I’m here today because I love sound I
love to make sound and I love to listen
to sound I’m especially curious about
how musicians use their instruments and
how the quality of those instruments
affects their experience while playing
my name is Mike Murray and I’m a luthier
I specialized in the repair restoration
construction and professional setup of
the violin family becoming a luthier is
a crazy experience once I got past the a
my totally nuts phase which for me it
took like three years and you know it
didn’t really help virtually everybody I
talked to had super supportive views to
share like well that’s a dying industry
or let’s see another one was are you
gonna do with that when you’re done I
think my favorite was there any money in
it I get it right I think I’ve heard
them all and I understand the whole idea
is totally romantic the question I get
asked now is how how in the world do you
become a luthier well the process is
intense and as I’ve alluded to the most
difficult part for me I think was
getting started it was only after much
hesitation self skepticism and
opposition to the idea of being a
totally poor artist for the rest of my
life that I heated my gut and I began
school in September of 2012 I chose to
attend the violin making School of
America in Salt Lake City Utah I chose
to attend there
because of its rich history renown and
quality of education toted is one of the
most prestigious instrument making
institutions in the world it was started
by pure prayer in 1972 seven years after
he started his shop in 1965 where he not
only excelled in the repair restoration
sale and construction of instruments my
infatuation with instruments began as a
young person I took every chance I had
to acquaint myself with a new instrument
attempting to apply the years of music
education that I’ve had my problem was
that I couldn’t pick and stay with just
one instrument they were way too many
sounds to play with however during this
time I did learn some important lessons
lesson number one
nice instruments are easier to play
number two nice instruments
generally speaking sound better lesson
number three nice instruments are
expensive with some antique instruments
fetching prices of more than fifteen
million dollars I thought yeah if I ever
want a nice instrument I’m gonna have to
make it myself thank goodness no prior
woodworking experience is required to
attend the school the curriculum is
designed to develop and hone the ability
of students no matter their skill level
practical and conceptual woodworking
methodology is a constant topic always
with the goal in mind of improving the
level of craftsmanship and quality and
instrument making on the first day of
school I was welcomed by a pile of wood
on my newly assigned desk I had no idea
I had no idea what I was getting into
and many times over the course of my
education there wanted to throw in the
towel
before I began I thought you know it
can’t be that difficult I’d grown up on
a farm I’d helped build various homes
I’ve used power tools and regular tools
most of my life I thought it would be
similar to building a birdhouse
you know just one with strings the
format of instruction is one on one you
start at the beginning and you complete
each step there’s lots of them to the
highest level of quality possible–
getting permission to move on or often
start again instructors are there to
teach you very carefully about
craftsmanship and quality what that
means and how it will affect the overall
outcome of your instrument many lessons
I scarcely understood then and continue
to wrap my mind around now
one such lesson is that of joining
violin plates in the violin family the
top plate and the back plate most often
are two pieces of wood joined together
in the center this task is completed
using a tool known as a jointer plane by
sliding the edges of the wood against
the blade a smooth flat surface is
created that joint has to be so close
and so smooth that there’s no gapping
between it and that when you try to rub
those edges together it creates an
enormous amount of friction so much so
that trying to rub them together is
really really difficult not an easy task
skills learned during the curriculum are
tested at the very end students have to
take three months out of their life and
they build two instruments one is fully
finished and
varnished while the other is just
prepared to be varnished and I have to
do this away from school away from
instruction it’s a massive massive
challenge to complete especially while
trying to maintain the high standards of
quality the violin is an incredibly
complex tool one that has changed a lot
in high-quality instruments the
standards or the tolerances are
relatively tight concerning dimension
shape size and setup these and other
structural components have evolved over
hundreds of years in response to the
needs of players and composers making
instruments louder easier and more
ergonomic to play upon finishing my
graduation work I excitedly accepted the
opportunity to work at the Pierre and
Sons violin shop working in that shop
and being exposed to some of the highest
quality and most rare antique
instruments in the world has helped me
to further understand the AI the idea
behind design and the effort on behalf
of luthiers that has gone into
perfecting the violin my first exposure
into the world of high quality goods was
the violin making school the concept
right this idea that an object could be
designed and then created to last for
hundreds of years as a foreign concept
today or so would seem for example how
many of us are wearing moderately
uncomfortable shoes that cost very
little and soon enough we’ll end up in a
landfill the shorts shirt the piece of
jewelry the watch the appliance the car
I remember as a young person being
introduced into the world of hyper
consumerism from the electronics that I
purchased to the clothes that I wore the
cheaper the better and the shorter the
duration
you seemed to be the norm imagine my
surprise when entering the violin school
all of a sudden I was expected to create
a high-quality work of art that I hoped
would last for centuries not as a
stationary object either but as a tool
that musicians would use constantly I’ve
experienced the wisdom and this approach
not only would it help us in creating a
brighter future but the utility that we
experienced when consuming products that
are better suited for our needs
increases products would last longer
cost less over time and the materials
used in production would decrease not to
mention our current trend of hyper
consumerism is not sustainable it’s not
what would happen if we re learning
goods were and we consumed only those
Goods it’s an interesting idea one that
I’ve learned a little bit about in the
violin world as well how does this all
translate to sound behind me I have two
instruments ones of a higher quality
ones of a lower quality but which ones
the higher quality one I’ll let you
decide to help illustrate the difference
please welcome to the stage Hobe Salazar
Fonseca
[Applause]
[Music]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
ladies and gentlemen quality matters
thank you
[Applause]
