Local Violin Makers Strive to Perfect an Ancient Art

Local Violin Makers Strive to Perfect an Ancient Art

by Ed Yashinsky

To the untrained eye, every violin looks about the same. Sure, there might be slight variations in color or size, but basically each violin mirrors other violins. But take the opportunity to gaze into a display case full of violins and study for a few moments the perfection of the lines or the extraordinary detail, and you can begin to appreciate this ancient instrument’s true beauty.

Or perhaps the violin’s beauty can best be understood when a master violinist’s hand glides up the neck at lightning speed to create an aural landscape that leaves an audience mesmerized.

But long before the display case was filled or the violinist drew his bow across the strings, each violin was nothing more than an old piece of wood sitting on a tool-strewn workbench waiting to be carved, glued and stained so it could be brought to life.

Violin making is not a particularly glamorous career. It is grueling work that requires dexterous hands and hundreds of hours to create the approximately one hundred pieces that make up a single violin. However, the rewards for such time can be staggering if the violin maker possesses the required talents to master this craft.

For reasons unknown, the central part of the state is home to at least six violin shops. Some small part-time shops may only make a few violins a year, while larger shops will create more than fifty. But if you consider some locally-made violins fetch more than $10,000, it’s incredible that this region can sustain so many shops.

Although all the area violin shops offer handcrafted instruments, two in particular–Chimney’s Violin Shop and M.W. Sheibley Violin Shop–are truly remarkable for both their quality of work and the people who oversee them.

Edward Campbell and Michael Sheibley are as different as day and night. The ironic thing is that Campbell, 68, continues to introduce science and engineering into violin making, while Sheibley, 33, delves into the violin’s rich history for his inspiration. Each man respects the other, but at the same time each one believes his methods are the best.

"I inherited a violin from my neighbor when I was 13 and it quickly became my passion," says Campbell, while talking about his introduction to the instrument. "To this day, I still consider myself a violinist as well as a violin maker."

When he acquired that first violin Campbell was just a player, but once he began doing some minor repair work he knew he wanted to build violins. Unfortunately World War II, and a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, interrupted his plans. "It was a blessing in disguise, because when I returned home I was able to go to Penn State University on the GI Bill," recalls Campbell, from the sprawling farmhouse just outside Boiling Springs that houses the Chimney’s Violin Shop.

While at Penn State, Campbell not only worked toward his Industrial Engineering degree, but he also took any class that would help him better understand the violin. "The thing to remember is that most of the violin’s major developments occurred within the first four generations of violin makers," explains Campbell. "The first violin was commissioned by King Charles IX of France in 1575, and just three generations later Stradivarius developed all the monumental developments that are still used today. The problem is that by the late 1700s, the master violin makers were dying off and not passing on their techniques and secrets. Between 1750 and 1950, outside of a few sparks of genius, violins stayed very similar and very ordinary."

When he graduated college in 1955, Campbell decided he was going to introduce engineering theory into violin making. "As an apprentice I learned everything I needed to know about the mechanics of the violin, but I knew that learning more about sound would build a better violin," explains Campbell.

So Campbell and several colleagues have spent several decades studying the violin’s sound. Their ongoing research concluded that there are six specific tonal frequencies (eigenmodes) present in every plate (the violin’s front and back). On the third floor of Campbell’s shop, each handmade plate is placed on foam pads directly above an eight-inch speaker and ordinary red sparkles are sprinkled across the plate. As Campbell sets the tone generator to one of the eigenmode frequencies, the sparkles gravitate into an X pattern showing that the violin plate is tonally sound. "Every plate is tested for these eigenmodes," explains Campbell. "The technology has gotten so good that a deaf person could make a perfect sounding violin."

Campbell’s track record, which includes the creation of 184 violins, violas, and cellos, can attest to his expertise. He has won three Gold Medals for Tone from the Violin Society of America, and fourteen grand prizes from the Arizona Violin Makers Association Competition. It has also led to neverending treks around the world teaching his techniques, and an apprenticeship program in his shop that passes those techniques onto other students. (Each apprentice makes 18 instruments over a four-year period.) "The top violin players in the world use my instruments and the rewards are important," says Campbell, "but it is just as important to educate others about this process."

