My copy of  the book 'The best of trade secrets'  arrived recently. It's a collection of articles from the 'Trade Secret' section of the British monthly magazine - 'the Strad'. The topics cover a broad range of violin making techniques and some restoration methods. An...

On a recent trip  I visited the National Music Museum in South Dakota to study and measure the 1693 Stradivari. Over the winter I'll be making a copy of  this violin for a client. To copy an instrument I begin by taking as much information from the instrument as...

I've been reading a new book on Australian violin making that came out recently. It covers the violin and bow makers in Australia from the 19th Century to the present day. In the introduction, Michael Lea from the 'Powerhouse Museum' in Sydney, does a wonderful job...

The Canadian Viola Society celebrate their 30 year anniversary at the Université de Montréal on October 10th and 11th. As part of the event we shall have instruments and bows on display and for musicians to try. All instruments and bows will be available to take out...

This is one of the rooms in the new workshop. These workbenches are used for making instruments. I have another room for restoration work further down the hall. By the entrance I have an office with my library and space to try instruments. At the moment I'm making...

. . . . . . . . . The violin above was recently donated to the University of Ottawa, Music Facutly. It is labeled Elophen Poirson, Lyon and dated 1910. Along with the violin, 4 bows made by the late Ottawa luthier, Joseph Kun were given as well. The violin hadn't been...