((PKG)) VIOLIN MAKER
((TRT: 07:54))
((Topic Banner: Keeping Family Tradition Alive))
((Reporter/Camera/Editor: June Soh))
((Map: Alexandria, Virginia; Bethesda, Maryland))
((Main character: 1 male))
((Sub characters: 2 male))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Rich Maxham
Violin Maker))
I'm working on the channel that sits right next to where the purfling will go on the instrument. I use a very small, narrow chisel because the grain is very tricky to work in this spot. It keeps changing direction, so it requires a smaller, more narrow chisel.
((NATS))
((Rich Maxham
Violin Maker))
My name is Rich Maxham. I make violins. I repair them and restore them. And I do work on violin, viola and cello bows as well. And I have a workshop in Alexandria, Virginia.
((NATS))
((Courtesy: Maxham Violins))
I grew up with the violin. I began playing the violin at three years old and studied with my father and would play with him, the violin. It's been in my family for five generations now, since the late 1800s. The first violin that I'm aware of, that my great-great-grandfather made, was made in 1895.
((End Courtesy))
((NATS))
((Rich Maxham
Violin Maker))
This is a copy of my great-great-grandfather's violin-making brochure that was printed around 1910 or so. This is what he would have given out to potential clients. This is a picture of Otis, my great-great-grandfather and his son, my great-grandfather, Harold. This is a picture of one of his instruments. It’s actually fairly rare to have a colorized photograph from that era. So, he went to considerable expense to make the brochure. Most of the tools that I have on the bench right now are tools that I inherited from my grandfather. Some of them are even from my great-great-grandfather before him.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Rich Maxham
Violin Maker))
I learned the skills partly from
((Courtesy: Maxham Violins))
my grandfather when I would visit in Erie, Pennsylvania, where he had his own workshop.
((End Courtesy))
And as I got into college, I started attending violin repair workshops to learn more about repair techniques.
((NATS: Rich Maxham and Zino Bogachek))
Rich Maxham: So, I’ve got two bows and a violin. Now I have a few other repairs right now that I’m working on. But as soon as I’m done with those, then I can get started on these. I’ll give you a call as soon as everything is ready.
Zino Bogachek: Great. Thank you so much.
((Zino Bogachek
Violinist, Washington National Opera Orchestra))
I am violinist. I play at the Washington National Opera Orchestra. Sound of the violin doesn’t only fully depend on the maker who created it and the performer who is actually making sound. But there is a third party who is as crucially important, in my opinion, is the person who is taking care of your violin, the person whom you can trust your instrument, your soul, the person who sees this instrument whenever the instrument gets a little cold, whenever the instrument experiences some kind of discomfort. That's when you seek Mr. Maxham, who is the greatest doctor in the area, who takes care of our violins.
((NATS))
((Rich Maxham
Violin Maker))
In addition to working on my own instruments and my customers’ instruments at my own workshop, I work part-time at the Violin House of Weaver, where I work on old and new instruments and take them apart and make improvements where they're needed.
((NATS))
((Rich Maxham
Violin Maker))
Yes, that’s very thick, especially in this area by the bass bar. So, I will need to remove some wood from the bottom, especially where it’s the thickest. Because right now, based on the thicknesses and the work on the interior, it’s not going to sound very good.
((NATS))
((Rich Maxham
Violin Maker))
It was made to look very nice on the outside but on the inside, it was left rather crude and rough and too thick because it was made in haste. So, the good thing about it, despite it being somewhat crude on the inside, is that it’s made with very good wood and it has had the benefit of aging for 100 plus years, which means that it’s good tonewood. So, it’s worth putting all the effort in to improve it so that it will sound very nice once it’s all put back together and repaired.
((NATS))
((Rich Maxham
Violin Maker))
What I love about working on the instruments is getting to know the instruments and becoming familiar with their characters. Each instrument has its own character, just like a person does and it has its own story. Some of that I can learn just by studying the instruments. Some I learn by talking to the owners of the instruments and learning the histories. But there's an awful lot that I can learn as a luthier just by admiring the workmanship and learning from the details that are left by the maker.
((NATS: Rich Maxham and Bill Weaver))
Bill Weaver: Well, this is an old French fiddle made in 1860 by Pailliot. And I got a French certificate for it. But I don’t know how it sounds yet. But that would be something. But you see, the overstand is a little bit funny.
Rich Maxham: Yeah, it is.
Bill Weaver: Sometimes, yeah. So, we may want to put a piece behind that neck and get that to come to the proper angle. And I think, look at the condition on that for 1860. Not a scratch hardly.
Rich Maxham: That’s excellent. Yeah.
((Bill Weaver
Owner, Violin House of Weaver))
I feel confident and comfortable giving him a very expensive instrument because he’s very careful on how he approaches everything about it. He is meticulous and he gets a great result. When he's done the... His specialty here is the insides of instruments that make them sound really much better when they're put back together.
((NATS))
((Bill Weaver
Owner, Violin House of Weaver))
This is an old violin shop, maybe the oldest in the whole country. It was started by my grandfather. I think working on great violins here has exposed him to way things have always been done and I think he’s applying that to everything he does. So, there's a very big possibility that he will be one of the great luthiers of this country and this world, I guess, in the future. He's so young but he's so talented now.
((NATS: Rich Maxham))
Rich Maxham: Since this is an old one, just needs to be taken apart. This is an old Czechoslovakian violin.
((Rich Maxham
Violin Maker))
I hope that by working on instruments of all kinds for all types of players, I can provide something to the violin world that will live on beyond me. And I also hope that doing that work, I can preserve and extend the tradition that comes from my ancestors that I love and admire and pass that on to future generations.
((NATS: Rich Maxham and daughter))
Rich Maxham: Can you take a long bow?
((NATS/MUSIC))