My master instruments are entirely handmade by myself, using the finest materials. The tops on these instruments are of European spruce, aged over 25 years. This wood has the ideal weight and stiffness, and extraordinary resonant qualities when arched and graduated properly. For backs, sides and necks, I use deeply flamed red maple from the northeast U.S. I have found this wood to be a superior tonewood, unsurpassed by any maple in the world. Red maple is a medium light-weight wood with optimal strength and flexibility. The select pieces of this wood in my collection have a striking figure that is unmatched. I finish my instruments with a beautiful natural resin oil varnish, which takes weeks to apply and cure.

The methods and techniques I use in making these instruments are quite similar to those employed by the Italian violinmakers of three hundred years ago. Of course, at certain points I use modern tools, mostly for roughing out. But a worker from a shop in Cremona in the year 1700 could sit down at my bench and go right to work with recognizable tools at hand; and I could do the same in his workshop. We would also share the tradition of working by eye, ear and touch. With a few templates to get things going, the work proceeds quickly and naturally. My goal is to create instruments that possess a sound that is uniquely and characteristically my own.