The VSA/Oberlin Violinmaker’s Workshop is the world’s leading venue for professional luthiers who wish to exchange ideas, techniques and information among their peers in an open, non-competitive environment,

Now, almost two decades in existence the Oberlin Violinmaker’s Workshop began in 1997 by director Christopher Germain in response to the need for professional makers to expand their base of knowledge.  Since that time, attendees of the workshop read like a who’s who list of the world’s leading violinmakers.  The program has instituted a vast library of archival information related to stringed instruments, with photographs, measurements, tracings and castings of important violins, violas and cellos.

Beginning in 2011, the Oberlin Workshop began a project to document and copy the iconic “Betts” Stradivari violin, which is in the collection of the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.  Combining the finest traditions of handcraft with the latest scientific techniques, workshop members created a copy of the Betts, which is also now in the Library of Congress collection.

The Oberlin Violinmaker’s Workshop takes place for two weeks in June on the campus of Oberlin College in Northern Ohio.  For more information or to receive an application, please contact administrator Anna Hoffmann at:  Anna.Hoffmann@Oberlin.ed

Learn more at the Oberlin Violinmaker’s website https://www.oberlinviolinmakers.org/