VIOLIN MAKER ANTON KRUTZ

ANTON KRUTZ instruments are played by numerous recording artists including LEILA JOSEFOWICZ, JOHN HARTFORD, and are also played by many soloists and professional musicians worldwide including members of the Boston Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Kansas City Symphony, Amsterdam Opera, Louisiana Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Gothenburg Symphony, Spokane Symphony, Salt Lake City Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Naples Philharmonics, and many more. ANTON KRUTZ instruments range in price from a modest $12,000 for violin, $12,000 for viola, $20,000 for cello, $21,000 for gamba bass, and $24,000 for cornered bass. If you are interested in purchasing an Anton Krutz instrument you can speak with Anton directly by calling (913) 677-0400 or by emailing Anton via his preferred and fastest response email which is [email protected], via the Anton Krutz instrument request form at http://www.kcstrings.com/write-request.html, or through MySpace :) VIOLIN MAKER ANTON KRUTZ was born in Leningrad, Russia, into a family rich in musical history. Two of his grandparents were Leningrad conservatory graduates and both parents were music majors as well. Grandfather LEV KRUTZ was a violinist with the Leningrad Symphony Orchestra. During one of the darkest hours of WWII, he participated in the historic debut of the Leningrader Symphony by DIMITRY SHOSTAKOVICH. This live broadcast inspired all of Russia. ANTON KRUTZ began making violins at age twelve in Kansas City, apprenticing to master luthier EARSEL ATCHLEY. (the first American to enter a Quartet in an International European making competition). He attended and graduated from the internationally known Violin Making School of America in Salt Lake City and then concentrated on the restoration of valuable instruments. Working in different prestigious shops across the country he ended up in the violin shop of PHILIP INJEAN across from Carnegie Hall and then with the DAVID GAGE Bass shop in New York.. ANTON KRUTZ later moved to Kansas City to join his father MISHA KRUTZ and cabinet maker RICK WILLIAMS in opening K.C. Strings violin shop. ANTON KRUTZ now builds his own instruments and enjoys an international reputation. His instruments are owned and played by many of today's prominent musicians. ANTON KRUTZ instruments bring together the best in materials, design and construction to create the powerful, expressive sound sought by soloists and professional ensemble players. Master Luthier ANTON KRUTZ personally crafts these instruments, beginning with his selection of acoustically vibrant curly maple and spruce from K.C. Strings' carefully aged stock. His craftsmanship includes precise arching and graduations and a unique mineral ground and varnish treatment that gives each instrument its timbre and Bel Canto voice, similar to that of the fine Italian masters.-------------------------- Geometry Principles The "Golden Proportion" was widely used by renaissance artists. Luthiers used Golden Proportion geometry to visually and acoustically construct their instruments.Varnish Traditions Although the Cremonese makers created different models and arches, their instruments have in common a depth and richness of sound that is best described as a Bel Canto voice. This was due to the application of an opaque mineral layer which became transparent when impregnated with varnish. This coating on an instrument's surface accentuates the color-palette of sound, while filtering the shrill overtones.These principles and traditions are alive in the violins, violas, cellos and basses made by ANTON KRUTZ. When played together they produce an unparalleled unity of sound.MUSICIAN'S TESTIMONIALSPlaying ANTON KRUTZ Instruments------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- JOSEPH SWENSEN - Touring Soloist "The violin is truly beautiful. I hope to take it with me on many tours this year. The presenter of the concert in Bamberg,(Germany) actually was convinced it was a great STRADIVARIUS..."-------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------LEILA JOSEFOWICZ - Touring Soloist "...I have found it sounds wonderful. It is amazingly responsive and resonant; the lower strings are very rich, and it produces a lot of volume throughout all ranges."---------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------MICHAEL KARLSON - Concertmaster, Gothenburg Symphony , Gothenberg, Sweden The violin's" ...Beautifully rich sound was coupled with an extraordinarily powerful tone that carried out in the concert hall. I am more than happy to play exclusively on KRUTZ violins."--------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------------WENDY PUTNAM - Violinist and Soloist, Boston Symphony Former Concertmaster, Louisiana Philharmonic. "The opportunity to buy well made instruments with an extraordinarily good sound at an affordable price is extremely unusual and important to me. These violins are of the highest quality and are comparable to Italian instruments."