Official Luthiers Forum!

Though maybe not a new book. New to me

I went to Barnes and Noble tonight with entirely hedonistic hopes. I
wanted to find a top-notch coffee table book with absolutely stunning
pics of old strats. It didn't happen.

BUT I found a book called, The Violin Maker by John Marchese.
Check out this description. I've never thought about my tinkering in this
light, but I like it.

In our flimflam, fast-food world of convenience it's exhilarating to learn
that the old-timey craft of violin making still exists in Brooklyn. John
Marchese, one of our best literary journalists, explores the life of colorful
Sam Zygmuntowicz, a retro perfectionist . . .

Worth pulling up on Amazon. There was another with a very similar cover
but different authord called, Piano that follows the making of a
Steinway that I'm interested in, too.

It's fun to get an outsider's perspective. The author's having fun in the
first few chapters building up an ultra-romantic vibe, then letting it fall
crashing down.

. . . They worked all day and long into the night, with breaks for
impromptu symposia on subjets that then seemed hopelessly arcane to
me. At one, there was a heated discussion on how to cut perfect miters
for the purfling.

. . . Sam, a little frustrated by the simple-minded questions I was asking
him, said testily, "I hope you're not going to do what people have a
tendency to do with violin makers: make me seem like a kindly old wood
carver---like Geppetto."

. . . He was dressed nothing like Geppetto. No suspenders, no heavy
leather apron, no knickers.