A musical transformation

Published 4:33 pm Tuesday, October 2, 2012

It all started with a pile of wood, but not just any kind of wood – Sitka spruce, Orcas willow and maple. And after a year and half of bending, carving and fitting, a beautiful violin emerged. And to its maker Paul Evan’s amazement, it actually sounded like a “decent” violin.

“Although I guess it would have been more amazing if it sounded like a tuba,” Evans said.

Joking aside, he admits that he is far too much of a novice to know what a good violin sounds like, so Evans enlisted Orcas Island School’s music teacher and violinist Pamela Wright to give it a test. She approved, making Evans’ first attempt to build an instrument a success.

“It has a beautiful sound,” she said. “So much so that I have asked to play it again.”

Evans is a skilled craftsman, who has been building bicycle frames for the last 12 years, which is a process he calls much easier than violin making.

Evans is not sure what he will build next, but it may depend on what turns up in his hands.

After meeting Bruce Harvie, of Orcas Tonewoods, at the Lower Tavern with what appeared to be a box of free kindling, Evans said he felt a bit overwhelmed at the task of turning the wood to an instrument. But Evans went to work, which he wasn’t an easy first step.

“Getting started was the most difficult part – once a project like this gets going, it’s really hard to stop,” he said.

Other challenges included the intricacies of bending the ribs, carving and graduating the top and back, carving the scroll, fitting the bridge and sound post. Evans avoided using power tools, which he said made the project more interesting and inspired him to purchase “expensive, cool hand tools.”

“I am not surprised that he made this violin, as he is an amazing individual,” Wright said.