Tag Archives: travelling violinmaker

40 year old bridge blank…

Ilja Grawert violin maker a bridge in his workshop in Brisbane Australia The Gap and North Queensland

I was just cutting a bridge for one of my own older, fully handmade by me, violins. Using the best bridge timber, which is now a minimum of 40-50 years old. The finished bridge is promising to be of the highest sound quality. I am very much looking forward to hearing this violin again after […]

The Stad Magazine finally arrived

You cannot imagine my joy when I walked into the local post office today, where I am well known and was greeted by: “Guess what is in your Po Box…” After month and month of waiting for the October issue of The Strad magazine, I think maybe 15 emails to the publisher, as well as […]

The keys on my piano are stuck

Here is a little hobby Sunday project. The keys of our student piano are stuck. I first thought it might have been due to high humidity as this piano lives nearly outside. It ended up to be cockroach dirt stuck in between the keys. It was fairly easy to clean all that. Now the keys […]

The apprentice’s studio violin

“This was the first instrument I fully tonally adjusted, and it is the one that I am now personally playing, at least until I make something that I like more.“ – Reuben Grawert “I had a lot of fun adjusting, setting up, and varnishing this instrument, and even if I made a couple of mistakes […]

“Kaffee Kantate” by J.S. Bach

“Coffee…Coffee…I must have….” Lieschen, Schlendrian’s daughter “…if three time a day I can’t drink my little cup of coffee then I would become so upset that I would be like a dried up piece of roast goat…” “Ah! How sweet coffee tastes! Lovelier than a thousand kisses, smoother than muscatel wine.” I totally agree…without coffee […]

Weekly wisdom 30

Cleaning cloth by Ilja Grawert violin shop workshop Brisbane Australia

Clean your violin every time after playing with your microfiber cleaning cloth. If you clean your violin everyday after playing you will save money your strings will last longer your bridge will stay straight longer the violin does not need to be professionally cleaned by a violin maker as often the bridge feet are less […]

Baroque violin made by Ilja Grawert

Baroque violin by Ilja Grawert violin shop workshop Brisbane Australia

Finally we got around to taking some beautiful pictures of the baroque violin I made years ago and never offered for sale before. This violin has been fully handmade by me following all the old traditions of how the instruments were made 300 years age. It has a couple of hand forged nails through the […]

New Studio violin model ‘Fleur de Lis’

Have a look at the video clip painting of my latest Studio violin. It is so much fun painting and varnishing