My name is Georg Meibus and I'm a master violin maker.
I make in my shop not only concert quality violins, violas and cellos, but also I offer
student quality instruments of all kinds.
I love working with my hands.
It's a very personal thing for me because I'm able to shape wood and try to give it
the harmony I'm looking for.
I listen to the noise it makes while I'm working on it with my tools.
This is also a big reason why I don't use electronic tools.
I can't hear over the noise what the wood is telling me.
This is essential information I need to work each piece of wood to its best to unlock the
way it wants to be treated.
The secret of the sound lies in the construction of the instrument.
The violin is more than the sum of its parts.
What in the end makes out the character of the instrument is not the parts, but the harmony
of the parts.
This is what has to be achieved and if you achieve this, the sound becomes really soulful
and meaningful.
These kind of results you don't get from commercially built instruments.
Mass produced parts, they don't work well because they don't have any soul.
This is in the end the reason for creating my own instruments.
Parts which have been prefabricated cannot achieve this.
There are too many variables and seemingly unimportant pieces which become in this process
very important.
The smallest detail in the end can switch the outcome so everything has to be worked
over and controlled by one person.
The really good sound though comes from the relationship of the top with the back.
Both these parts have to vibrate in harmony to create a sound which is free of all noise
and has a beautiful character.
In the end we all use wood, glue and varnish.
So what we produce can be very similar yet at the same time very different.
You don't buy the brand, you buy the violin, each individual violin.
You have to test each individual violin against other instruments you might think sound very
good.
