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Profile: Michael Darnton In His Own Words
Michael Darnton will be familiar to many of our readers as the author of numerous informative (and sometimes controversial) postings on internet string-related sites. In view of this, it seems that some readers might like a more complete view of this talented artisan:
Michael Darnton was born February 24, 1949, in Adrian, Michigan. He attended the University of Michigan and graduated from Thomas Jefferson College of the Grand Valley State Colleges in 1974. Initially he had a career as a photographer, doing small object photography, educational slide shows, and newspaper work, and since 1980 he has worked as an instrument maker. He and his wife Ann, have been married for 30 years, and they live in Chicago.
See examples of Michael's work here
How long have you been a violinmaker? What led you to this line of work, and what is your training?
I've been making violins since 1988. Before that I worked in repair and restoration, and before that I made guitars. My previous existence was as a newspaper photographer, but, as is common in that business, I burned out after a couple of years. When that happened I'd already been doing a little bit of instrument repair, and needing a new trade, I decided to go to guitar making school near Nashville.
It's not as strange a transition as you might think - I'd played the cello as a teenager, and had always been more interested in the instruments than the music. In fact, I'd bought a book on violinmaking when I was about 12 years old. The decision to make guitars was one of expediency: I figured there wasn't anyplace to learn to be a violin maker quickly enough, but guitar making school was only three months out of my life. When I came back from that it was only a short time before I was doing more violin repair than guitar making.
That all happened in 1980.
Then in 1984 my wife saw an article about Bein & Fushi in Chicago taking large numbers of trainees for their violin repair shop, and keeping only one or two out of each group to work permanently there. I figured that I could go down to Chicago from where I was, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, get about five months of great training at the best shop in the known universe, get rejected and fired, and come back home knowing a lot more than when I went. Unfortunately, they kept me.
I stayed there for three and a half years doing repairs and restoration, but one day I discovered that the violinmaking shop of William Harris Lee (in the same building as Bein & Fushi) was expanding, and I went down there and applied for a job. They hired me to do their repairs and setups, but I slid over into building pretty quickly, first as Will Whedbee's assistant, then making my own instruments. It was a wonderful place to learn because it's set up as a production shop, making large numbers of really excellent instruments. I picked up proficiency in a lot of specific tasks by going around and helping other makers with their work.
For instance, I got up to speed on doing neck sets and bass bars by gathering shop instruments, and fitting bars or necks onto them in groups of twelve--it's a much faster way to learn than by setting one neck every three or four weeks, as I would if I were by myself. After four years at Bill Lee's I went out on my own, and have had a shop in Chicago's loop since 1991.
How do you select your wood?
I've made well over 125 violins now, and done a lot of experimenting with different types of wood. Through experience I've learned what types work for me, and how to deal with them. A lot of violin making isn't choosing the right wood as much as it is knowing what to do with the type you have. Through the years I've standardized on certain types for certain types of instruments. My experience is that species and source is much more important than visual factors like grain widths and figure. If you look at old violins you'll see great instruments made from many visually very different woods.
Cont'd
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