The Luthier’s Library is a growing database providing a consistent, comprehensive and affordable source of detailed measurements, photos and information about instruments from private collections and museums.

The ability to access such information from anywhere in the world at the click of a button is unprecedented.

No collection of reference books could match the depth of information offered in the Luthier’s Library. To even begin to parallel some of the information available on the site, one would need to buy a comprehensive library of books that would cost thousands of dollars.

We are preservationists who believe that a web-based archive is invaluable to luthiers, music historians, researchers and instrument enthusiasts who are preserving and advancing the craft of violin making.

This project is especially dedicated to preserving information about historic instruments, which are fragile and often are damaged as they age. The first instrument entered into a prototype for this program -- a beautiful violin by Gennaro Gagliano – was destroyed in a house fire in 2005. The only measurements and photographs of this lost instrument are on the Luthier’s Library web site. For us, this emphasizes the importance of documenting instruments.

WHO WE ARE

Janet Starck is a violin maker and restorer with 30 years’ experience and head of the repair/restoration department at David Kerr Violin Shop in Portland, Ore.