What is a Workshop Instrument? Violin making is a highly complex process that requires different skillsets to complete an instrument.High-end violins are made by master makers, who create instruments from beginning to end. They choose the tonewood, construct the body, carve the neck and scroll, apply the varnish, and perfect the set up. A master …
Arguably one of the most influential archetiers of the mid-nineteenth century, Dominique Peccatte was born in France’s bow-making capital of Mirecourt, but his first apprenticeship was as a hairdresser. However, in 1826, Nicolas Vuillaume recognized that Peccatte, who was beginning to study violin-making, had potential and sent him to join his brother, Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume’s, Paris …
Étienne Pajeot earned a place in music history as one of the best bowmakers of the early nineteenth century. The son of Mirecourt archetier Louis Simon Pajeot, he apprenticed in the family workshop. His father died when Pajeot was 13, but Pajeot continued his training, and by 1815, he had started producing bows under his …
Archetier Marcel Charles Lapierre combined influences from a plethora of workshops in his native Mirecourt. He apprenticed from Jérôme Thibouville-Lamy before joining the Brouiller & Lotte workshop in 1923. When the Brouiller & Lotte collaboration folded, Lapierre continued to work with Lotte. Throughout his career, Lapierre worked for many of Mirecourt’s best archetiers, including Charles …