love to make sound and I love to listen
to sound I’m especially curious about
how musicians use their instruments and
how the quality of those instruments
affects their experience while playing
my name is Mike Murray and I’m a luthier
I specialized in the repair restoration
construction and professional setup of
the violin family becoming a luthier is
a crazy experience once I got past the a
my totally nuts phase which for me it
took like three years and you know it
didn’t really help virtually everybody I
talked to had super supportive views to
share like well that’s a dying industry
or let’s see another one was are you
gonna do with that when you’re done I
think my favorite was there any money in
it I get it right I think I’ve heard
them all and I understand the whole idea
is totally romantic the question I get
asked now is how how in the world do you
become a luthier well the process is
intense and as I’ve alluded to the most
difficult part for me I think was
getting started it was only after much
hesitation self skepticism and
opposition to the idea of being a
totally poor artist for the rest of my
life that I heated my gut and I began
school in September of 2012 I chose to
attend the violin making School of
America in Salt Lake City Utah I chose
to attend there
because of its rich history renown and
quality of education toted is one of the
most prestigious instrument making
institutions in the world it was started
by pure prayer in 1972 seven years after
he started his shop in 1965 where he not
only excelled in the repair restoration
sale and construction of instruments my
infatuation with instruments began as a
young person I took every chance I had
to acquaint myself with a new instrument
attempting to apply the years of music
education that I’ve had my problem was
that I couldn’t pick and stay with just
one instrument they were way too many
sounds to play with however during this
time I did learn some important lessons
lesson number one
nice instruments are easier to play
number two nice instruments
generally speaking sound better lesson
number three nice instruments are
expensive with some antique instruments
fetching prices of more than fifteen
million dollars I thought yeah if I ever
want a nice instrument I’m gonna have to
make it myself thank goodness no prior
woodworking experience is required to
attend the school the curriculum is
designed to develop and hone the ability
of students no matter their skill level
practical and conceptual woodworking
methodology is a constant topic always
with the goal in mind of improving the
level of craftsmanship and quality and
instrument making on the first day of
school I was welcomed by a pile of wood
on my newly assigned desk I had no idea
I had no idea what I was getting into
and many times over the course of my
education there wanted to throw in the
towel
before I began I thought you know it
can’t be that difficult I’d grown up on
a farm I’d helped build various homes
I’ve used power tools and regular tools
most of my life I thought it would be
similar to building a birdhouse
you know just one with strings the
format of instruction is one on one you
start at the beginning and you complete
each step there’s lots of them to the
highest level of quality possible–
getting permission to move on or often
start again instructors are there to
teach you very carefully about
craftsmanship and quality what that
means and how it will affect the overall
outcome of your instrument many lessons
I scarcely understood then and continue
to wrap my mind around now
one such lesson is that of joining
violin plates in the violin family the
top plate and the back plate most often
are two pieces of wood joined together
in the center this task is completed
using a tool known as a jointer plane by
sliding the edges of the wood against
the blade a smooth flat surface is
created that joint has to be so close
and so smooth that there’s no gapping
between it and that when you try to rub
those edges together it creates an
enormous amount of friction so much so
that trying to rub them together is
really really difficult not an easy task
skills learned during the curriculum are
tested at the very end students have to
take three months out of their life and
they build two instruments one is fully
finished and
varnished while the other is just
prepared to be varnished and I have to
do this away from school away from
instruction it’s a massive massive
challenge to complete especially while
trying to maintain the high standards of
quality the violin is an incredibly
complex tool one that has changed a lot
in high-quality instruments the
standards or the tolerances are
relatively tight concerning dimension
shape size and setup these and other
structural components have evolved over
hundreds of years in response to the
needs of players and composers making
instruments louder easier and more
ergonomic to play upon finishing my
graduation work I excitedly accepted the
opportunity to work at the Pierre and
Sons violin shop working in that shop
and being exposed to some of the highest
quality and most rare antique
instruments in the world has helped me
to further understand the AI the idea
behind design and the effort on behalf
of luthiers that has gone into
perfecting the violin my first exposure
into the world of high quality goods was
the violin making school the concept
right this idea that an object could be
designed and then created to last for
hundreds of years as a foreign concept
today or so would seem for example how
many of us are wearing moderately
uncomfortable shoes that cost very
little and soon enough we’ll end up in a
landfill the shorts shirt the piece of
jewelry the watch the appliance the car
I remember as a young person being
introduced into the world of hyper
consumerism from the electronics that I
purchased to the clothes that I wore the
cheaper the better and the shorter the
duration
you seemed to be the norm imagine my
surprise when entering the violin school
all of a sudden I was expected to create
a high-quality work of art that I hoped
would last for centuries not as a
stationary object either but as a tool
that musicians would use constantly I’ve
experienced the wisdom and this approach
not only would it help us in creating a
brighter future but the utility that we
experienced when consuming products that
are better suited for our needs
increases products would last longer
cost less over time and the materials
used in production would decrease not to
mention our current trend of hyper
consumerism is not sustainable it’s not
what would happen if we re learning
goods were and we consumed only those
Goods it’s an interesting idea one that
I’ve learned a little bit about in the
violin world as well how does this all
translate to sound behind me I have two
instruments ones of a higher quality
ones of a lower quality but which ones
the higher quality one I’ll let you
decide to help illustrate the difference
please welcome to the stage Hobe Salazar
Fonseca
[Applause]
[Music]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
ladies and gentlemen quality matters
thank you
[Applause]
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