The Gustav August Ficker instruments were made for William Lewis & Sons of Chicago, one of the largest and most important violin shops in the U.S. They opened in the 1890’s and continued for almost a century. The Ficker violins, violas and cellos were always of the highest quality and always in demand.
Maurizio Tadioli started his training as a violin maker as a child with his grandfather Carlo Pizzamiglio. He graduated from the Cremona School of Violin Making with highest honors in 1985. Since then he has become one of the most important and respected makers in Italy. The long list of awards and honors he has won at international competitions is most impressive.
Vittoria Formaggia’s family has been working in the field of musical instruments for three generations. Vittorio graduated from the Cremona school of violin making in 1978 having worked with Giorgio Scolari and Morassi. He has had his own workshop in Crema ever since and has won several awards at competitions.
Andrea Castagneri was born in Turin in 1696, but moved to Paris in 1720 becoming very successful as both a maker and dealer. In spite of the fact that he spent almost all of his career in France his instruments maintained many Italian characteristics.
Herbert Chanon was born in Macon, France and studied violin performance at the Lyon Conservatory. He then trained as a violin maker with J.F.Schmidt in Lyon, but his real interest was bow making so he traveled to New York to work with Bill Salchow. He set up his workshop in Sherbrooke, Quebec in 1978. His bows are used by musicians all over the world. He won a number of awards at competitions including the Violin Society of America.
Trained originally as a violinist, Frosali established as a violinmaker in Florence in 1932 having studied with Giuseppe Scarampella. Emigrating to America, he worked first in New York where he worked for Emil Herrmann. While there he worked alongside Simone Sacconi. He moved to Los Angeles in 1939 working at Wurlitzer in their violin department, establishing his own shop in 1954. In 1949 he was the only American maker to win an award at a major competition in the Hague. He was enormously successful and his instruments were (and still are) in great demand both in the Los Angeles area as well as here in the Bay Area.
Carlos was born in Honduras and came to the U.S. as a child. He made his first stringed instruments in high school on his own. Excited by his early success he went to Cremona, Italy to study violin making at the renowned International violin making school, graduating in 1983. He stayed in Italy as a violin maker before returning to this country over thirty years ago. Even after all these years, his instruments show the finest qualities of the Italian violin makers who influenced him.
This fine violin is an excellent example of the Collin-Mezin "Le Victorieux" model made under the direction of Charles Collin-Mezin.
Over the years we have been proud to have sold a number of violins and cellos by the gifted young maker Marcello Bellei. Born in 1976, he was trained by maker by Renato Scrollavezza at the violin making school in Parma where a number to today's best makers are trained. Since then he has won a number of awards for his fine instruments.
In the late 19th. And early twentieth centuries, there were a number of excellent workshops in Mirecourt. This violin probably dates from the early twentieth century.
Max Willibald Schmidt was born and trained in Markneukirchen but came to America in 1913 during the great migration. He established his shop in San Francisco where he worked for a number of years before moving to Seattle.
P.A.Peterson worked in Chicago from 1875-1907. Although we don’t know a great deal about this maker, it is clear from our violin that he was a well trained and skillful craftsman.
For many years, C.G.Stewart was a cellist in the Los Angeles Philharmonic. As a maker, he naturally specialized in cellos, working into the late 1930's. This interesting cello has a charming warm sound and would be an especially good choice for chamber music.
Samuel Nemessányi is generally considered to be the finest of all Hungarian violin makers. He trained with J.B.Schweitzer and T.Zach then worked in Prague before returning to Budapest in 1863. His violins were highly regarded in his own time. He primarily made reproductions of the work of Stradivari and Guarneri del Gesu which were so skillfully done that they were often re-labeled and sold as fine old Italian instruments. This violin is an excellent example of this master's work with a wonderful sound that has all the best tonal qualities a violinist could possibly want. This fine violin, a Guarneri copy, is featured in the important book on Hungarian makers by Peter Benedek with numerous photographs and a detailed description.
Klaus Grünke is perhaps the most important and respected bow maker in Germany and all over the world. He began his training with his father Richard, then spent 1980-82 in Los Angeles working with Hans Weisshaar. We are always delighted to offer his fine bows.
The Pierre Marcel instruments are made in Belgium of fine European tonewood. These violins offer superb craftsmanship and fine tonal qualities at an excellent price
This fine old violin is beautifully made with attractively shaded varnish.
This is an exceptionally nice old French violin with superb tonal qualities.
This fine old Mirecourt violin is from the Laberte workshop.
Although we can't say for sure who made this fine violin, the sound is superb, suitable for a professional violinist.