Process of making
From the old masters, which luthier Edgar Russ incorporates into his style, he has learned all important secrets of the art of violin making. Over the last decades, Edgar Russ has refined his expertise to meet the demands of modern musicians.
wood selection
Edgar Russ personally selects the wood that is used for his Master Instruments and Linea Macchi instruments on frequent trips to the Val die Fiemme in Italy, where even the famous Cremonese Masters took their tonewood from. Out of hundreds of preselected trees, Edgar Russ chooses and splits the best ones, paying attention to the correct direction of the grain. Any wood that is used for creating instruments has been cured for decades outside of Cremona, at his private house.
perfect setup
Violin making is highly complex and decades of experience are required to finally come closer to a completely perfect instrument. Violin maker Master Edgar Russ spends days and nights setting up your instrument, checking and rechecking a well-balanced thickness, a well-fitted and positioned bass bar to guarantee great response, a neck in its ideal angle to achieve a balanced sound on all four strings, an absolutely accurately fitted sound post – often referred to as the soul of the violin – to help realizing the highest possible expression and a perfectly shaped fingerboard and bridge. All of this aims to obtain the best sound possible for each instrument.
handmade varnish
Great care is taken with the varnish in order to respect the perfect harmony of the instruments’ appearance and sound. Edgar Russ mostly uses oil based varnish for his Master violins, violas, cellos and double basses, which is handmade and steadily improved over years. The mixture is very close to what the great old Masters of Cremona worked with in the past. Just like them he also uses a thin protein wood preparation for his instruments. The look of your personal Master violin of Cremona can be individualized – with an antique varnish or an equally applied Cremonese varnish.
individual customizations
It is possible to customize your instrument in any way: inlays, engraving, initials, coat of arms, decorations with ebony or mother of pearl, gold leaf, gold, silver or precious stones. Please see the photographs in our instrument galleries for a better idea of the look of the instruments and possibilities for customizations.