Old Clamps, New Clamps

Pretty much everymorning, Alberto talks about all the things he's going to get with our imaginary money...Hybrid Cars, an electric Scooter, an oven thing he saw once on a paid-programming commercial, etc. He usually convinces me with the things he needs to make violins. Recently, we used up all his birthday and Christmas money my grandmother had been saving for us over the years to buy a luxury item--New Clamps!

The old ones worked but the pressure was not concentrated on the violin itself and caused the glue to seep out everywhere, which meant Alberto had to do a lot of cleaning up of the instrument and repairing where cork clamps pulled at the wood.

The new clamps are fantastic--curved and colour coded to follow the shape of the violin, putting all the pressure exactly where it needs to go.

How to Make a Violin

In The Workshop

Here are some photos that show some of how a violin is made. Undoubtedly, there are specific words for each step in the process. I, however, don't know them and if I asked Alberto he would give them in Spanish.



Alberto first glues wooden blocks into the corners of the frame then cuts them to create the shape of a violin. He will use the frame as a model to which he can shape the sides. He bends the sides (thin long strips of maple) by using a hot, bending iron and glues them to the blocks. He can then knock the frame out without damaging the sides. Then he carves away the blocks to make them smaller supports for the violin.

Here the sides are around the frame. Also, there is the back of the violin. Both the top and back are each made from two pieces of wood.


The top is almost always spruce and the back is made of maple. Ideally the wood should be dried for many, many years (25-50). This means that the wood is more stable and less likely to change its sound.

Alberto first planes the sides so that they will be flush with one another, then he glues them. To keep the two pieces together he wraps them with strips of rubber from old bicycle tires.

Here you can see the back without the old rubber tires as well as the neck and spiral. For the spiral, Alberto uses a paper model marking pin points where he has to carve away. He usually does the spiral first then waits until he is done the violin to carve the neck. Alberto takes a lot of pride in how smooth the neck is and I get to be the judge of that.

Alberto traces another pattern for the violin top and back. He then uses a band saw to cut the outline. He then carves, judging how much almost by instinct, with increasingly small planes. For the top, he cuts the Fs while the wood is still fairly thick. Towards the end of this process he uses a caliper to make sure the various areas along the top and back are the correct width--sometimes as thin as 2.5 millimetres. He also taps the wood with his finger and listens...I don't know exactly what he hears.

Before carving out the inside of the top or back, and once the outside is almost done, Alberto does the perfling--that's the line around the outside edge of the violin. It's really a thing strip of wood set into the violin. What it does is prevent potential future cracks from going all the way to the edge and making the damage worse. Until we purchased a dremel tool, this process would take about two days. Now it takes about two hours

Inside of the top piece. The wood in front is the harmonic bar before it is carved.

The harmonic bar is very important to the sound of the instrument. Often Alberto opens up others' instruments and remakes the harmonic bar, bringing to live an otherwise boring (dead) violin.

Before Alberto glues all the parts together he places his tag in the bottom piece to identify the instrument and its maker. It always drives me crazy in The Red Violin when the luthier awkwardly places the tag through the Fs as if it is a final touch--what a pain that would be when days before the instrument was still in pieces.

Alberto then glues all the pieces together using a special glue that can removed with warm water. This way it is easier to clean up the instrument and it makes it easier to take the violin apart in the future for repairs.

Next comes varnishing. Alberto makes his own varnishes to really bring out the flame (those broad lines in the maple back and sides) and the distinctiveness of the wood. He also likes to give the violin an antique sort of look. The sun and wind are great ways to dry the varnish.

Photo by Peter Ginn

When the weather is good. Alberto hangs his violins from the tree or the clothesline or a string in the door frame.

Then come all the details: Fingerboard, nut, pegs, accessories, strings, bridge, painting the inside of the Fs a dark brown or black, polishing, and the sound post (a little dowel piece that goes between the top and bottom and greatly influences the balance of the strings).

Here Alberto adjusts the soundpost in a violin for Samuel Murillo, while he gives his feedback.

Photos by Matthew Ginn

Often it takes several adjustments before the balance is just right.

A new violin must be played so that it "opens up," which can take quite a while.

Then it's back to work again.

Photo by Matthew Ginn

Peterborough Ontario

Alberto and I took a trip yesterday to the beautiful city of Peterborough exploring some of my old haunts. I dragged Alberto all over Trent, then downtown to The Planet Bakery and then to the Silver Bean Cafe right on the river.

Peterborough Ontario

We were on the way back to the car when we both spotted a man carrying a violin case who was walking quickly several meters away from us. Alberto, always ready to speak to a potential client, and I began to pursue this stranger like spies ducking into a black door where the violinist had disappeared only moments before.


We found ourselves on the stage of the Showplace Performance Centre surrounded by musicians of the Peterborough Symphony setting up for rehearsal. In his element and without worry about his language limitations, Alberto immediately began speaking with any string player within reach. I was a bit nervous about the situation, but found that in this half hour before the rehearsal began the members of the PSO were welcoming and kind to us, two strangers who had essentially gate-crashed the place.

Showplace Performance Centre, George Street, Peterborough

We stayed through the first part of the rehearsal and had the chance to hear the soloist Bin Huang (violinist) work on Robert Gauldin's Violin Concerto, an original, vivacious piece dedicated to the PSO. The composer was at the theatre and gave his comments to this amazing, passionate soloist and to the orchestra which had clearly put in a great deal of time to interpret the piece precisely and beautifully. Unfortunately, Alberto and I had to back to Kingston early in the evening and did not have the chance to see the complete concert.

First Post

Above: Alberto Garcia (Photo by Matthew Ginn)

Hello Friends, Musicians and Others,


It has taken quite a while for us to begin to use this blog properly, but now we hope to make a start of it. Virtuos Violins is a stringed instrument construction and restoration company made up of Alberto Garcia (Luthier) and Annie Ginn (English speaker, blog writer, accountant, buyer, seller etc.).



Alberto makes violins and violas and repairs violins, violas, cellos and basses, more of which I will explain in later posts. Services include restoration, repairs, varnishing, bow rehairing, bushing and pegs, general maintenance, bridges and bridge fittings, new strings, product sales and just about anything else to do with violins.


Below: Alberto Garcia and Annie Ginn



Currently located in Kingston Ontario Canada, we will be making trips all over southern Ontario, Quebec and New York to show and sell our instruments.