CHICAGO, IL–Since 1975, the Chicago School of Violin Making has trained students in the tools and techniques of 18th-century stringed instrument making. In this video, Fred Thompson, a co-director at the school, leads a tour of the workshop and walks through the process of making a violin while peering over the shoulders of students at work.

Keeping the process alive
Located in an unassuming suburb on the northern edge of Chicago, the school attracts students of all ages and nationalities. Because it is one of only a handful of schools like it around the world, some students have traveled from as far as Korea to enroll in the three-year program. 

The school originated as the Kenneth Warren & Son School of Violin Making, named for its original founders, but it took on its new when it was acquired by Tschu Ho Lee, the schools director emeritus who has led the program since its inception.

What hasn’t changed in its 30-years is the curriculum. Students learn to build instruments based on 250-year-old plans and techniques devised by the most famous makers of them all, including the Stradivari family. Students leave the program equipped with the skills to build custom instruments but typically pursue a more common path repairing high-end instruments.

Tools of the trade
With the exception of a bandsaw used to mill up rough lumber, all of the work is accomplished with carving gouges and knives, scrapers, and tiny finger planes that look like larger smoothers sent through the washing machine.

A single instrument can take weeks or months to produce because most of the job involves intricate hand work and tolerances as small as a tenth of a millimeter.

For more information about The Chicago School of Violin Making, visit the them online at CSVM.org.

Photos: Matt Berger