All Lutherie articles – Page 2
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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
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: An innovative varnish recipe
Johannes Jacobs presents a method for making and applying both the ground coat and an emulsion varnish
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FocusA 1911 cello by luthier Władysław Baczyński (1866–1935)
While the Polish luthier made more than 200 violins during his lifetime, only a handful of cellos are known. In the second of two articles marking the 160th anniversary of his birth on 25 June 1866, Grzegorz Kaproń looks at his limited forays into cello making, while Henry Riedstra examines ...
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Premium ❘ FeatureIn Focus: A 1757 violin by Joan Guillamí I
Jordi Pinto examines the mid 18th-century instrument
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FocusA 1908 viola by luthier Władysław Baczyński (1866–1935)
In the first of two articles marking the 160th anniversary of the Polish luthier’s birth on 25 June 1866, Grzegorz Kaproń gives a brief overview of his life while Henry Riedstra examines a typical viola by the maker
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Premium ❘ FeatureOut of the dark: the 1742 ‘Rovelli’ Guarneri ‘del Gesù’ violin
The ‘Rovelli’ Guarneri ‘del Gesù’ violin of 1742 was once believed lost – and its rediscovery in 2002 was a heart-pounding moment for the experts. Frédéric Chaudière recalls the compelling story of the instrument’s authentication
