I have lived in Oregon for over sixty years; in the Portland area for the last 55 (as of Summer 2021). My training as a luthier has been mostly informal, as I did not begin lutherie until I was in my mid-forties. I could not afford to drop everything and run off to school, as I had a family, a job, and a home to maintain. Therefore, much of my training came from books, initially.

The Johnson-Courtnall book, The Art of Violin Making, helped, in conjunction with posters from "The Strad" magazine. Henry Strobel's books (all of them) provided very helpful instruction.

Facebook profile

Update Share

Commissions Report

Building custom handmade instruments, Double bass, violin, viola, cello, five string fiddle, etc. The customer must anticipate that, anything I have not already made (and have in stock) OR anything that is outside my usual standard work will be considered custom work. They charge a non-refundable down-payment to get your name on the waiting list, and then full payment upon delivery (pending customer approval), or;. They simply give an estimated time of completion, and when it is done you either like it or you don't.

Bow Repair and Re-hair Report

Although I have made (count 'em!) ONE bow, and re-haired or repaired a few dozen at most, I do not consider bow-work to be a strength of mine, and I will refer you to Darrell Hanks, a professional archetier (bowmaker) in the suburbs of Portland.

Books by Chet Bishop Report

There have been a few occasions when I put together a photo-essay of a repair or a build. Sometimes they were just on the website as incremental blog-posts, but sometimes they were collated in book-form. For those and other future works, I will be posting these books here, where they are accessible to anyone who is interested.

Trade In Value Report

For ANY instrument that I made, if it is still in good condition, I will offer the full original price as a trade-in value, when stepping up to another instrument whose current price is at least $3,000 more than the original one. I will not quibble, unless you have really damaged the instrument. For any instrument I sold (but did not make) I will offer the full original sale price (at which I sold it), in the same manner as above, with the same restrictions.For any instrument I did not make and did not sell I will offer a trade-in value based on what I can find out about its original price and current value and condition.

Be the first to review Bluefiddle's West Wind Strings.

Write a Review