Why do we value beauty, and where does it come from? Violin maker Yoshiharu Ito traces a path from Stradivari to Japanese concepts of shadow and impermanence in search of what the violin is still capable of becoming
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Premium ❘ FeatureFrank Kovanda: bow man to the stars
Frank Kovanda is acknowledged as one of America’s finest 20th-century bow makers. Gennady Filimonov tells his story and examines some examples of his work
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Premium ❘ FeatureMy Space: Charlo Xuereb’s Marsaskala workshop
The luthier presents his Maltese shop
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BlogsLearning the art of bow rehairing: the RAB Trust Bow Course
Held from 28 June to 2 July 2026, Libby Summers reports back from the inaugural RAB Trust Bow Course, where a cohort of students were hand-picked to learn the art of rehairing a bow from scratch
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Premium ❘ FeatureMaking Matters: Wood treatment in ‘golden period’ Stradivari violins
Stewart Pollens reveals the results of tests on wood shavings from two ‘golden period’ violins by Antonio Stradivari, which sought to discover any evidence of wood treatment
