Wood Selection

I personally select the wood that I use in my instruments on frequent trips to the violin wood centers located in Italy, France, and Germany. Contrary to the trend to use American or Canadian maple and maples of other sources, I use only Bosnian maple, this in spite of the difficulties in recent years of acquiring wood of known origin. Bosnian maple has long been considered to be the finest maple for instruments of the violin family and is the wood used by the majority of the great 18th century Italian makers.

The spruce that I use for the tops of my instruments is from either the Swiss or French Alps and for the most part is split unless I am sure of the grain line extending throughout the entirety of the top. Any wood that I use has been cured for a minimum of 15 years, with the majority aging much longer.

The spruce that I use for soundposts has all come from a tree that I cut in Switzerland 20 years ago.