Better than Ebony

I found a replacement material for ebony! It is densified and coloured beech wood called Sonowood Black.

The quality of the ebony we can buy today is not satisfying when comparing it to the much denser stuff where you hardly see any pores as we find it on some of the fine French instruments and bows from the 19th century. For sound reasons, I left my fingerboards made of the modern ebony very thick, because I found that a violin with a light fingerboard can lack in substance of sound. That works, but then the maple part of the neck becomes quite thin and that is not ideal for the long term health of the violin, since the neck wears down with playing and will need replacement sooner. Also, the grooves of the top nut need cleaning out with a needle file frequently, when the top nut material is not wear-resistant enough. We have a few pieces reclaimed from old fingerboards for that, but they are always in short supply.

Fingerboard and top nut in SonoWood Black

With the new Sonowood Black, I can achieve excellent acoustic results with a fingerboard thickness of 4.8mm on the sides, which leaves the neck with much healthier proportions. With a weight of around 62 grams, it still weighs about 10 grams more than my ebony fingerboards.

In 2010, my former employer Mark Wilhelm started to look for alternatives when he heard a report by a team from the Zürich Zoo who filmed how some of the ebony was looted from the Masoala Nature Reserve in Madagascar. Together with some researchers at ETH Zürich, they began to develop alternatives: Musikinstrumente aus bedrohtem Holz - SRF

In 2018, a first non-tropical material that worked really well was ready: densified spruce. Wilhelm Geigenbau hosted a research conference where we compared all available materials - I reported on here. I really liked the properties of the densified spruce but its light colour did not work with my aesthetics. “Beauty in light and shadow” - I need every bit of darkness I can get to let the wood glow!

One of my violins with a densified spruce fingerboard - Suhr 2018

In the meantime, the ETH team has founded a spin-off and is producing various items out of densified wood ranging from credit cards to satellite components - the material is wood, 100% biodegradable. And, finally, they have also found a way to colour it black enough for my violins. They are still tinkering with different colouration processes, but I had two batches that are looking and working great!

The fingerboards come roughly pre routed. To finish and fit them to the violins, we use the same tools we work ebony with. That said, we do use the latest Veritas PM-V11 blade in our block planes, which handles it much better than softer steels. The playing surface comes routed to a very good profile and only needs sanding - a welcome shortcut. It polishes up like the best ebony ever.

It has the natural look and feel of wood, and lowers the maintenance of fingerboard and top nut a lot. After two batches, I am convinced. This is the material I’ll be using from now on.

Robert Blair School - Kings Cross

When Philip first told me we had to move the workshop out of Hassop Road, my initial feeling was apprehension. I knew this would be a big task ahead and I really had very little experience of how to manage this - How does one go about finding a new workshop? How will we move everything? But it didn’t take long for the excitement at the prospect of a new chapter to creep in between the worry of the logistics.

Diving headfirst into the mission, we scoured the internet and every resource we could find. Some prospective options arose and we enjoyed visiting new spaces, but rather soon we fell deep into the goldilocks effect - ‘Too big’, ‘Too small’, ‘Too much work needed’ etc… Then one day, Philip suggested the possibility of moving back to the space he had rented previously, in Robert Blair School, and suddenly ‘Ah, just right!’

I joined the team only in Autumn 2020 so I was in the minority position of never having been to, nevertheless worked in this space. I had, however, always heard Philip and Mathieu reminiscing fondly of their time there and I was thrilled to also get to experience it. Having seen pictures of this large, light, and open space, I thought we had hit the jackpot, however of course it was not going to be so easy!

On our first visit, it was clear time and neglect had played their part and work was going to need to be done before we could make this the workshops home again…

Philip and Mathieu at the first viewing

But still the important and characterful details remained, such as the stunning wooden floorboards and large, imposing windows, not to mention the sheer abundance of space!

The main workshop before the move

After a few hard weeks of planning, cleaning, stripping, sanding, painting, and building, we were ready to move in.  

Philip really focussed on making sure each item of furniture was in the perfect place for both practicality and aesthetics and I enjoyed this peek into the makers mindset, The duality of functionality and beauty! Each of the workbenches were thoughtfully placed, so they were both autonomous and yet integrated. I too have been given special consideration; the desk is perfectly positioned to overlook all three of the workbenches (to keep a special eye on everyone!), we each have our own space and role to play and yet most importantly we can each easily interact with one another.

Independently together - Photo by Marius

The most important aspect of the new workshop for me, however, is the acoustics for testing the instruments. A large structure can be difficult, as it can be too boomy. Whilst this can be fun to play in, it can also be deceptive, as it often makes it difficult to really hear the true sound of the instrument. I am pleased to report that this is not a problem here! The acoustic panelling and large wall of wood storage has created the perfect uneven surface to deal with reflected sound.  

Philip and the wood storage - Photo by Marius

All that is left, is to add a few more final touches – one of which is this beautiful chair we all fell in love with at the first viewing. We took it to a local upholsterer here on Caledionian road, who transformed the old school chair to new heights with beautiful leather cushions.

locally upholstered chair

And just like that Robert Blair Studios has become the companies home again and it is fair to say we are all more than delighted. Perhaps the best analogy we have found is one Philip mentioned, so I shall steal it from him now; in this space you feel as though you are in the hull of a large ship, sailing on peacefully with the world passing by. I will leave you to enjoy a final picture our dear friend Marius took (Photographer with whom we shared the building on Hassop road and owner of Fav studios ) and an open invitation to visit us here anytime!

Victoria

Jef, Peko and Philip

Hassop road - North West London

It has been too long, three years since my last post - did I not want this space to tell the story of my violin workshop?

Riding on a wave of success with a gold medal at the VSA violin making competition and the joint top spot at the 21st century violin search at the IVCI both in 2018, orders and offers were flying in and I happily accepted not only orders but also a couple of trips as a guest teacher. Gianmaria Stelzer had been helping me making my violins half time for several years already, and since September 2018, Mathieu Fourrier joined us from Berlin on a full time employment.

Mathieu opening a two piece violin back

A particular honour was to have been invited to lead a group project together with my friend Gabor Draskozcy at the Oberlin violin making workshop in the summers of 2018 and 2019. We showed the group how we were making a copy of the 1744 “Doyen” del Gesu violin and had them make one along side us in the two weeks of 2018. In the following summer, we antiqued them both and strung them up sharing our often ridiculous techniques with the colleagues. We were greatly rewarded with an inscription on the prestigious Dutch Boy award board for “Excellence in Varnishing”.

OBERLIN - DUTCH BOY AWARD

It was during that same summer, that we had to move the workshop, because the school had plans to get some more children in and needed the space. Very near my home in Cricklewood, north west London, I found a space on the first floor of a warehouse and we set up a bright and very practical workshop!

The central island: sink, sharpening machine, cradles, table and rubbish bin easily accessible from both work stations.

We became friends with the photographers Marius and Marco from FAV studio and James, the coffee roaster from Cricklewood Coffee and with both, Mathieu and myself living close by we felt incredibly lucky with this setup during the various lock downs.

I am scraping the arching of an early golden Strad model.

Gianmaria left us to set up his own workshop in Zurich in Summer 2020. In order to have more bench time myself, I employed Victoria Farrell-Reed for two half days per week, who does the lion share of the admin and beyond that, she is hugely important to help me adjust and evaluate the quality of my violins.

Detail of my 11th Lord Wilton violin showing a beautiful transition through the materials of the finish from bear wood on the chamfer over clean golden ground to areas with thick amber coloured varnish in the tight curves of the volute.

Selfie in Hassop road