Violins Made In Canada are created by experienced artists who build their stringed instruments by hand. If you know of any others please forward the information so I can add them to the site.
Violins Made In Canada
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| Just one of our innovations involves the double bass. A huge, generously proportioned instrument measuring over 1.9 metres, the double bass is difficult to transport, making it very costly for classical, jazz and popular musicians who must pay considerable over-baggage charges to travel by airplane to overseas concerts, as well as increasing the risk of damage. That’s why since 1995 Lamarre, who is constantly looking for new ways to meet his clients’ needs, has been making a semi-acoustic “Lamario” bass with a removable neck, a relatively small instrument that is much easier to transport. Part of the violins made in Canada directory. Products:
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| It’s now almost 30 years since that first cittern (which I still play and record with) but I still get excited about every instrument that I design and build at Vector Instruments. I consider it a blessing to spend my days in a cloud of… Part of the violins made in Canada directory. Products:
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| Jules Saint-Michel knows the violin. At 78, he plays it every day and continues to make it. His workshop-boutique, member of the Economuseum network, is a place of discovery and exchange. While the luthiers work in the open workshop, musicians come to buy strings or instruments. Others entrust their violin, cello or contrabass to the luthier for repair. Still others come to restore an old instrument they sometimes inherited. From the sketch on paper to the glowing violin, all the stages of the fabrication are clearly explained. The luthier chooses carefully the wood, cuts and prepares each of the 70 pieces which are then glued. The varnishing, polishing, editing and setting stages must be completed before the violin can sing. “It takes at least 125 hours of work for a violin,” says Jules Saint-Michel, whose fame is international. In addition to making hundreds of violins and violas, Mr. Saint-Michel has also collected rare instruments. Among those exhibited are a ravanastron, an Arab rebab, a rebec, a viol of the Middle Ages, a porcelain violin and Monsieur Pointu’s violin. You can also see the instruments used in the movie The Red Violin. A very interesting showcase is devoted to Quebec luthiers, including Antoine Robichaud and Augustin Lavallée (father of Calixa Lavallée, author of the national anthem of Canada). Part of the violins made in Canada directory. Products:
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| Langdon Strings is the smallest Luthier shop in Southern Alberta. Making, restoration, and maintenance for violin family instruments. A short pleasant drive south of Calgary to the Town Okotoks. Tyler Langdon operates a small luthier business, specializing violin, viola, cello and double bass construction and care. Customers come from all over western North America for repairs, maintenance and a selection of new and restored instruments, and bows. I first picked up the violin at the age of five, and studied the Suzuki method. It was a terrific introduction to music and fostered a great love and appreciation for music. I’ve been involved with orchestras, bands, and chamber groups since my early teens and currently play the viola in a quartet and civic symphony. My focus has become the creation of new instruments inspired by the great master violin makers, that fill today’s concert halls and fit the requirements of players. Part of the violins made in Canada directory. Products:
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| Otis A Thomas Violins and Guitars – For the last thirty years, I have been working as a violin and guitar maker at my home here in the hills above St. Ann’s Bay on Cape Breton Island in Canada’s Nova Scotia. Although I specialize primarily in violins and secondarily in guitars, I have on occasion also turned my hand to mandolins, harps, and various other stringed instruments. My instruments are all individually crafted, one at a time, with care and respect — based on original designs, but built with an eye to the deep traditions that inform the luthier’s art. Part of the violins made in Canada directory. Products:
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| Zak Stolk Luthier studies in graphic arts at the Niagara Institute of Technology further developed his artistic ability. His need to experiment with his materials eventually led to instrument making. He studied with Peter Mach, a luthier in Aylmer, Quebec. Only select aged tone woods (10 – 60 years old) are used to make the violins, violas, cellos, basses, mandolins and archtop guitars. Each instrument is handcrafted from broadleaf maple and Sitka spruce. Zak uses his intuition and liberally borrows from the techniques used by Stradivari and Guarneri. The varnishes he uses are developed from his own formulas. Part of the violins made in Canada directory. Products:
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| At Gayford Carbon Fiber Violins “Our goal from the beginning was to design and produce a world class sounding carbon fiber violin no matter the cost or time investment required. It must become an instrument of great beauty, following the classic lines of the master luthiers of the golden age of violin making. Using only the best of the best in materials and investing over four years of research and development, we believe we have finally achieved our goals.” Part of the violins made in Canada directory. Products:
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| At Inokuchi and Son Violin master violin maker Masa Inokuchi and his son Miki has been handcrafting violins in Toronto, Canada for 50 years. Instrument making has been a tradition in the Inokuchi family for the past three generations beginning with making of classical guitars in Japan by Masa Inokuchi and his Father-in-law, Motaro Iwashita. Inokuchi instruments are carved not only for their thickness graduation but for their tone graduation as well. Top and bottom plates are tapped with a full set of tuning forks and carefully graduated according to the unique qualities and characteristics inherited in each piece of wood. This process produces the most ideal tonal balance and harmony of each and every instrument. It is Inokuchi’s belief that all of the Old Italian Masters had made their instruments this way. When no computers or even electricity was available to them to carry out a scientific approach to violin making. What seems like a very simple and common-sense technique is in fact, a feat only possible by the most talented and experienced makers. Part of the violins made in Canada directory. Products:
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