Welcome to Violin Making Community (Start Here)

Here's my latest update, working on the back plate and trying to get good Strad like corner purfling.

Thanks! Corvus is a cool name. It means Crow. Is there a reason you chose that name?

Hello all. I'm in Columbus Ohio, USA.

I have been building about 13 years. 18 violin shaped objects, 13 violins, 4 violas, 2 cellos.

I don't have a shop. I enjoy building and mange to sell what I make.

I have enough good players like my instruments to know I'm not producing junk.

I don't want to, and can't produce copies. I'm not that practiced. My scrolls are probably barely acceptable but no one notices except violin makers.

Corvus and I met at a Michael Darnton workshop.

If you are new to the art, buy Corvus's course. You will save time and money. (notice how many violins I have made above)

Corvus knows his stuff. Trust what he says. He has far more experience and skill than I. He has worked more closely with Michael Darnton. (Michael is the one person you must follow on Maestronet)

Hi, I'm MikeC from Maestronet. I'm working on my second violin.

Hmmmm… what do you have in mind? I do recall seeing earrings made out of rib scraps on YouTube. They were cute!

Hi there! Well, let´s see where I do the making at home. There are still lots of things to improve and I can´t have all the tools and devices there by the moment but I have lots of natural light and working here is always a joy, specially in the mornings. I have always wanted to try this and I am really enjoying it since minute one! Very slow progress but satisfaction and fun at its highest!

English is not my mother tongue so please excuse my typing errors; my spoken English is much worse! 😅

Here’s my bench. Definitely a work in progress! I share the space with the red slider turtles who have a huge long tank at the end of the room

I am so grateful that you’re sharing your knowledge. Now you’re my SiFu! Beautiful workspace :)

Ok, I'll be the first one to share an image of me and my workspace!
 My name is Corvus, I chose the name for myself, because my Chinese name is very hard to pronounce in English.

I was born in Hong Kong, l went to Shanghai and started learning violin making after I finished my master degree in Conducting. I have 2 teachers, one of them learn his art from Germany, the other one learn it from the modern Cremona. It was the first time ever that I am the best student in class, and yet I found that there are a lot of "holes" in the teachings.

Luckily, I found my Yoda, Michael Darnton (less green, much taller and handsomer) a few years later, and he guided me through my "holes-patching".

For me, finding an open door and being able to learn the art is so much harder than the making itself. As Michael once said "many of violins shops are perceived to be shrouded in secrecy, unwritten, and unshared except with initiates. And most of them prefer to work like the Wizard of Oz, unseen and all-powerful." which makes many of the information messy and self-perpetuating.

This situation actually happened to many old Chinese Art, and even on Chinese med, and we've lost a lot of valuable thing there. I don't want the same thing happen to violin making, so I am here to pass on the knowledge and wisdom I gained along the way.


I love to work, build things, walk my Pug, feed my Pug, spend time with my pug, my friends and family. I also love music, movies, anime, swimming and go to the gym. I'm looking forward to seeing you guys' workspace!