Howery Violins

Welcome to Howery Violins.

Will Howery is a violinmaker and luthier working and living on Amelia Island. He also plays violin with the Amelia Island String Ensemble.

Hand crafted Violins and Violas direct from the maker that you can afford. Please look at the Rental/Purchase information!

My Violin Studio is at my residence. When you plan to visit, please make an appointment via The Shop Appointment Calendar. Thank You.

Will’s Blogs

Juliet graduating on top spruce just about done… A little more on the back plate and I start cutting the F-Holes

Juliet graduating on top spruce just about done… A little more on the back plate and I start cutting the F-Holes #violinJuliet #violin #violinist #violinmaker #luthier #varnish #howeryviolins #northFlorida #florida #ameliaisland #fernandinabeach #florida #newsbrunswick #savannah #jacksonville #saintAugustine #stmarys #southerngeorgia #NYC #NewYork #RiversideOrchestra

October 15, 2015
Chamber Music Society! I went to Bruce Adolphe’s lecture Wed. On Ravel. Fascinating and Funny… A must for any music lover in NYC. http://www.chambermusicsociety.org/artists/artist/bruce_adolphe

Chamber Music Society! I went to Bruce Adolphe’s lecture Wed. On Ravel. Fascinating and Funny… A must for any music lover in NYC. http://www.chambermusicsociety.org/artists/artist/bruce_adolphe #chambermusicsociety #NYC #cms #howeryviolins #violin #classicalmusic #chambermusic

October 10, 2015
Last night was my first rehearsal with the Riverside orchestra on the upper West side of New York city. We rehearsed Mozart’s Symphony No 35. I played my violin Helena. If you are in the city don’t miss our concert on November 6 at 7:30 PM http://www.riversideorchestra.org/rehearsals-1/

Last night was my first rehearsal with the Riverside orchestra on the upper West side of New York city. We rehearsed Mozart’s Symphony No 35. I played my violin Helena. If you are in the city don’t miss our concert on November 6 at 7:30 PM http://www.riversideorchestra.org/rehearsals-1/ #violinHelena #violin #violinist #violinmaker #luthier #varnish #howeryviolins #northFlorida…

October 6, 2015
Howery Violins is operational on the Upper West Side of NYC! Everything came through the air travel thanks to Delta’s fine service. Now I can get back to finishing graduations on Karl and Juliet

Howery Violins is operational on the Upper West Side of NYC! Everything came through the air travel thanks to Delta’s fine service. Now I can get back to finishing graduations on Karl and Juliet! #violinKarl #violinJuliet #violin #violinist #violinmaker #luthier #varnish #howeryviolins #northFlorida #florida #ameliaisland #fernandinabeach #newsbrunswick #savannah #jacksonville #saintAugustine #stmarys #southerngeorgia #NYC #NewYork

October 4, 2015
Howery Violins is moving to New York City for a couple of months! Sinda my actor partner and best friend is auditioning and taking Actor Master classes, I’m playing, making, and meeting other contemporary makers! All packed with: my tool chest containing luthier tools, two violins and necks to carve and set (Karl and Juliet), one violin to play and one to sell. Maybe two to sell

Howery Violins is moving to New York City for a couple of months! Sinda my actor partner and best friend is auditioning and taking Actor Master classes, I’m playing, making, and meeting other contemporary makers! All packed with: my tool chest containing luthier tools, two violins and necks to carve and set (Karl and Juliet),…

October 2, 2015
Polishing violin Edward. This is the second in a series of videos that illustrate the polishing process used between coats of violin oil varnish. The oil varnish comes from from violinvarnish.com. The first in the series is at: http://instagram.com/p/760_FXI2TD/ You can view the entire video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDy-Sj9bm_c

Polishing violin Edward. This is the second in a series of videos that illustrate the polishing process used between coats of violin oil varnish. The oil varnish comes from from violinvarnish.com. The first in the series is at: http://instagram.com/p/760_FXI2TD/ You can view the entire video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDy-Sj9bm_c #violinedward #violin #violinist #violinmaker #luthier #varnish #howeryviolins #northFlorida…

October 2, 2015
Happy day working in my violin shop🎻 The final cleanup on Ivan getting ready for the balsam ground

