Violin Crafting

Just as learning to play a musical instrument is a disciplined art, so is crafting a musical instrument! Violin crafting is a delicate and meticulous process and each violin is different than the next, as a violin is a personal expression of its creator.

Violin crafting has a rich, Italian tradition.

The earliest violin emerged in 1500’s Italy and was a combination of three other instruments popular at the time. Andrea Amati is credited as the first violin builder, or “luthier”; the Medici family granted him the task of constructing an instrument as well made as a lute, but to be played by street musicians. Amati’s invention charmed not only street performers, but the nobility too. King Charles IX of France ordered Amati to construct an entire orchestra in the late 1500’s. The “Charles IX” is the oldest surviving violin known to exist; it was built almost 450 years ago.

Other famous violin makers followed, like the Guarneri family, Antonio Stradiveri and Jacob Stainer. The three-hundred-year-old violins built by these craftspeople are still sought after by collectors and performers alike! Stradiveri’s “Salabue,” built in 1716, sits in Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum and not one of its notes has ever been played.

Zeta strados violin