Skip to content

From trees to tunes: Craftsman builds violins from local lumber

The work is precise. It needs to be. Luthier Alistair Callegari said the hole he was about to drill had to be in exactly the right spot – dead centre – or the violin he is building will fall short of expectations. “Everything has to be so exact.
Alistair Callegari

The work is precise. It needs to be. 

Luthier Alistair Callegari said the hole he was about to drill had to be in exactly the right spot – dead centre – or the violin he is building will fall short of expectations. 

“Everything has to be so exact. Everything stems from the centre line of this – that’s crucial,” he said, turning on the drill press. 

A fine bit plunged into the wood, drove through, then went up and out. 

The location was perfect. 

“Okay. We’re good!” he said. 

“From now on, we can always line everything up perfectly.” 

The task is one of dozens of steps that go into Callegari’s work. Over the past seven years, Callegari has dedicated much of his spare time to building bespoke violins and violas for musicians in Flin Flon and beyond. 

The instrument he is currently building is his 14th. Callegari estimates between starting the process and completion, he spends about 200 hours working on each instrument. 

“Just one side takes me two days. Guys that have been doing this their whole life could do it a lot quicker than me,” he said. 

While the process may seem tedious, for Callegari, the end result is worth it – an instrument made out of unique materials with a distinctive, resonant tone. Some of Callegari’s violins feature a fifth string on top of the standard four, along with special fine tuning pegs. 

Roots

Originally from rural Scotland, Callegari comes from a musical lineage. His father was a fiddle player who played in a country dance band and often visited second-hand stores looking for instruments. One of his uncles was a concert violinist. When he returns home to Scotland to visit family, he plays with his brother and sister-in-law. 

“We play music together and we have a great time.” 

Callegari moved to Canada in the 1960s to work for the Hudson’s Bay Company in the fur trade. He spent time working in remote northern outposts, including at Gjoa Haven and Baker Lake, Nunavut. 

“I worked in the Arctic for a few years,” he said. “We spent a lot of time with the Inuit. Those were some of the best years of my life.” 

Callegari later began working for Hudson Bay Exploration and Development, specifically on ground and airborne geophysics.

Beginnings

These days, however, Callegari is retired, splitting his time between Flin Flon and his cabin and workshop outside Denare Beach. 

After retiring, Callegari became interested in the beginnings of the violin. It didn’t take him long to decide to combine his interests of woodworking and music, but the steps were not as linear as he imagined at first. 

“I always really wanted to make one, but I never had the confidence to think I could pull it off. I can see why now, because it is absolutely the least intuitive thing you could possibly imagine,” he said. 

“It absolutely does not follow a logical sequence of steps. While I was making my first one, I kept thinking, ‘Why the hell am I doing this now? That doesn’t make sense.’” 

At first, Callegari began to learn about instrument building from instructional videos on YouTube. 

“The best one on there was about an hour-long video of an old Scottish guy and he’s really softly-spoken, all ‘You do this now, and you do that now, and you’ll be doing your purfling [decorative edging around the outside of the instrument] next.’” 

“This old guy, at the end of all of that, looks right into the camera and goes, “I’ll tell you the truth – you’re never going to make a fiddle watching YouTube. It’s impossible,’” said Callegari. 

After the reality check, the author of the video recommended a book – The Art of Violin Making, written by Chris Johnson and Roy Courtnall. 

Callegari quickly sought out a copy of it. His wife Lois ordered a copy, but it was immediately stuck on back order. Later that same day, Callegari talked about his prospective new hobby with family friend Crystal Kolt. 

“I told her we had ordered a book about violin-making. She says, ‘Oh, I just bought a book for my husband about violin making, it just came yesterday!’” 

“I couldn’t believe it. It was the exact same book!” exclaimed Callegari. 

“The very first violin I made, I used that book to make it with.” 

His own copy eventually came in the mail. It still sits in Callegari’s shop, not far from his workbench, just close enough for a quick check between steps. 

“This is the Bible,” he said, gesturing to the book. 

“I follow this step by step. I make the mistake sometimes of thinking I know what I’m doing – that’s not a good idea. There are so many minute, detailed steps.” 

Callegari’s first violin was made out of jack pine from around Cowan. He figures the instrument is one of very few made out of jack pine in Canada today.

Progress

Since his first piece, Callegari has branched out and uses types of imported wood like walnut and figured maple. However, most of the material he uses comes from a source much closer to home – the woods near his cabin. 

Callegari uses willow and spruce from trees he chops down himself, leaving it to dry upstairs in his shop before building. 

Top fiddlers in Canada, Scotland and Ireland have played Callegari’s instruments and praised their tonal qualities. Callegari has made bespoke violins and violas for musicians, including for two-time Canadian fiddle champion Daniel Gervais, Sierra Noble and Maria Cherwick. 

Callegari and Cherwick first met during the Flin Flon Community Choir’s production of Les Miserables, when Cherwick, then a music student at Brandon University, stayed in Flin Flon with the Callegaris. 

“She billeted with Alana Hunter, who was the cello player. The two of them kept us thoroughly entertained during the time they were here,” he said. 

“We had eight fiddles here at that time and she had a hard time getting out the door sometimes – she wanted to play all of them!” 

After leaving Flin Flon, Cherwick contacted Callegari and asked if he could make her a viola, something Callegari hadn’t made before. 

He said he would, for the right price – a new instrument, in exchange for a public performance at Johnny’s Social Club. She agreed and he went to work, delivering a finished viola to Cherwick in time for the show. 

“She played it and said, ‘It’s so fresh I can almost smell the varnish on it,’” said Callegari. 

During her show, Cherwick even debuted a new tune. Called “The Flin Flon Song,” Cherwick wrote it while she was in the north to pick up her instrument. 

Callegari plans to continue building for as long as he can, spending his mornings in his shop almost every day, perfecting another instrument. Later in the day, his thoughts go elsewhere. 

“I come in here in the mornings and make my violins. Then in the afternoon, I can head out to the lake and go fishing,” he said. 

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks