“I took delivery of a violin from Anne a year ago. I had searched the Internet looking at different violin makers. All the makers I researched seemed to make violins, then sell them to people. One buys what is available at the time. They seemed so tied to building on the "mold" method that there was very little difference from one instrument to another.

“Anne is different, and each violin she creates is unique. She loves to have the client involved from the start of the process. One is welcome to be as involved in the process as possible.

“We started with Anne asking me basic questions such as the size of my hands, how I would like my violin to sound and how I would enjoy the instrument's appearance. As Anne loves to explain, "you are creating a violin that will be played for hundreds of years. So, what you like to leave to the world?" I chose the wood for the back and sides from a selection of three choices. Anne discussed the belly wood and selected an excellent piece of spruce.

“Anne supplied me pictures of each stage of the carving and building. It was like watching a family member come to life. Part of the unique process is that Anne likes to design a personal picture inside that in some way reflects her client. In many ways, the violin takes on a persona from this point. So, I encourage you to take advantage of this unique violin maker and her process of creating a specific work of art for you. She welcomes your input in the process and you will be rewarded with something personal and irreplaceable that you will cherish for the rest of your life.”

--Randal Walker

My Way: Violin Construction From Start to Finish

PART II: OUT OF THE WOODS AND INTO THE SHOP

The questions all of us face who are struggling to create something that will last beyond ourselves giving real pleasure and adding to the collective treasure chest of future generations rather than swelling the communal dump are those questions involving aesthetics: questions concerning beauty and why one thing of a class is beautiful and another is not, why certain sounds are pleasing and others offensive.Violinmaking is a special art - one that is visual as well as aural, tactile and even sniffable thus appealing to almost all our senses.

The inherent visual beauty of the violin design with its combination of the practical and the graceful has intrigued for hundreds of years. And of course the sound, the illusive sound. What is it? Described and danced around but never defined. The feel? Violinists love the feel of their instruments, and they can tell one from another in total darkness without ever producing a single note. The wonderful smells of a violin begin with the varnish and wood until the built up odors of the centuries collect inside and emmanate from the ff holes along with the sound.

What concoctions of tangible stimulants to our senses really make a beautiful violin? These are the questions I have been asking myself since I was in the seventh grade and in the process of revarnishing my school cello with Sherwin-Williams orange fence stain, convinced that I was playing god.

Follow me into my shop; glimpse my approach from the bits and pieces I have collected below.

Slab cut maple

Quarter cut maple

Wood from the coniferous forest used for the top is always quarter cut. This is a piece of Englemann spruce cut in 1982. Note the dark growth lines of winter compared to the light wood in between which is summer wood.

The quarter cut piece is sawn lengthwise.

And the two haves are glued together.

The outline of the violin is sawn out of the wood for both top and back plates. In the days before machinery, the outline was sawn out by hand. Now makers use a bandsaw.

The band saw can make the task of sawing out the back or top of an instrument complete in minutes instead of hours.

Notice the bubbly look of maple. This wood is from the leaning hollow tree that Victor Gardener, Karla Shapreau and I cut in 1982. A top and back are cut out. Ribs are also sliced. Now all the preliminary stages needed just to obtain "parts" to begin the manufacture of the body of an instrument are complete.

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