About Craig Danner: I made my first violin in February of 1985 at the Gault School for the Professional Making and Appreciation of the Bowed String Instruments in Washington, D.C. I finished my second violin 35 years later in September of 2020. In the intervening years, I received a degree as a Physician Assistant, ran a hospital in the mountains of northern India, spent 12 years as a volunteer firefighter, fire chief and EMT, 13 years as the Hood River County Medical Examiner, 8 years running a solo low-cost medical clinic, 9 years providing medical care to local jail inmates, and wrote and published three literary novels, including the 2001 Pacific Northwest Book Award-winning, “Himalayan Dhaba.”
I completed my 26th violin in May of 2022, and I have enough aged and beautiful tone wood for another 150 more.
I love everything about violin making. From start to finish, building a violin is complex, challenging, and extremely satisfying. If skillfully made and carefully chosen, a violin can become a lifetime partner to the violinist and then be passed on to generations to come.
I think about the vanity of the violin maker whose ideal is to create an instrument that sings like a Strad, will be played for centuries by the world’s most talented virtuosos, and eventually be sold at auction for millions of dollars. My own ambitions are only slightly more modest: to build each of my violins to be beautiful in both tone and appearance and to be owned and appreciated by a talented musician for decades.
About My Violins: Crispin/Hammer violins are all made entirely by me at my workbench in Hood River. I build almost exclusively on two models, the Amati “Alard” from 1649, and the Guarneri “Del Gesu” “Kreisler” from 1734. The “Alard” is a slightly more slender violin in the lower bouts compared to the “Kreisler,” and while every one of my violins has a unique sound and character, both models produce a wonderful tone with a wide range capable of filling a concert hall.
My violins are made from aged spruce and maple, and I have recently acquired a beautiful collection of very well-aged maple backs bought from auction houses in both the US and Europe. Tops are made from well-aged Alaskan Sitka spruce sustainably harvested from salvaged old-growth trees on Prince Of Wales Island. I am also rapidly moving away from the use of ebony for the fingerboard and components, in favor of tonally equivalent and environmentally more friendly alternatives.
About Crispin Hammer: Crispin is the patron saint of shoemakers, and a Crispin hammer is a cobbler’s tool. I use that moniker for my violins as an homage to my father, a third generation boot maker. I grew up doing odd jobs for my father at his shop, and was inspired by his integrity as both a craftsman and a business man. William Danner insisted on making the highest quality boots from the finest materials, shared his profits with his shoemakers, and treated everyone he worked with — shoemakers, suppliers, and customers — with the utmost respect and honesty. I have always strived to be like him.