During and after completion of my basic training (apprenticeship and graduation from violin making school) I tried very hard to build copies of instruments as close to the originals as possible. I no longer do this and have many reasons for this change. The first and very obvious to anyone who has studied antique instruments to any degree is that what we study now has in many ways changed from what was built by the masters. Arches have been deformed by years of constant pressure and stress, poorly executed repair work has pushes and pulled the original lines to less grace than at origin; the reasons can go on for quite a while. Whilst I still feel that it is very important to study the great instruments it is also very important to assess alterations to original intent and compensate for them. To build a new instrument with arching that is intentionally deformed so as to simulate the aging process does not make much sense to me. Nor does it provide for the long term health that I wish my instruments to have.

For the past 14 years I have offered one model of violin; one that is influenced by the work of Guarneri del Gesu during what is considered to be his "middle" period i.e. 1742 or thereabouts. By "influenced" I am referring to the principal body dimensions. After extensive study of several Guarneri del Gesu violins from 1735. I will now offer a model based on this period. The primary differences between the two are that the body is slightly smaller, by approximately 2 millimeters, and the overall string length is commensurately shorter on the earlier period model. Sound qualities are very similar, producing a rich lower end and expansive upper register.

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