Restoration & repair

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.