As Campbell reaches the latter stages of his career, his sense of purpose has changed little, and he is still committed to violin making. "Life has lots of twists and turns in it, and a whole lot of accidents," says Campbell, "but nothing has been big enough to take me away from doing this. I think I have another good twenty years left in me."

Unlike Campbell, whose refined personality and quiet demeanor fit perfectly with the science he uses in creating violins, Mike Sheibley seems driven solely by the passion of his work. "I once made a violin in four and a half days," explains Sheibley, as he hand rolls a cigarette from a tin of Drum Tobacco while taking a short break from his work. "I didn’t sleep the entire time. I had to complete that violin."

As you approach Sheibley’s shop, which sits in a quiet neighborhood less than a half-block from a major traffic artery in Mechanicsburg, you would never guess what goes on in the brown and tan ranch-style home. A small sign on the door proclaims "The Littles," (obviously a remnant from former owners) but as you walk into Sheibley’s work area you quickly notice his passion–several dozen violin plates lay out on a central work area and hundred of scrolls (the violin’s head piece) hang from rope strung around the room just below ceiling level. Along a wall of windows three benches provide a home for Sheibley, his assistant and an apprentice.

To say that Sheibley is married to his work might be the understatement of the year. He’s in the shop about 12 hours a day, seven days a week and he still can’t keep up with the demand for his instruments. "Since 1989, I’ve made more than 600 violins and the only ones that are not sold are ones I choose to keep," explains Sheibley. "I would make more instruments if I could, but we do restoration work on violins from around the world and people who have damaged instruments usually require immediate attention."

To understand Sheibley’s work ethic, you have to go back to his grade school years. "I wanted to play another instrument, but in fourth grade you were only allowed to play the violin," explains Sheibley. "I took it home and got really frustrated because I couldn’t get any sound out of it. So my parents took me to Cagnoli Music in Hershey. The salesman put a little rosin on the bow and I was able to play it. I was amazed and immediately hooked."

So hooked in fact that at ten years of age Sheibley was buying old violins at flea markets and ripping them apart to see how they were built. He would then put them back together and refurbish them. By the time he was 16 or 17, Sheibley built his first violin.

To master the craft, Sheibley moved to Europe for his apprenticeship and studied under Gottfried Raabs in Beubenreuth, Germany–a sleepy town of 4,000 residents that boasts approximately 800 stringed instrument shops. After completing his apprenticeship in 1993, Sheibley could have taken his talents almost anywhere in the world, but he decided to return to Central Pennsylvania.

Today, Sheibley makes original instruments as well as exact replicas of classic violins. His Stradivari replicas, which cost in the neighborhood of $15,000, even sport an identical label inside the f-hole of the violin. (Each violin is sold with a certificate of authenticity stating that it is a replica model.) "I really enjoy making custom pieces, in fact I usually make several identical violins so the customer can choose the one that best suits," explains Sheibley. "But recreating the classic designs is also exciting. Many people want to own these classic violins, but the original can cost almost $2 million. I can offer them a replica that can fool an expert."

Sheibley employs a production method in which he divides different tasks among his staff to create a single violin. Although different individuals work on different sections, Sheibley oversees the entire process and applies all the final touches. While some violin makers think this method destroys the quality of the instrument, Sheibley has not had any difficulty garnering major awards for his work, including a Bronze Medal and special prize (first place tone for viola and violin/second place workmanship for violia and sixth place workmanship for violin) from the 1993 Mittenwald International Violin Making Competition in Germany, Certificate of Tone award from the 11th Violin Society of America International Violin Making Competition and the Certificate of Tone award from the 12th Violin Society of America International Violin Making Competition.

Because of his apprenticeship, Sheibley often returns to Europe for competitions, educational opportunities and supplies, but he is also committed to creating a more fertile environment to music in this area. "We’ve recently decided to sponsor a fifteen to seventeen piece chamber orchestra that will be based in this area," explains Sheibley. "This will be a great opportunity for truly talented individuals. Our first concert will be this December. Our goal is to created an ensemble of national acclaim in a few years."

Although he is quite a few years younger than Campbell, Sheibley is just as sure that he made the right choice in becoming a violin maker. "I probably would have been dead by now if I didn’t find this profession," explains Sheibley. "If I had to be doing something else, I would probably spend a lot of time digging in my backyard, which I tend to do when I’m not making violins."