The long journey to the concert hall begins here, in the rugged mountains of Central Idaho. We cut our tonewood along the 45th parallel North, the same latitude as the great Cremonese masters did hundreds of years ago. Only one out of 1000 Engelmann Spruce trees has the specific characteristics required to make great tonewood which is critical to making great sounding violins. Finding great tonewood lies in the ability to spot potential and we have developed that ability over the course of many years. Quite often we find these particular trees far away from any road or trail.
We’re probably the only tonewood suppliers in the world crazy enough to go after trees so remote but we think that it’s worth it. About 70% of our wood was carried off the mountain on Kevin’s back. Cost-effective? Not at all, but we think it’s awesome so we do it anyway. This is the wood that Kevin uses to build his violins and offers to other instrument makers to build theirs.