Adrien B Chandler

The Detroit News

December 31, 1995

Caption: Gregg Alf, left, and Joseph Curtin work out of an Ann Arbor home where they create replicas of Stradivarius and Guarneri violins.

Gregg Alf cradles a piece of unfinished lumber in his hands, examining it for flaws and grain quality.

He says only one in a hundred pieces of select maple and spruce wood will qualify to reproduce the sound and feel of a 250-year-old Stradivarius violin.

Alf, 38, and his partner Joseph Curtin, 42, are master craftsmen, using wood, stains, strings, varnish and a wealth of skill, passion and patience to fashion what some say are among the finest violins in the world.

The two men have been partners in Ann Arbor for 10 years. They have their own signature line of hand-made instruments, but their shop, Curtin & Alf, tucked away inside a renovated home near the University of Michigan campus, is gaining renown for crafting replicas of priceless antique violins.

Only several hundred of the instruments made by master Italian craftsmen such as Stradivarius and Guarneri are left in the world. They carry price tags of $3 million to $4 million. It's no small feat to duplicate one and no less a feat to assure a collector or a performer the original instrument will be in good hands.

"When someone gives you their Guarneri, not only are they giving you a piece of history, they're also giving you something irreplaceable," said Alf. "There's an incredible relationship that an artist develops with their instruments. It's like a marriage. So many times they've walked out on stage, vulnerable, and the violin is there ... to help support them in their work."

The two men have earned the respect and praise of the virtuosos who have commissioned replicas from them. Concert violinist Zvi Zeitlin allowed them to copy his prized $3 million Guarneri violin.

"A violin made in 1734, while over the years has appreciated like art work, there is also a certain depreciation," said Zeitlin. "There will be a time when they're no longer serviceable. There is a limit to their durability."

He's had his copy since April 1994 and he said he's delighted with it.

"Not only is the violin a work of art, it's a tool of my trade," he said. "To have a magnificent copy that is brand new is a wonderful thing. It retains much of the original quality. I don't know what the Guarnerius sounded like when it was (new). I know how the copy sounds, which is tremendous.

"Maybe 200 years from now, they (Curtin and Alf) will have comparable standing. There are many violin makers in the world, but these are quite exceptional."

The art of duplicating the classic violins blends old world craftsmanship and high-tech skills. First the craftsmen make a rubber cast of the original, a method they say they pioneered. The compound is so sensitive, it can pick up every tiny detail of the wood grain or even a fingerprint.

They and their staff also meticulously measure and catalogue every inch of the violin before it is returned. Once they have the blueprint, they search for wood, sometimes combing the world for material that as closely matches the grain pattern of the original as possible.

From start to finish, it will take several months to finish a replica, which costs $40,000 to $50,0000. Each piece of wood, which they season themselves, is hand carved. The stain is applied and varnishes are cured in such a way as to complete the duplication.

"You can't just do it and say, 'That is how it came out,'" said Alf. "Each stroke of the chisel has to be done exactly the same way and shape."

But these are not just technically accurate copies. Curtin and Alf invariably put their own artistic stamp on the work.

"Copying an old violin is about as close as either one of us can get right now to apprenticing with one of the masters," Alf said. "It's ingraining classic Italian violin-making into our own work."

"When you're copying, there's always something of yourself in the work," Curtin noted.

Adrien Chandler is a Metro Detroit free-lance writer.

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