My instruments

As a cellist myself, I think I understand how important your cello-violin-viola is to you. It allows you to sing your "Lied ohne Worte" to your audience. It must respond to your commands and emotions almost effortlessly and without you breaking its voice.

Instruments have a personality through design and use. You, the player, and I, the maker, both shape that personality. Composers and musicians alike have created the music we want and expect to hear today. Monteverdi, Bach, Boccherini, Paganini, Dvorak, Mahler, Shostakovich - to name but a few - have had a major impact on the expectations of audiences and performers. These expectations also provide requirements and constraints that guide the design of an instrument. My aim is to create instruments that meet your present and future needs.

More than 300 years of stringed instrument evolution have set the stage for today's luthiers. The outline of the instrument, the choice of wood, the arching, the thickness of the back, the varnish, the set-up and much more all have a strong influence on the voice of an instrument and are the parameters we use to design and create instruments

The voice of my instruments is designed to meet the needs of contemporary musicians. My designs reflect my personal preferences, inspired by (old) masters and what I see and hear around me. This influences the curves of the body, the arching, the f-holes, the scroll, the varnish, etc. They are original, not copies of the past. It is like listening to Pau Casals or David Oistrach and appreciating how they play, incorporating some ideas into your own interpretation and developing your own voice that will evolve over time.

For my instruments I use plain, high quality European tonewoods from trees that sometimes began their lives when the old makers were still alive.

I use knife and chisel to carve the arches that determine the quality, colours and infinite depth of sound of my instrument. I use my hands, my fingers, my eyes and my ears to shape the resonance and resistance of the wood to release the hidden colours of sound.