1958 Carl Walker 4/4 Violin

Carl Walker build violins throughout the '50s from his home in Athol, MA, as far as I can find. This one is a little later-on in his work and is built from a mix of materials that are mildly-surprising in their way. First-off, the top is incredibly-tight-grain spruce and the back and sides are highly-figured maple and it features a cool backstrip on the center seam. It has hand-cut pegs, a curious maple fingerboard, and matching maple tailpiece and chinrest.

Manny had a lot of work to do on this -- repairing cracks, resetting the neck, repairing seams, fitting fine tuners, and leveling the fingerboard. I fit a new soundpost and new bridge and set it up. It's playing spot-on and ready to go.

I wish I'd had time to record a video, but suffice to say this one had a warm but clean sound with a lot of cut and clarity.