About Me
For those of you who don’t know me, an introduction:
My training has been mostly informal, as I did not begin lutherie until I was in my mid-forties, and could not afford to
drop everything and run off to school, as I had a family, a job, and a home to maintain. Therefore, much of my training
came from books, initially:
• Henry Strobel’s books (all of them) were very helpful, and Mr. Strobel was helpful personally, as well, as he
lives only two hours away, and I pestered him with telephone calls as well as personal visits.
• The Johnson-Courtnall book The Art of Violin Making was helpful, in conjunction with the Strad posters.
• Ray Doerr’s Violin Maker’s Handbook was a good information source.
• The Weisshaar-Shipman book Violin Restoration has been helpful, but I did not get that until much later.
As I first began, reading Henry Strobel’s books, his statement that “…the best way to learn is to get a job in a violin-
repair shop…” only frustrated me, because I thought “Who would hire me, with zero experience?” So I bought 70
broken and neglected instruments on eBay, including some factory seconds, as well as about 60 bows, and practiced
repairing them. My wife was patient and supportive, as the clutter of instruments piled up, but the pile gradually got
smaller, as I repaired and sold them for very low prices, counting the expenses and time as tuition and schooling.
Occasionally, I was asked to do repairs for other people, resurrecting old (cheap) family fiddles, to their delight. I
would really rather just make new instruments, now, but repair is part of lutherie, as well, and I welcome the chance to
make an instrument sing again.
A violin-maker friend, Jake Jelley, was a major source of kind encouragement, and he gave me many tools and
materials as well. His generosity and friendly encouragement are probably a key reason I kept working at learning this
craft. Another such friend was Sam Compton, now deceased. After building my first instrument, I attended (at Jake’s
urging):
• Six weeks of Ed Campbell’s workshops in Tucson, AZ
• Eight weekends with Michael Klein in Murphy, OR
• Two weeks of Michael Darnton’s workshops in Claremont, CA
• One week at Oberlin set-up workshop, in Oberlin, OH
• One week at Lynn Hannings’ bow repair workshop in Eureka, CA
• One week at Paul Schuback’s set-up workshop, in Eureka, CA
• Around 40 hours, piecemeal, over a period of two years, receiving personal coaching from Paul Schuback in his
shop, in Portland, OR.
This last was the most valuable of all, as it afforded the opportunity to be corrected as needed (much needed), rather
than getting a brief exposure to a concept, then applying it as best I could for an extended period, only to discover
much later that I had not understood it at all. The hardest thing for me was to learn to see. I am still trying to learn this.
Paul has been a long-suffering mentor, in this regard.
When I first decided to build a bass, I had no one to whom to turn for help, as few luthiers want to build basses. I
found three books: one by Harry Wake “To Build a Double Bass”, but it was not as much help as I needed. Then I
found “So You Want to Make a Double Bass” by Peter Chandler. That gave me the confidence to begin, and, partway
through the project I found Chuck Traeger’s book, “Setup and Repair of the Double Bass for Optimum Sound” That
book had a wealth of information on repair and setup that helped greatly. I received further encouragement and help
from the bass luthiers on “Talkbass”, David Wiebe and Bob Branstetter in particular.
Paul was encouraging, as well, but he simply does not build basses, nor does he intend to do so. They are bulky, time-
consuming, expensive to build, and do not pay as well as violins. I like them anyway.
My goal is to continue to improve my making skills, and to eventually specialize in violas and basses, though I will
certainly make occasional violins and celli, I hope.