----------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------- ALAN HEATHERINGTON - violinist and conductor of The Chicago String Ensemble "This violin is excellent"-------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ -----------------------------------------------------------J OHN HARTFORD - Nashville folk musician "Thank you for the wonderful violin you made. I've used it on every show I've played since I've got it"--------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------BING LIU - Co-Concertmaster of the Arkansas Symphony "I am very happy and satisfied to play your violin at a highest level, it is gorgeous - both the sound and the looks, it's the violin for my job and personal enjoyment for years to come".------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------MICHAEL FERNANDEZ -Principal Violist, Alabama Symphony "The combination of visual beauty is unsurpassed and a joy on which to perform.. The combination of richness of sound, projection and ease of response are simply unparalleled". VARNISH: Personal Reflections by Anton Krutz Like most luthiers I have experimented for years with different grounds and varnishes. I've accidentally had cooking resins explode, blown a hole in my wall, caught my leg on fire, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. All in the name of finding "The Great Look!" For those not familiar with the term "ground"; it is the sealer that goes on top of the bare wood before the varnish is applied. As far as I am concerned, it is the most important variable in the finishing process. The ground is actually what gives varnish its luster, beauty, and a look of depth, as well as improving the sound of the instrument itself. The ground achieves this by a multi-process application: First, I apply an organic layer, which colors the wood, giving it a golden brown refractive sheen. Second, I seal it with a clear (fresco painters) casein. This is what hardens the outer surface of the wood, makes it impermeable to moisture, and most importantly gives it a coat uniformity.For example, imagine a mattress with individual coil springs. Those springs are like the cells in wood. If you lay down on the springs without having a one piece spring net on top connecting all of them, then you will only strongly compress the springs you're laying on. But, if that spring net was there, then your weight or force you were exerting would to an extent, be distributed among all the springs. The same concept applies to instrument plates, especially the top plate. Each note causes different sections of the plate to vibrate, so the casein film helps distribute those vibrations to the whole plate. Improper grounds are why many instruments do not improve and even wear out with time, especially the factory made ones which usually have no ground at all. Last, I apply a layer of fused amber on top of a fresco layer of lime. This accentuates the figure in the wood and adds dichroism, which is the bending of light as it enters (the ground in this case) and is refracted out.The emphasis of most books and topics of discussion is on varnish though. Its function is to protect the instrument, provide a colored transparent film to accentuate the ground, and not be constrictive to the plates' vibrations. The latter of its functions eliminates all spirit and lac varnishes. Those varnishes are as restrictive as a tight trench coat around an athlete.That leaves oil varnish. The oil varnish I use now is a simple one of fused amber and sun-thickened linseed oil. Several lightfast (primary colors of) red and blue pigments and lakes are used for richness of final color. But there are tons of recipes and I sure feel like I tried a hell of a lot of them.When I first started experimenting, the goal was to make the varnish rather than the ground have the refraction and dichroism, through chemical reactions etc. Since most of the authors were convinced the answers to "The Great Look" lay in the varnish, all kinds of exotic procedures were found to torture the varnish and its prosecutor as well. Many of the procedures were tedious, time consuming, and inconsistent. One time after five hours of preparation I overcooked some varnish by two minutes. It turned into unliquifiable solid mass.INSANE! Its ironic how even after five hundred years of instrument making and countless volumes of written material on the subject, luthiers are still experimenting. Looking at other professions one can see standards that are followed. If a better process is discovered and proven to be effective, it then becomes the standard. Not so in violinmaking. Every luthier has their own personal varnish war stories and secret victory recipes.