Happy day working in my violin shop🎻 The final cleanup on Ivan getting ready for the balsam ground. #violin #violinist #violinmaker #luthier #varnish #howeryviolins #northFlorida #florida #ameliaisland #fernandinabeach #florida #newsbrunswick #savannah #jacksonville #saintAugustine #stmarys #southerngeorgia #violinivan

September 30, 2015
New header on my website: howeryviolins.com

New header on my website: howeryviolins.com. #violin #violinist #violinmaker #luthier #varnish #howeryviolins #northFlorida #florida #ameliaisland #fernandinabeach #florida #newsbrunswick #savannah #jacksonville #saintAugustine #stmarys #southerngeorgia

September 29, 2015
Fernandina Beach Friends of the Library benefit. Playing George and helping raise funds for our fantastic local library

Fernandina Beach Friends of the Library benefit. Playing George and helping raise funds for our fantastic local library. #violinist #fernandinabeach #library #northflorida #violinGeorge #southgeorgia #jacksonville #savannah #newbrunswick #violin #luthier #violinmaker #howeryviolins

September 27, 2015
Scrolls right and left for George

Scrolls right and left for George. #violin #violinmaker #violinGeorge #luthier #howeryviolins #northflorida #ameliaisland #fernandinabeach #jacksonville #southgeorgia #savannah

September 26, 2015

Will’s Blog Posts:

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The Making Violin #6, Fiona Started today

Sound Testing #5 Edward With #5, Edward, playable in the white, I did a set of recordings for comparison to when Edward will have his varnish on. The recordings consist of a set of open string bowings; G, D, A, E and then a D major scale, and a three octave A major scale. The…

May 10, 2014
Edward #5 Setup to Play his first tunes

Today Edward, Violiln #5, was setup and played in the white. Edward was started in February of 2014. When I went to the Tuscon violin making workshop, Edward’s ribs were done and the plate edges were trimmed. Today setup was completed in the white, prior to varnishing. The reason I’m setting up Edward before varnishing…

May 9, 2014
Today I played a completed Howery Violin!!!

Finally after several years of study, 2 workshops, months of trail and error varnishing; I’ve finished Diana #4. She is varnished, setup, and played!!! Claude #3 will be completed later this week. I wasn’t content with the color and stripped him to do a second run, which came out very nice. I will say that…

April 5, 2014
Claude getting some color

After many false starts and learning many new things about color theory, oil painting, glazing, etc etc my violins are starting to look like violins.

April 5, 2014
Varnishing Beatrice

Finally at the stage of varnishing my early violins. The following photos show the varnishing stages of Beatrice my second violin. This photo shows Beatrice with two coats of cold rolled linseed oil. I actually use the food grade fax oil from the health food store. Also she has two clear coats of a oil…

November 17, 2013
Day Ten of Violin Making Workshop

Today is that point where we cut holes in the front of the violin plate which we just spent 4 days making contoured, inlaid, smoothed, and very thin. We are going to draw intricately curved lines, drill four holes in the middle of the plate, cut between the holes with a jewelers fret saw, and…

August 2, 2013
Day Eight of the Violin Making Workshop

Days 7&8 were spent shaping the outer curves of the top and bottom plates. With the purfling done, the height of the outer edges is set. The purfling line will be gouged down with a small gouge (approx 6mm) and then a larger gouge will carry the curve into the body of the plate a…

July 31, 2013
Day Three of the Violin Making Workshop

Three days of learning and building. We started by making a model template out of aluminum, transfering that to a plywood mold, making and gluing top, bottom, and corner blocks, thinning the side pieces, bending and gluing the side pieces to the mold,putting linings on the bottom side of the mold. Then…

July 26, 2013
Violin Making Bibliography

Since I was in my teens I’ve dreamed of making a violin. My first book on the subject was a Christmas gift from my Dad when I was 20 years old along with a scooping gouge for hollowing a violin plate. Dad was an avid wood worker until a stroke took away his coordination in…

June 21, 2013
Launching Howery Violins Word Press site

Until this point in time, Howery Violins has had a face book presence at facebook.com/howeryviolins, now a WordPress site is being built to carry the blogs, news and happenings of William Howery’s journey in violin making

May 28, 2013