Author: craigdanner
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Zen
Completed May 2022 It was an arbitrary decision to mark my twenty-sixth violin as the end of my violin-making apprenticeship. It could have been my sixth, or my sixtieth. The difference in quality between “Abomination” and “Biden” is significant, I feel, but after that the improvements in my craftsmanship have been more incremental and will…
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Yikes!
Completed April 2022 Just before finishing this violin, I heard from a friend that her husband was on hospice due to end-stage cancer. Thinking about our relatively short human life spans and how there are 300-year-old violins still being played on a daily basis, I thought Rick might find some satisfaction in giving a moniker…
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Willis
Completed February 22, 1985 This violin is out of chronological order, as it is actually the very first violin I ever made. Back in 1985 I attended the Gault School for the Making and Appreciation of the Bowed Stringed Instruments in Washington, D.C. The school had one instructor, Willis Gault, who was a self-taught master…
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Viola
Completed March 2022 It is traditional for violin players to disrespect violists as the players of second-rate instruments. I thought this name might confuse the issue a little. Serendipitously, of all my violins, this one has the richest, most viola-like tone. It’s one of my favorites.
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Uh-Oh
Completed February 2022 One day I was struck with the notion that I could improve on a widely adhered-to violin construction method perfected over 300+ years. Silly me! My idea was to replace the thick spruce linings inside the instrument box with thin linings made from the waste parts of the maple ribs. Once I…
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Tonga
Completed January 2022 This violin was made and coincidentally named just before the South Pacific island nation was battered by a deadly tidal wave last winter. I lived in Tonga for six months after dropping out of college for a time. I met a rather rambunctious Scottish man there who would drag any fool (i.e.,…