All luthier articles – Page 2

  • Ground prep
    Focus

    Making matters: ground prep

    2017-09-01T12:21:00Z

    Since time immemorial, makers have searched for the perfect varnish recipe, and take great care of the ground – but often fail to realise the importance of preparing the wood first. Christopher Jacoby gives a crash course in ‘ground prep’

  • Upton
    Video

    Upton Bass: Laminated or Solid Double Bass Ribs?

    2017-08-23T16:18:00Z

    ’When you get inside an old old instrument, you’ve got grafted pieces of wood, you’ve got linen cloth… it’s essentially bad plywood’.  Gary Upton of Upton Bass in Mystic, Connecticut, explains the benefits of plywood ribs on a double bass.

  • neil-ertz1
    News

    Violin maker Neil Értz dies (1966–2016)

    2016-10-06T00:00:00Z

    The lifelong luthier, researcher and teacher was highly respected in the violin making world

  • GreinerStefanPeter
    Focus

    Patrons should buy modern instruments for young musicians, says violin maker Stefan-Peter Greiner

    2016-04-08T00:00:00Z

    In conversation with Pauline Harding, the German luthier discusses his ideas on sound adjustment, 'Stradivari frequencies' and creating the ideal working environment

  • LupotPrinciples1
    Focus

    The violin making principles of Nicolas Lupot

    2016-02-10T00:00:00Z

    Born into a turbulent period of history, the 18th-19th century maker was among the first French luthiers to appreciate Stradivari's radical ideas

  • ViolaObit1
    News

    Violin maker Josef Kantuscher has died aged 91

    2015-11-19T00:00:00Z

    The Slovenian luthier was born on 23 December 1923 and died on 6 October 2015

  • PeterPrier1
    Focus

    'Violin making has much further yet to go' - Peter Prier

    2015-08-25T00:00:00Z

    Paul Prier's tribute to his father, the late Peter Paul Prier, founder of the Violin Making School of America

  • Bow_Making_Pic1
    Blogs

    Making a bow - from start to finish

    2015-08-24T00:00:00Z

    French bow maker Roch Petitdemange is filmed by Baptiste Buob while making a violin bow at the Museum of Violin and Bow Making in Mirecourt.Watch Baptiste Buob's film of violin maker Dominique Nicosia making an instrument in Mirecourt - a revealing half-hour insight into the complicated and precise ...

  • ViolinMaker2
    Blogs

    Making a violin - from start to finish

    2015-08-19T00:00:00Z

    Dominique Nicosia makes a violin at the Mirecourt Museum in France

  • edward-campbell1
    News

    US violin maker Edward Campbell dies aged 86

    2015-07-21T00:00:00Z

    US violin maker Edward Campbell died on 18 July at the age of 86. A founder member of the Violin Society of America (VSA), he made more than 180 instruments during his long career, while the apprenticeship programme he set up at his shop in Boiling Springs, PA, ...

  • Luiz-Bellini-no-cr
    News

    Renowned American violin maker Luiz Bellini dies aged 79

    2015-06-04T00:00:00Z

    Brazilian-born US luthier Luiz Bellini died on 4 June at the age of 79. Musicians such as Yehudi Menuhin, Gidon Kremer, David Nadien, Glenn Dicterow and Berl Senofsky all owned and played Bellini instruments during their careers.Born on 25 November 1935 in SÁo Paulo, Bellini originally trained as ...

  • alan-mann
    News

    Ealing Strings director Alan Mann dies aged 71

    2015-02-28T00:00:00Z

    Alan Mann, co-founder of Ealing Strings music shop in London, has died aged 71. For more than four decades he attended to the instruments of string players from around the globe; regular customers based in the British capital included Gyorgy Pauk, Robert Smissen, Paul Silverthorne and Thomas Gould.Born ...

  • Leonidas_Kavakos_Daniel_Regan
    News

    Violinist Leonidas Kavakos sues luthier for snapping $80,000 bow

    2015-01-07T00:00:00Z

    The artist took his bow to a violin shop in California to investigate the cause of a curvature

  • roger-hargrave-bass
    Blogs

    Making a double bass

    2014-02-11T00:00:00Z

    Constructing a double bass brings with it challenges of design and method, size and sound, cost and travel – as experienced German-based British luthier Roger Hargrave found when making his first bass

  • Zosimo-Bergonzi-violin
    Article

    Swiss violin maker identifies rare Bergonzi violin

    2013-11-26T00:00:00Z

    A violin maker and dealer based in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, has identified the only known full-size violin by Zosimo Bergonzi (1724–79). Zosimo was the son of the great Cremonese luthier Carlo Bergonzi, and the brother of Michel Angelo Bergonzi. Up until now the only evidence of Zosimo's ...

  • snapshot20131107100614
    Focus

    What happened at the 2013 China International Violin and Bow Making Competition

    2013-10-07T00:00:00Z

    With an array of experts in attendance, Beijing's international violin and bow making competition was an engrossing affair. Nancy Pellegrini hears a range of views on the industry, and China's growing position within it

  • Violin perfume
    Article

    Eau de violin shop: luthier launches workplace-inspired fragrance

    2013-09-08T00:00:00Z

    Cremona luthier Edgar Russ has a new and unusual product sideline: perfume. The violin maker is launching a scent that he says is inspired by the aromas of a luthier's workshop. Russ's fiancée came up with the idea four years ago, and the violin maker collaborated with Guy Bouchara, a ...

  • Article

    Newark students complete late maker's cello in two-week project

    2013-07-24T00:00:00Z

    In a special project to benefit the UK-based Rowan Armour-Brown (RAB) Trust, a group of students from the Newark School of Violin Making have completed an unfinished cello by Brian Laurence, who died in 2012. Laurence, who was based in Doncaster, began making the cello in 1989 when he ...

  • sternvatelot
    Article

    French violin expert Étienne Vatelot dies aged 87

    2013-07-14T00:00:00Z

    French violin expert and luthier Étienne Vatelot died on 13 July at the age of 87. In a career that spanned almost eight decades, he became a world-renowned expert on stringed instruments and bows, serving as president of the French Association of String Instrument and Bow Makers, ...

  • bow_maker
    Debate

    Embrace the difference

    2013-06-30T00:00:00Z

    Luthiers often have more experience than players of Baroque instruments and bows. So, says US bow maker David Hawthorne, they should be fearless in producing authentic equipment to enlighten and inform