CLASSIC STRINGED INSTRUMENTS OF YESTERDAY AND TODAY

During the period between 1550-1750, the arts flourished in Europe. In Northern Italy, particularly in the city of Cremona, a group of violin making families with names you'll recognize—Amati, Guarneri and Stradivari produced stringed instruments which over time have been considered the greatest from both a tonal and aesthetic point of view. For a long time, there has been speculation that these makers were in possession of a "secret" which enabled them to produce superior instruments to makers elsewhere. I think that the explanation of a single secret is too simplistic an explanation to account for the masterpieces which were produced during this time in Cremona. Perhaps a better explanation is that these makers were geniuses, who perfected their craft in an environment which fostered the arts. It must have been an exciting time to live and work in!

Today, we live in an equally exciting time! Technology has grown at an exponential pace and we have access to greater communication and information than ever before. While science may help to unravel much of the mysterious greatness of classic Italian violins, I feel that a greater understanding comes from a thorough and systematic study of the masterpieces themselves. Since I began my career as a violinmaker and restorer, I've worked on, studied and documented as many classic Italian stringed instruments as possible in order to produce a modern instrument with similar tonal and aesthetic characteristics to the great Cremonese instruments. In short, my goal is to make stringed instruments worthy of the title: Modern Classics.