All Lutherie articles
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Premium ❘ FeatureMaking Matters: Making instruments with tulipwood
A case of mistaken identity left luthier Sibylle Ruppert with a batch of untested tulipwood – but a few experiments showed its high potential for instrument making
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FocusA queen and a goddess: Arabella Steinbacher on her violins
Our April 2025 issue cover artist discusses her bow and instruments
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Premium ❘ FeatureFranz Geissenhof: the Viennese Stradivari
Franz Geissenhof’s instruments have always been highly regarded, but how far was he influenced by his Cremonese predecessor? Rudolf Hopfner compares a typical Geissenhof violin with Stradivari’s work to find out
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Premium ❘ FeatureViolin maker Antonio Bagatella: First among equals
Despite few of his violins surviving today, Antonio Bagatella is important in violin history for writing one of the first treatises on instrument design. Christian Pabst examines his work and shows how his methods stand up to scrutiny
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Varnish retouch
A method for layering pigments and shellac to reproduce the exact colour and thickness of an instrument’s varnish
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Premium ❘ FeatureMaking Matters: Using various technologies for restoration
Luthier Giovanni Lazzaro recalls the extensive restoration of an 1876 cello by Raffaele Fiorini which required the use of a number of different technologies
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NewsRecord breaker: ‘Baron Knoop’ Stradivari violin sells for $23 million
The price for the 1715 instrument, crafted in Stradivari’s ‘golden period’, is the highest for any violin in history
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NewsViolins to honour war poets at Wilfred Owen Festival
The instruments, dedicated to Owen, Siegfried Sassoon and Robert Graves, will be donated to the town of Oswestry at the festival’s opening on 15 March
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NewsStolen: 1900 violin by Eugenio Praga
The instrument was taken from a train carriage in northern Italy on Thursday 5 March
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Premium ❘ FeatureIn Focus: An 1893 violin by Alexander Smillie
David Rattray presents a late 19th-century violin by the Scottish maker
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Premium ❘ FeatureMy Space: Camille Dolibeau’s Amsterdam workshop
The maker presents her workshop in the bustling capital
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Premium ❘ FeatureBow maker James Tubbs: London Calling
The British bow maker James Tubbs was born 190 years ago this month. John Basford looks back at his life, work and legacy to the bow making community
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Premium ❘ FeatureMaking Matters: ‘Cryo-treatment’ of violin wood
What effect would subjecting spruce and maple to ultra-low temperatures have on their sound quality? Oliver Radke presents the results of an informal study into the ‘cryo-treatment’ of violin wood
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: The ‘Doratura Cremonese’ ground method
How to make and apply a ground coat with a deep golden yellow colour
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Premium ❘ FeatureDance of the swans: the bows of Charles Nicolas Bazin
The Tourte-model bows by Charles Nicolas Bazin represent the pinnacle of elegance and refinement in the history of French bow making. To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the swan-head model, Richard Morency examines some of the finest examples
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Premium ❘ FeatureMy Space: Russell Stowe’s Woodbridge workshop
The maker presents his Suffolk atelier
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Premium ❘ FeatureIn Focus: 1877 double bass by Gand & Bernardel
René Zaal examines the Parisian violin making house’s 19th-century bass
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Premium ❘ Feature‘Master of the violin, artist of the soul’: Władysław Baczyński
Władysław Baczyński overcame a life of tragedy to become one of Poland’s most highly regarded 20th-century violin makers. Grzegorz Kaproń tells his story
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NewsObituary: British violin maker Peter Voigt
The Sussex-based luthier enjoyed a 67-year career restoring stringed instruments and was also a keen amateur motor racer
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Focus‘An artist’s eye and an intuitive gift for communication’: tributes to violin maker George Stoppani
Colleagues Sam Zygmuntowicz, Colin Gough and Jim Woodhouse share their memories of the well-regarded British luthier and acoustician, who died on 25 December 2024
