Gregg Alf

Hello! I am a violin maker from Ann Arbor, Michigan. In 2012 I moved with my family to Venice, Italy for what was to be a one year sabbatical. But we loved it so much that we are still there! My work continues in full force and I am regularly supplying my ALF STUDIOS in Ann Arbor with the latest from my "Venetian Period"!!

When I began my formal apprenticeship in violin making as a teenager at the Cremona School, string instruments were an obsession for me. Having played the violin since childhood, I naturally focused on the tonal quality of my work. Those youthful years in Italy further shaped an aesthetic sensibility that to this day guides the personal look of my instruments.

Although formally trained, my violin making has evolved mostly though careful study of the rare Italian instruments that pass through my shop and from an ongoing dialogue with the concert artists who own them. I love and honor in my instruments the Italian traditions of the past, ...and look to science and innovation for the guidance and inspiration I need to make even better instruments in the future.

As a violinmaker, I feel exceptionally open about sharing my craft. I am a regular presenter at schools across the United States and Europe and many of my apprentices have gone on to distinguished careers of their own. I am grateful to Institutions like the Royal Academy, Dextra Musica, and the Maestro Foundation who through their collections loan my instruments to gifted players.

Although my happiest hours are those spent quietly at the workbench, my professional life is quite full. Beside frequent trips for wood hunting or various study projects, I have served as a workmanship judge at Violinmaking Competitions for the VSA, for the Triennale in Cremona and for the First China Violinmaking Competition in Bejing. I also serve on the scientific committees of various events or organizations such as the recent Guadagnini Exhibition and now for the new Violinmaking Museum in Cremona. Such experiences have broadened my vision for both the current state of our craft and for its future.

My goals are to promote a new climate of openness between colleagues and a return to personal models that look to the future while honoring the traditions of our craft. I am just back from a trip to Budapest where I served as the US delegate to EILA, the International Entente of violin and bow makers.