Luthier hits the right note as sales soar
A luthier who crafts instruments costing nearly £10,000 from wood she travels around Europe to choose has seen interest increase as lockdown hobbies surge.
Mum-of-one Sheena Laurie, 43, has been making violins, violas, and cellos for more than ten years and makes each violin from wood picked by hand around Europe.
She sold her first instrument to Scots folk musician Brian Mcneil in 2004, and due to the amount of work involved only makes around three a year with each one costing around £7,500.
She sells instruments as far away as America, but builds them in a workshop in Doune, Stirling.
Sheena said: "I think during lockdown people realised it gave them a lot of pleasure and satisfaction to play an instrument, so the interest went up.
"I only sell about three to six instruments a year, due to how much work I put into each one.
"I spend about three months making each instrument, which can be hard due to demand from musicians.
"We used to spend our summersgoingaroundeuropevisitingthewoodyardsandwould select each piece by hand."
Sheena learnt violin at school while growing up in
Bearsden, Glasgow, but wasn't good enough to be a professional musician. But she saw an ad for a violinmaking course at Anniesland
College, Glasgow, and decided to enroll.
She said: "When I was eight years old I made a cardboard violin. Looking back I was probably interested from then.
"I took violin lessons at school, I always had a love for instruments. It was when I saw that advert in my early 20s however, it all made sense what I wanted to do.
"I didn't know violin making was a thing, you don't hear about trades like that.
"Everything fitted into place once I saw that article about the course."
Sheena went down south after her course ended and studied at Newark School of Violin Making in
Nottinghamshire, then working in London, then Italy.
She then returned to Scotland and started her violinmaking business 11 years ago.
Husband Bill, 64, would help her to choose the wood on their summer holidays and the couple own a workshop space in Doune, Stirlingshire, where they repair and restore instruments.
The violins are about 14 inches in length and the back, sides, and neck are made up of maple and sycamore wood, while the front is made up of pine tree European spruce.
Sheena said: "My most famous buyer was probably Brian Mcneil, a famous folk player.
"He bought the very first one I made, while I was still at Newark College in Nottingham.
"He played it at a college exhibition we had on and instantly fell in love with it.
"I love the whole aspect of my work. You can get so absorbed in making something from scratch.
"I love bringing satisfaction to musicians when I see their faces light up when trying out a new violin.
"As someone who's not a great musician, it gives me great pleasure that I can sit back and hear the music I've helped produce through my designs."