A graduate of Newark School of Violin Making, Libby Summers talks to active magazine’s Mary Bremner about the journey which lead Libby to set up her own business Stamford Strings Limited.
It was great to see one of our local violin makers featured in the September issue of active, a Stamford & Rutland based health and lifestyle magazine.
Libby has played the violin since the age of 11 and has always had an interested in crafts and making things. When Libby found the violin making course in Newark her love of music and making things came together; a new career was born…
Here is an excerpt from the article published by active and written by
To make an instrument takes hours of specialised, skilled and intricate woodwork. “I was taught extremely well. I was the least experienced with regards to woodwork but my tutors were incredibly patient with me. I have always had an eye for detail and my first year tutor was an absolute perfectionist who taught me really well.”
And perfection it needs to be as some of the wood on a violin is carved to be only 2.5mm thick in places. This delicate woodwork takes skill and precision. The tone of a violin is the great secret and what makes an instrument saleable. Libby says it’s to do with the wood choice, internal volume and measurements, the sound holes and the external set up. But it all gets very technical ‘and the tone is the great secret,’ says Libby, ‘we all wish we know how Stradivari did it!’
You can read the full article on active’s website, starting on page 32 of the September 2020 issue here:
https://www.theactivemag.com/previous-issues.aspx
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