Hi I’m Dan, I’ve been a Violin player for over forty years from concert halls (including the Sydney Opera House), theatre groups, worship groups, folk groups and just jammin’ with friends. I started my first folk group at the tender age of 14, dabbled with the QYO and played concert master for the southside strings orchestra in my school days. I’m a Trinity College graded player, engineering professor and sports coach in a past life. I also have a current working with children Blue Card.
I completed an apprenticeship under luthier David Brown from the Montsalvat community and received a Lord Mayor’s Creative Fellowship to further my study of European violin making and restoration. My sons play the violin to, and my journey began working on their instruments and up-cycling violins in my workshop for the neighbourhood (its a shame to see a lovely violin sit in someone’s cupboard when all its needs is a little love ), when the local music shops closed.
In time its grown into a little suburban shop where you can find violins as good as new, better than new (a violins tone develops with age), antique violins, new violins and accessories.
I undertake string instrument repair and restoration and setup work for a number of music shops around Brisbane as well, and quite a few schools too.
I’m also interested in how violins work. I’ve applied my Physics brain (I have a PhD in Radio Physics) and years of working in elite sports (as a sports engineer) to understanding Violin mechanical and acoustioc properties. It turns out sound (acoustic waves) and radio waves have a lot in common, further the mechanical analysis of something like a good cricket bat, helps understand a Violin and the bow, in terms of the respective signal chain. Having a good understand of this can help you perform better as a player too i think.