This workshop starts with a brief explanation of how a violin/cello is built. We will go over the different materials and methods from start to finish.

Then you can start cutting out a sound hole in a piece of Italian spruce. We will first clean the wood surface with scraping steel. Then we will draw the sound hole on the wood. We then cut the sound hole nicely with a scroll saw, taking into account the annual rings of the wood. Then we finish with a knife/file. To protect the wood, we finally apply a layer of primer.

A violin maker is someone who builds, repairs and restores violins, violas and cellos. This is a craft that is still practiced by a small number of professionals today. A violin consists of different parts, all with very close-fitting properties, such as the bridge over which the strings lie, the sound bar and the sound post in the sound box. The type of wood is very important for the sound of the violin. The most commonly used types of wood are spruce, maple and ebony. The top is made of spruce wood and the back is cut from harder maple wood. The fingerboard, tuning pins and tailpiece are usually made of ebony. The sound holes are drawn and cut out in the top. The sound holes are necessary for good sound distribution.

Vik Vandamme (°02/09/1997 – Roeselare) completed his training in Violin Making and Restoration at the International Lutherie School in Antwerp (ILSA) in 2019. He did an internship in Oslo with the Norwegian renowned violin maker Jacob von der Lippe. This resulted in a close collaboration in which Vik builds violins and cellos on behalf of and according to a design by Jacob von der Lippe. In 2021, Vik opened his studio in Roeselare where he specializes in building new musical instruments. Since 2024, Vik has mainly made instruments based on his own models. He now has more than 20 violins/cellos that are played daily by satisfied musicians in Belgium, Norway and Germany.

This workshop is made possible by Erfgoedcel Midwest.