Where are Jefferson’s fiddles?
Thanks to my hostess–celebrated Jeffersonian scholar Cinder Stanton–I was lucky enough to not only tour Monticello, but to venture beyond the ribbons that protect the house from too many visitors to venture up the first steep set of stairs to see the second floor, and then one more stairwell to see the top floor of Monticello! A real treat–not soon to be forgotten! Upon first learning of my upcoming visit and of the subject of American Luthier, Cinder had asked about whether I knew about Jefferson’s fiddles? Jefferson studied violin at an early age and continued his passion for ...
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American Luthier at Fountain Bookstore
Many thanks to Kelly Justice, owner of Fountain Bookstore, Richmond, VA, for seeing the exciting potential of the Carleen Hutchins story–the most unlikely story of a female violinmaker–a New Jersey housewife in the 1950s, a trumpet player and a biologist, who taught herself acoustical physics by carving by carving fiddles in her kitchen! ...
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Jeffersonian Elegance at WTJU
What campus can boast such elegance surrounding athletic fields? This palladium of columns surrounding Lambeth Field, at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, sits just outside the studios of WTJU, the venerable community radio station that’s call letters pay tribute to the founder of the University–Thomas Jefferson. WTJU Host Francesca Da Rimini, host of “Classical Sunrise” graciously allowed Jefferson scholar Cinder Stanton, a WTJU radio host for more than two decades, to interview biographer Quincy Whitney about the remarkable life of pioneering luthier Carleen Hutchins. See and listen: http://soundcloud.com/wtju/book-interview-most-influential-violinmaker-since-stradivari...
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WTJU Podcast
Shout-out and KUDOS to Jefferson expert and scholar Cinder Stanton of Charlottesville who interviewed Quincy Whitney on WTJU, courtesy of “Classical Sunrise” Francesca Da Rimini, about American Luthier, the remarkable true story of Renaissance-minded violinmaker Carleen Hutchins. See: http://soundcloud.com/wtju/book-interview-most-influential-violinmaker-since-stradivari...
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STRAD Legacy
A legacy of STRAD Magazines graces the shelves of the violinmaking school at The Chimneys, Boiling Springs, PA–more than half a century of the “Bible” of the violin world! STRAD has a long history of chronicling the art–and occasionally–the science of the craft; violin lore and the violin market; advice to the player; and contradictions and controversies that have characterized the violin world since Tarisio collected his first fiddle!...
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Fiddlemaking Library
Nelson Steffy, The Chimneys Violin Shop, Boiling Springs, PA, in is fiddle library that remains the legacy of founder Ed Campbell....
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Fiddles in the Rafters!
Fiddles in the rafters! Fiddles on the walls. And a library that goes back half a century at The Chimneys Violin Shop, boing Springs, PA. What a thrill to be able to visit a shop to share the story of pioneering luthier Carleen Hutchins with a luthier Nelson Steffy–who, along with his mentor Ed Campbell, founder of The Chimneys, not only read and valued the acoustical work of Hutchins and Saunders, they developed their own set of violinmaking manuals that incorporate the acoustics of tuning plates and other methods that apply science to the art of violinmaking....
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Fiddles and Fields
Fiddles–and fields and fields of corn! The Chimneys Violin Shop, Boiling Springs, PA, is nestled in the Mennonite/Amish countryside, where it has upheld a long tradition of more than half a century in teaching violinmaking to aspiring luthiers, utilizing the acoustical methods made famous by Carleen Hutchins. Though founder Ed passed this year, the luthier’s legacy lives on in the house he donated to the cause, and in the teaching methods of his student Nelson P. Steffy....
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A Pig’s Bargain
Such a pig as this! This sweet snout greets visitors to the Brandywine Museum in Chads ford, PA, home to the studios of N.C. Wyeth, celebrated illustrator and creator of the ethereal painting e inentitled “The Giant” that sits a place of prominence in my home office–and his son Andrew Wyeth, celebrated watercolorist. If not for such a pig as this–really just a piglet–named Susie, which comes from the Latin word for pig SUS–Carleen might never have carved that first viola–just one of nearly 500 stringed instruments....
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Walking Hallowed Halls
While walking the hallowed halls on the first floor of the Library of Congress Jefferson Building, I did not expect my worlds to collide! But as I stared at the stunningly beautiful granite walls, I fell back into my first book Hidden History of New Hampshire–and the story of the building of the Library of Congress, constructed with granite mined from seven quarries in New Hampshire–the Granite State! Theses halls also lead me to my current world and my new book American Luthier, ForeEdge, 2016. In walking these halls last thursday June 2, I found the conference room and meeting place ...
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