Handmade Violins by Emerging Makers

Step into the world of truly handmade violins with these affordable instruments. 

-Get the response of a handmade instrument-
-Watch your investment increase in value-
-Support contemporary violin makers-

Cedar Stanistreet graduated from the North Bennet Street school in Boston in 2012. He then worked for Johnson Strings in Boston, before moving to Western Massachusetts where he now works at Stamell Stringed Instruments. He makes Stradivari copies using traditional techniques. He is also a fiddle player with the band Nor’easter as well as other groups, and he tours extensively.  $5,500

Matt Stamell trained at the Boston University Program in Artisanry with Don Warnock. He then attended the violin repair workshops at University of New Hampshire with Hans Nebel, before opening Stamell Stringed Instruments in 1989. Matt makes copies of golden period Stradivari violins.  $5,500

Frank Lee, a Taiwan-born and USA-trained maker currently makes his instruments in Shanghai. He has continued to improve the materials, workmanship, and tonal characteristics of his violins through a progression of models sold exclusively in the USA. His passion has been acoustics and until recently, almost all of his efforts have been made in plate tuning through both traditional tap tones and electronic means. He has recently begun a new model, yet unnamed, to introduce more sophisticated plate matching (acoustically matching tops to backs) and a beautiful subtle antique varnish.  $6,500

Ronald Annis and Kathleen Nicolai work under the business name of Ronald Annis & Kathleen Nicolai, Luthiers.  Kathy, a theater graduate from the University of South Florida, decided soon after graduation to study violin making in Cremona, Italy, where she studied for three years. Upon returning to the US, she apprenticed with William Walls, a violin maker in Tampa, FL, while setting up shop in Sarasota.  Ron was a practicing architect. A graduate of the University of Florida, he had practiced architecture for a short time in Miami and then for years in Sarasota. Although working for the preeminent architecture firm in Sarasota, he found the work to be less than fulfilling. Kathy convinced Ron to join her at the school in Cremona in her second year. He was able to stay and study for a year and a half.
In 1977, they set up shop in their home and have been devoted to instrument making ever since.  $8,500

Robert McCluskie is an established professional luthier.  He has been crafting instruments by hand in Mongomery County, Maryland since 1985 and has made over 350 violins and violas, many of which are owned by professional musicians. 
He has played violin since the early age of 6, beginning with Suzuki method. He later studied with Samuel Applebaum and today plays Appalachian String Band Music as well as old time music with his wife, Carolee. His love of stringed instruments inspired him to learn the art of crafting them. He received formal training at the North Bennett Street School, in Boston, Massachusetts with master violin maker Raymond Melanson.  $9,000
 
Rodney Miller began his career in violin making in 1972 as an apprentice to Jacob Doriath in the small town of Oblarn, Austria. He continued his training in the U.S. as student of Karl Roy, director of the Mittenwald, Germany school of violin making, at the University of New Hampshire Summer Violin Making Institute. Rodney has also trained with physicist Carleen Hutchins, a pioneer of violin acoustical theories, and he has participated in the advanced violin makers workshops at Oberlin College.  $12,000
 
Jonathan Vacanti has been a professional luthier, building and restoring fine instruments since 1995.  As a restorer for Stamell Stringed Instruments for eight years, many of the finest instruments have passed through his hands for repair or restoration. Jonathan now makes artistic copies of great Italian instruments.  $12,000
 
Robert Beacham lives in Farmington, Maine where he has been making violin family instruments since the 1980s. He learned from Marten Cornelissen, and makes primarily Stradivari style instruments. He makes violins, violas and cellos.  $12,000

Geoff Ovington began making instruments in 1973 under the guidance of James Coggin. He then worked with dealers in Manhattan, gaining exposure to fine Italian, French, and English instruments. His instruments are played in many major orchestras around the world. He makes violins, violas, and cellos in his workshop in New York State.  $14,000

Todd Goldenberg trained in the violin shop of Bien and Fushi in Chicago, Illinois.  From there Todd went to Shar Products of Ann Arbor, Michigan, for over nine years making and repairing orchestral stringed instruments.  In 1988 Todd moved to North Berwick, Maine and had a studio in the Button Factory in Portsmouth, NH. In addition to making instruments in his workshop, he taught violinmaking at the North Bennett Street School for two years in Boston, MA.  In the spring of 1999, Todd moved his workshop to Waltham, MA where he shared  space in cooperation with several outstanding instrument makers.  Finally in early 2001, Todd finished construction of his studio next to his home in North Berwick, Maine and has found the "perfect setting" for instrument making.  Todd is currently serving on the board of the Violin Society of America.  $16,000
 

 
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