Another string to the bow

For British luthier Roger Hansell, a chance teenage encounter led to a lifetime devoted to making the perfect violin, discovers Harry Pearson

- Harry Pearson

AS a teenage student at London's Central School of Art and Design, Roger Hansell's life was changed by a chance encounter at the V&A Museum. 'I was looking around at the paintings and sculptures when I came upon a 1699 violin by Antoni Stradivari. I was transfixed,' he recalls. 'It was so organic and so totally itself. I loved the work of J. M. W. Turnerthe luminosity he created by the layering of paint. I saw the same thing in the Stradivari, the way the multiple layers of varnish interacted with the natural tones of the wood. It was scintillating and, right away, I wanted to find out how it was achieved.' Mr Hansell grew up on a farm in Swainby, North Yorkshire. He had spent his boyhood carving stone heads-'most of them fell apart,' he laughs and tinkering in the farm's workshops. After his experience at the V&A, he cycled around the specialist shops of London acquiring materials. Disappearing into his flat, he emerged a few weeks later with his first violin. Mr Hansell modestly dismisses the idea that, for someone with no formal training in carpentry, this was an amazing feat. 'In woodworking terms, it is not all that complicated.

It is easy to make a violin,' he believes. 'What is hard is to make a good one. Everything in life is simple, unless you have high standards.' This man's standards were very high indeed.

Although his initial effort may not have won any prizes, he persisted. Today, Mr Hansell is acknowledged to be one of the finest luthiers of his generation. For the past 37 years, from his workshop in Leyburn in the Yorkshire Dales, he has been creating violins, violas and cellos for some of the most prestigious players around the world.

'One of the first really major works I undertook was for Moray Welsh, principal cellist with the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO),' reveals Mr Hansell. 'He asked me to make a copy of his 1705 Matteo Goffriller cello, which was a superb instrument. I studied every part of that cello.