Do you have to be a gifted craftsmen to create good violins ?

Question

or can you learn it just like any other trade and get good at it

Answer 1

The experienced craftsman is able to see and feel subtle differences between two pieces of wood and will select the best one for the instrument. When the instrument is being crafted the differences between an ok violin and a good violin and a great violin are very small and it takes years of experience to recognize these differences. that's why we don't have factories churning out professional quality violins.

this is why being an instrument builder is one of the few crafts that still uses and apprentice system.

Answer 2

There are thousands of instruments made on production lines maned by people who have no interest in music. They are basically kit building; assembling parts in a specified order. Many of the parts may have been formed to a predefined standard by robotic means. These might be considered "good" violins.

There are other instruments made by craftsmen, completely by hand with hand selected tonewoods. These are very likely to be much more toward the "excellent" end of the scale of quality.

Answer 3

Every violin is a little different because no two pieces of wood are exactly the same.  A really good violinmaker can adjust each one for maximum tone, volume, etc.  But this takes a lot of experience.  

So it begins with making them the way your boss trained you, or according to the plans, getting all the shapes and thicknesses right, and you can make pretty good violins that way, but they will vary in sound quality and playability. But after a few hundred or so, you can make them much better and more consistent.

So like a lot of things, it's a mixture of art and science.

Answer 4

     I agree with your first responder for the most part.  Good is sort of a "relative" term.  There are good, exceptionally good, and "great".

     If one's goal is only to make "good" violins, then one doesn't necessarily need to be gifted.  But who's really interested in only making a "good" violin?  You wouldn't be interested in making a "great" one?

                                              Alberich