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Dean Chandler spent time in the early 1990s in his grandfather’s, Ian Sweetman’s workshop, learning the family craft of violin making. This striking viola, the second of his output, is modelled after Guarneri del Gesu. Despite its relatively small body size, at 15 ½ inches, it has an impressiv...

With its deep ribs and full arching, this small viola, inspired by a 1715 violin on Antonio Stradavari, has a surprisingly full resonant tone, with a bell-like clarity on the upper strings. The neck is slightly long in relation to the body stop length allowing easy access to the upper registers for...

Jay Haide instruments continue to impress us, particularly for the tonal qualities and playability offered by their “L’ancienne" range. This example, modelled after the work of Paolo Maggini, one of the earliest viola makers, captures both the style and the tone colours of this famous Brescian L...

The JonPaul bow workshops in Utah, USA, are famous for their pioneering carbonfibre bows. Recently, they have extended their range to include bows made for them by other workshops. While most of these new additions are less expensive carbonfibre student bows, they have also diversified into traditio...

Eric Grandchamp is widely recognised as one of the world’s great contemporary bow makers. At the age of 15, having already developed a fascination with bow making, he enrolled in the bow making school in Mirecourt, where he trained under renowned French archetier Bernard Ourchard. Further training...

A prolific maker with an excellent eye and a steady hand, Malcolm Collins was actively making violins, violas and cellos up to his death in early 2025, at the age of 86. Like several other contemporary New Zealand luthiers, he received his initial training from seminal Hamilton maker, the late Ian S...

In 1992, Jay Ifshin and his workshop foreman Haide Lin decided to combine names and violin-making talents and develop their own “Jay Haide" instruments, after being frustrated in their search for good-quality student violins, violas, and cellos. After years of research and development, their exper...

Malcolm Collins was one of New Zealand’s most skilled and prolific makers, continually surprising us with newly-made instruments such as this handsome 2023 cello made while in his 80s. Trained by seminal Hamilton maker, Ian Sweetman, Malcolm adopted a Montagnana model for his cellos to produce an ...

Modelled after Antonio Stradavari, this late nineteenth cello was probably made in northeastern Germany but in the French Mirecourt style. A full length back and string length give the tone depth, richness and resonance while slightly narrower bout widths make this instrument more playable than many...

Born in Erlangen, Bavaria, Thomas Stöhr trained under Gunter Lobe before passing his master’s examination with distinction, a year before this cello was made. He subsequently won a number of prizes and awards for his personal instruments. This instrument is a workshop cello made under his supervi...

Florian Schaeffer, one of Brazil’s best bow makers, founded his bow making workshop in the city of Aracruz on the coast north of Roi de Janiero, producing professional and student bows for the international market.This beautifully crafted cello bow is made with highly-selected pernambuco, with lar...

Hubert Chanon was born in Mcon, France and received his first training as a luthier under renowned violin maker Jean-Frédéric Schmitt in Lyon, before learning bow making in the workshop of acclaimed US archetier William Salchow. Chanon established his own workshop in Canada in 1978, and has sold o...

Archet is a Japanese bow making workshop which produces fine violin, viola, cello, and double bass bows, in the French bow making tradition, and modelled on master makers Tourte, Peccatte, and Sartory, of which this "Sonore" cello bow is a fine example.The octagonal stock is made from well-selected ...

JonPaul Bows, based in Salt Lake City, with a good supply of 30-50 year old, ethically-sourced pernambuco wood, they have recently launched into the upper end of the handmade wooden bow market with bows produced by their own team of highly-skilled archetiers (they have been leading makers of high-en...

JonPaul Bows, based in Salt Lake City, with a good supply of 30-50 year old, ethically-sourced pernambuco wood, they have recently launched into the upper end of the handmade wooden bow market with bows produced by their own team of highly-skilled archetiers (they have been leading makers of high-en...

This attractive cello bow made in the French "Peccatte" tradition was handmade in China for the advanced student market. The bow is very well balanced, and sits steadily on the string, with good articulation and spiccato, and drawing a warm, characterful sound.

Nineteenth century French bowmakers were all very aware of their illustrious predecessors, Francois Xavier Tourte in particular. Occasionally an interesting nod is made to an earlier more experimental time with the production of bows like this one, with tis elegant, more sloping “swan" shaped head...

Paul Beuscher founded the Parisian music shop bearing his name in 1850, accessing violins and bows from a wide range of makers, some famous and some not, in the violin making town of Mirecourt, in the Vosges. This attractive, silver-mounted example, stamped “J. P. Beuscher", was probably made in t...

Old European bows like this, with stamps so worn they can hardly be read, can intrigue us for hours if not days. What we can say is that this bow was made with a well-selected, strong piece of pernambuco, that the head was carved in style, and that the bow produces a crisp, vibrant sound with very g...

Herman Richard Pfretzschner working for Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume before forming his own renowned workshop in 1880, with his understanding of French bow making having a profound influence over German bow making ever since. After his retirement, he handed the business over to his sons and the H. R. PFR...

German violin bows by makers from the Nurnberger and Pfretzschner families, are now being recognized and valued for their proper worth. This unstamped but well-crafted, silver-mounted bow, has very good playing characteristics including an excellent ricochet and a steady legato without bringing a la...

W.E. Hill and Sons made four grades of bows that we commonly see in New Zealand. While those stamped “Hill" are technically their lowest #4 grade, they are often as good as or better than higher grade bows from a player’s perspective. This bow, made by Edgar Bishop in the earl-mid twentieth cent...

Scott Cao’s Guangzhou-made factory instruments are fully hand-carved under the supervision of Cao’s own students. The SCV35 series instruments are made with selected spruce and well-flamed maple, fitted with Indian ebony pegs and fingerboard, and finished with a honey-brown varnish. This attract...

The quality of the better Chinese student instruments, in both workmanship and tone, has improved enormously over the ‘last two decades or so with strong input from both foreign violin makers and Chinese luthiers who have been trained in Europe and the USA. This appealing ½-sized violin, with its...