Hi, my name is Doug.

Music has been in my life as long as I can remember. My earliest memory is of my mother singing to my sisters and me. I played music both in and out of school,  from fourth grade through a brief year at college. Then I dropped out to focus on a career playing bass and guitar in rock and roll.

I came to the violin later in life, both playing and building. I was a cabinetmaker for many years and had developed the tool skills that would be necessary for building violins. But playing the instrument itself had always been intimidating. When my youngest son began violin lessons, I discovered a window into the violin.
Like my father, I am a tinkerer and cannot resist disassembling things to understand how they work and how they might be improved. So naturally one day I took one apart. Then another one, an old beater that was in bad shape. I opened it up, did what I could, closed it up and gave it away. I ran across an article on how to build a violin and so I did. And then another and another. Questions arose and generous people gave me answers; and their time.
Now I find that each new instrument is an opportunity to learn, to grow, and to refine both eye and hand.