Quaker Violin Maker

04/03/2026

A fun trick I enjoy sharing with clients and colleagues. The look of delight and surprise on their faces when they try it for the first time are priceless.

03/13/2026

Free violin sound tasting!
Saturday March 21 4:30-5:30pm
Potter Violins
7711 Eastern Ave
Takoma Park MD

Link to rsvp:
https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=QTpXbWcpWECFGUPxTcWewORInunbNBRPua5Tq5vE7VVUMDFLSkVFRkNJSjZFVFlDRUJOTDRRNDNLUC4u&route=shorturl

02/06/2026

Upcoming projects in the snow.

These instruments are a shop varnish and set up project. Everyone is going to help.

Stay tuned!

07/13/2025

My purple violin has found a player! is a wonderful person and violinist who was looking for a gigging violin. I am thrilled that she chose mine. This is the kind of player I envisioned when I decided to experiment with varnishing a violin purple!

EB and I both work together at . In addition to being a wonderful violinist, she is the amazing and highly organized leader of our rental department.

04/18/2025

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I used wool l**e and 000 steel wool to get off the crusty black gunk and finished the clean and polish with a mix of oz cream polish and alcohol.

I knew this old German Conservatory model violin's varnish could take an aggressive cleaning. I've worked on hundreds like it, and the shellac based varnish wears like iron. I am very pleased with the cleaning results.

This is a family's heirloom violin that I'm fixing up so one of the older children can play it. I can't wait to see the family's reaction when they come to pick up their now clean and playable violin.

02/26/2025

Went to and gave a well attended "String Instrument Maintenance for String Players" presentation followed by live sound adjustments. It was a great time, and I look forward to seeing many of the musicians in the future to keep talking about and improving their instruments.

Special thanks to the wonderful and amazing .cosette who helped set this up and helped me show off a whole bunch of instruments

02/11/2025

Thank you for facilitating my Presentation "String Instrument Maintenance for String Players" at Peabody last night.

It was a great group of violists with some great questions.

12/09/2024

One of the violas I made in school is up for sale. If you're in the Chicago area and looking for a good quality and affordable 16" viola this might be for you.

Beautiful 16" handmade viola by Robyn Sullivan, 2009. I am a professional violinist and picked this viola out myself as my second instrument for a Broadway in Chicago show where I had to double on...

11/25/2024

VSA Photo dump! I had a great time at the 50th Violin Society of America conference. I especially enjoyed the red carpet awards as an excuse to break out my favorite sparkle dress.

I was personally interested in the many talks on German Violins and the history behind how they became such a dominant presence in the American market. I have worked on hundreds (maybe thousands at this point) of these instruments of all qualities, and I am delighted to have more context and insights on their origins.

I have so many notes, so many thoughts, and fewer pictures because I was too busy taking it all in.

I talked with many old and new friends and completely wore out my social battery by the end of the week 🙃

06/09/2024

It has been a fantastic weekend NYC for

Saturday I was honored to speak on a panel with about women's experiences in luthiere

I was excited to see some familiar faces and finally meet many people in person



Then, many of us got to see and enjoyed the terrace and rooftop before heading back to Reunings for a fantastic chamber concert that was live streamed by

My daughter Fiona and sister in law joined me for this trip. We made sure to have some fun on our own, checking out the , the flower market where gets her flowers (and knows the shop owners and cats) and the Sleeping Beauty exhibit as well as a few other halls

I loved every moment

I am grateful