Roger's blog

I was interested to see in the January issue of The Strad magazine, an article about acoustic resonance treatments used for violin making wood. I haven't had time to read this yet but as soon as get a chance I'm keen to see what it says. I've been using a deep, vacuumed nitric acid treatment for seven years or more, which alters the responsiveness of the wood in very exciting ways, and reduces the weight of the wood by a very small, but telling, percentage.

This question has been asked of me many times as it is something few makers seem to do. For me it came from when all my violins were made on commission as it gives the player an opportunity for slight adjustments, to the neck or the bass bar for example. However, I quickly realised that listening to a player play the unvarnished instrument also tells me much more.

We've had designer Tom Forth create a lovely new brochure for us to showcase our instruments. With the slimmest of briefs he has produced something really very attractive - we think! We've had in mind to do a brochure for years, having been asked for promotional literature on many occasions we've now finally got something to give prospective clients - feels good! Just email if you'd like us to send you one.  

We were delighted to see the article about mechanically geared pegs (titled 'Top Gear') in The Strad Accessories supplement that arrived through the door today. Not least because we recognised the original pegs that we sent to John Charles Herin during the summer on behalf of a client! We supplied the pegs in the 'before' state and John Charles Herin did some remarkable surgery on them to add the mechanism. We have never used geared pegs but look forward to having the opportunity one day.

It's difficult as a violin maker to ever proceed like a scientist because in order to make a meaningful test of a new idea, we have to make a new instrument which takes ages. As a result, experiments into things which may improve sound or responsiveness tend to be made on the fly on real instruments.

I was casually watching the BBC Proms last week when I experienced a sudden jolt of recognition; the cello being played by Gautier Capuçon was a 1701 Mattheo Gofriller which I used to know very well. It was lovely to hear the cello in great voice in the Brahms Double Concerto, played with his brother, the violinist, Renaud Capuçon. My friend Moray Welsh used to own this cello and I made a 'warts and all' copy for him many years ago and got to know every quirk and detail and the superb shattering bass.

What a day! You would think perhaps, looking at the website, that nothing ever goes wrong, but yesterday I made some big changes on the computer and promptly forgot to keep it! So we did it all again, and forgot (albeit in a different way) once more. I was fed up with it by now, so Liane has done it all over again and it is safely in the bowels of the computer at last. Phew!

Yesterday we met the superb Violinist, Alexander Markov, at a Masterclass as part of the Swaledale Festival (he is freshly in from New York just for this). We were amazed by Caroline Heard, one of the students taking part; she had her 14th birthday yesterday and played a challenging Serasate piece making a big impression on everyone; this could be a name to watch.

If you're reading this then the new site is live. Still got to get the ordering pages perfect but we're nearly there. There's so much going on day to day in the workshop that keeping up to date on here will be a challenge.