'Can anyone make a violin? A lot of purists would say no, but I think they can'

At his Limerick workshop, Ger O'Neill teaches students of all ages how to make stringed instruments, he tells BRIAN O'CONNELL

LAST YEAR an academic in France asked 21 musicians to try out some violins. Claudia Fritz, of the University of Paris, gave them three modern instruments and three valuable 18th-century models, including two rare Stradivarius violins. Players were blindfolded and asked to play and then grade each instrument.

The results, published this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed that the musicians preferred the new instruments to the older models. The two Stradivarius violins fared the worst, and none of the musicians could say whether the model they had chosen was old or new.

Taking the results of this study at face value, there is no difference between a 300-year-old violin worth hundreds of thousands of euro and a new model made with modern tools and woods. Right?

Try telling that to Ger O’Neill.

The walls inside the instrument-maker’s workshop at Limerick School of Music are sparsely covered, but one wall-hanging is hard to miss and looks emphatic in its placing. It contains pages with diagrams dating back to the 1700s and excerpts from the diaries and designs of Antonio Stradivari. Around here, the Strad is king.

At 12 workshop benches, pupils aged from 18 to 74 are busy filing pieces of wood, testing strings or looking at the progress of their designs. All stringed instruments, from harps to guitars, are attempted at some point, but every student must start by trying to make a violin.

“For craft and the sound it produces, for me the most beautiful instrument is the violin,” says O’Neill. “And Stradivari’s models are the ones we base all our designs on. As a craftsman he was flawless, beautiful and free. He had a way of working with wood that created art in itself.”

O’Neill has been teaching this class in various guises for decades, but now, thanks to the co-operation of Limerick VEC and Limerick School of Music, there is a full-time, one-year day course on offer, as well as a two-year, part-time night course.

Students can go on to careers as instrument-makers or work in the area of instrument repair. Some of the students have been doing it for several years; others will do a two-year night course and then move on to other qualifications, often abroad.

Andrew Clohessy, a retired toolmaker, is close to finishing a 34-string harp, made from walnut and spruce. Making an instrument is a slow process: O’Neill believes in giving information piece by piece and gradually building up knowledge and expertise.

Clohessy has made four violins and a classical guitar in his six years in the class. Like many of his fellow students, he doesn’t play music. “My daughter plays a harp, so hopefully this one will be played,” he says.

Across from him is one of the younger members of the group, 18-year-old Fiachra Fitzgerald. He ordered an instrument-making pack over the internet and made a Telecaster-style electric guitar in his early teens. His plan is to “incorporate this violin-making skill into electric and acoustic guitars and hopefully work with music shops as a guitar technician and in repairs”.

Fitzgerald has been interested in working with wood from a young age, and that, combined with his passion for music, led him to O’Neill’s workshop. “From the age of 10 I’ve been working with my hands, from building tree houses to small go-karts,” he says. “Over time I have learned to enjoy working with wood, and now I want to see can I make a career out of it.”

O’Neill says anyone can participate in the class, as long as they have the patience and are prepared to put in the dedication and attentiveness needed. He doesn’t accept that only those gifted with their hands can make good instruments. “I’ve had people in here from carpentry backgrounds, and they are more difficult to teach,” he says. “Can anyone make a violin? A lot of purists would say no, but I think they can. I impart a little information at a time. We complete that task and go on to the next one.”

In a corner of the room, Stephen Moloney, a 74-year-old retired farmer, and Eamon Leahy, a 65-year-old former sales representative, are putting away their tools for the day. Leahy retired last year. After a summer off, he says, he needed something to keep himself busy. “So, after the holidays, I started this course. You have to have something to do and a goal in your life. In terms of music, I can’t play anything, but I’m loving making a violin.”

Moloney, who calls himself the senior citizen of the class, is making a mandola, which he says will be his 13th instrument in seven years on the course.

“I made two mandolins, and they were the toughest, I thought. I have them at home, and I have a few grandchildren who benefit from them. When I retired from farming I could have sat home and done nothing, but I wanted to stay active. Anyone can do it if they have the time.

“I can’t play anything, although I love music. Every Christmas I say, ‘Next year I’m going to learn.’ ”

Free demonstration

Ger O’Neill’s day class meets four days a week, from 9am to 2pm, and demand has risen along with the unemployment figures. The part-time evening course takes place on Mondays and Tuesdays from 7pm to 9.30pm.

Tomorrow O'Neill will be giving a free demonstration of his teaching techniques, and displaying the work of some of his students, as part of Dublin's Temple Bar TradFest ( templebartrad.com), at Temple Bar Gallery, from 2pm.

You can find out more about O'Neill's courses at limerickschoolofmusic.ie.