The Frenchman François Tourte (1748–1835) is for bow makers what Stradivarius is for violin makers. He laid down the standard for the modern bow and was the first to use Pernambuco wood, which give
Contrada Musica is a company with ambition. Craftsmanship and personal attention characterize our daily actions. This applies both when building new violins and cellos and in the repair and restoratio
JOHANNES JACOBS
“Violinmaking in all its aspects is a pleasure to do”
There is a constant current of ideas between my customers and me which evolve my making and design.
In my view a beaut
MAKIISHIZUKA
Serge was fascinated by violinmaking at a very young age. So in 1965, after high school, he leaves for the prestigious Mittenwald school of violinmaking. He graduates after 4 years. There
Bartolomé Straatemeier, born in 1956, was trained by Patricia Naismith at the Department of Musical Instrument Technology of the London College of Furniture, at present a part of the London Guildhall
KEES VAN HEMERT BOWS
Kees van Hemert received initial training at the workshop of Matthijs de Jong and worked in the position of bowmaker for the internationally recognised firm of Bouman’s, before
Jaap Bolink, born in Enschede on 7 February 1946, is the son of artist-violin maker Jan Hendrik Bolink. He made his first violin when he was thirteen. From 1963 until 1967 he followed a violin making
ULRIKE WIEBEL VIOOLBOUW
My studio is located in the Thieleman and Dros complex in the city of Leiden. Here I work as an independent violin maker since 1994. We are mainly engaged in the craft of violi
Our collection includes a varied selection of old and new German, Czech, French and Hungarian instruments and a variety of hand-crafted new instruments selected Eastern European or Asian workshops. Vi
RENEZAAL
From 1978 to 1981 René Zaal(Wageningen, 18 september 1956) followed a violinmaking course at the Newark School of Violinmaking in England. He then worked for 2 years with violinmaker Loerakk
Michael Yeats was born in Portland, Oregon in 1950. He began music lessons at an early age but switched from player to instrument maker in 1975. He started his building career as a Baroque and Renaiss
For more than twenty years I have been making historical bows in my atelier situated in the heart of Amsterdam, my hometown. I began playing the violin at the age of 12, and later went on to study vio
