Restoration & repair

Restoration & repair

Drawing of violin on workbench

Half of my workshop time is devoted to restoration, repair and adjustment of instruments. While some are complex and long term projects undertaken for various institutions and collections, I also work for individual owners and players. I am able to undertake ‘baroque’ conversions on all instruments, which can be tailored to any particular style or period specified.

Restoration is a vital way of learning about the methods and designs of the old masters, and the work I have carried out on master instruments has fed directly into my own making of new instruments.

Past work includes: the ‘Archinto’ Stradivari viola and the Francesco Rugeri cello belonging to the Royal Academy of Music, London; a fine Joseph ‘filius Andreae’ Guarneri for the Budapest Conservatoire; the ‘Rode’ inlaid Stradivari violin; and most recently, the ‘ex-Fenyves’ Stradivari violin for Tamsin Waley-Cohen.