Hand crafted in Somerset, England
Individual
Graham Vincent Violins are entirely hand made by me (Graham Vincent) in the village of Norton Sub Hamdon in Somerset, UK.
Violin pattern
My violins are not copies of any individual violin or maker. I make violins to my own pattern and I’m impressed and influenced by some of the splendid and rather individual C18th English makers – who were, in turn, most influenced by Amati.
My Background
After completing my ‘A’ Levels I studied guitar making at the London College of Furniture (subsequently renamed Guildhall University). I returned to the South West of England full of the ambition to spend my life making musical instruments. I soon realised that with my limited resources this was not going to be the road to riches – or even to a decent wage! I subsequently spent time designing and making furniture and was later employed by a local company to set up their drawing office. By the time I left a few years later, I was the design and production manager, had a load of people working for me and had all of the associated problems and headaches. This was a far cry from guitar making and I didn’t enjoy this period of my career at all. I moved to a much less politically charged and much more enjoyable and fulfilling position designing architectural joinery at a practice in Bath. The work developed across the breadth and span of domestic architecture and I went on to qualify as an Architectural Technologist with the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists. I set up in private practice in the year 2000.
This wasn’t enough for me! In 1999 I started to play the fiddle and this has blossomed, I play rather a lot of music (http://mitchellandvincent.com) and have played festivals such as Glastonbury, many folk festivals and at folk clubs across the UK. I was making and repairing violins in my spare time and I realised that the love of making instruments was still present. Violins are now my main focus. I couldn’t be happier!