Nate Tabor

Nate Tabor specializes in historically informed setups often in the baroque style. His designs follow traditional models while taking care to fully utilize the unique qualities of the material. Tabor worked as an apprentice before setting up two workshops for his practice. At his workshops, for the past several years, he has developed a vast amount of expertise in historical techniques of violin and viola-making. Additionally, he puts a great emphasis on the subjective nature of tonal quality, attempting to create a desirable and sturdy sound in his instruments. Because of this, Tabor prefers wood, often maple, aged beyond 10 years. He uses handmade varnishes to give his instruments an authentic antique appearance. He also crafts his own bridge designs. The resulting instruments are stunningly unique.

In his own words:
“Lost voices. Combinations of arching height, tension, vibrating string length to corpus, wood with or without damping qualities… interior varnish treatments… strings with wound silver, or all gut…..bridge height and tuning of bridges in relation to all the above. The possibilities are endless, and endlessly exciting. What voice do we want to achieve? How do we get there. I am fascinated. And the fact remains, we have just begun.”