Handcrafted violins take six months to make, but bring timeless joy

Richard Hall sits tapping his foot and plucking a banjo in the front window of his music store on the main street of South Gippsland's Korumburra. Out the back is his workshop — a warm space covered in pots of glue, wood shavings, planes of all sizes and stringed instruments at various stages of completion. When he's not noodling on his banjo and making another instrument, Mr Hall is normally fielding sales from punters off the street, or shooting the breeze with musicians who drift in through the front door. But for the past six months, the 59-year-old has been hard at work on a new project, handcrafting a bespoke violin using Australian hardwood. And he's just about ready to hand it over to its new owner. The violin has been hand crafted over the course of months, using traditional woodworking techniques. (ABC News: Madeleine Stuchbery)'I just liked making things' Salted throughout Mr Hall's life is a love of music and guitars: he learnt first how to build guitars fresh out of school, aged 19.Then came the music lessons, which would put him on the path to becoming a workshop owner decades later.Interspersed among it all was a myriad of jobs, including teaching woodworking at a high school. Just like his instruments, it all came together in the end. "All along in the background, I had a little workshop, and I just liked making things using my cabinet-making skills that I learned all those years ago," Mr Hall said. Richard Hall owns a music shop in a country Victorian town. (ABC News: Madeleine Stuchbery)When his son, Tony, started playing the violin, the call of the workshop proved too strong to resist. He would mend and repair Tony's violins in the shed, scratching an itch to create. Tony went on to learn to play viola, and now plays in a Finnish chamber orchestra. "All the while I was tinkering away in the shed, trying to make instruments that would keep up with his level," Mr Hall said. "I still haven't got there yet." The lure of the luthier Local fiddle player Ellen Hubble walked through the doors of Mr Hall's shop, Black Creek Music Merchants, on its opening day. She immediately commissioned a violin from Mr Hall, and has waited months for it to be ready to play. "We were pretty excited there was a music store, particularly a luthier," Ms Hubble said."And certainly from my point of view, a violin maker, so close in the area." Ms Hubble's connection to the violin runs deep. Her opa was a German-Jewish refugee who arrived with his wife and daughter with minimal possessions.He did, however, have a violin. It wasn't until she was in her late 40s that she first started learning to play the instrument. Ellen Hubble ordered a bespoke violin from Black Creek Music Merchants the first day the store was open. (ABC News: Madeleine Stuchbery)Ms Hubble and her husband are now regulars on the local music scene, and are key organisers of the recent Wonthaggi Accoustic Music Festival."The music that is played at country dance was accessible to us," she said."We thought, if other people can play these tunes, then it must be accessible music."Having a bespoke instrument made using Australian timber was a "once-in-a-lifetime experience", Ms Hubble said. "These instruments are personal, and they're handed down through generations."Once in a lifetimeMr Hall was nervous on the day he was due to hand over Ms Hubble's new violin. He was worried about how his custom piece would be received. "I took it home [when it was finished] to wait for my son, who is a good player," he said. Handcrafted using Australian hardwood, Ellen Hubble's custom violin is now complete. (ABC News: Madeleine Stuchbery)"He was about four hours later than I expected, and I was just pacing the floor. Eventually he came home, and I handed him the violin. He played it, and we were happy," he said. Holding her new violin for the first time brought tears to Ms Hubble's eyes and a sense of responsibility. "I hope I do it justice in playing it," she said. "It's beautiful. It's hard to believe it's Australian. What a beautiful mixture of Australian materials and European style. "I can't believe how much skill and expertise has gone into it. It's beautiful."From having photos of the timber selected for her instrument texted to her, to being invited to view the building process, Mr Hall and Ms Hubble have walked in step throughout the violin-making process. Ms Hubble said the process reflected the open, generous spirit of Mr Hall's music merchant store. "The fact that people can come in here, to a live, living music shop, is really lovely. Musicians come here, and it's an amazing, unique place to be," she said. "Everyone who walks in here is incredibly welcomed. It's a treat to come up and visit Mr Hall and the shop."