Jesse Maschmeyer

"There is a romance in violinmaking, in working with the wood and transforming it into something that can make beautiful music."

Jesse Maschmeyer Violins, LLC began with a eight-year-old boy who loved playing violin and building things with his two hands. The son of an arborist, Jesse heard his first violin concerto on the radio at six and was so smitten that his mother soon got him lessons. It wasn't long afterward that he began carving wood from scraps his father brought home from work. A wood working apprenticeship as a teenager confirmed Jesse's passion for his craft. By age 20 he began training at the Renato Scrollavezza School of Violin Making under an old-world maestro in Parma, Italy, where he learned woodcarving techniques that date back to the 17th century.

For the next four years Jesse worked in Los Angeles where he honed his skills repairing instruments played by some of the world's greatest artists. In 2004 Jesse moved to Boston to take a position in the restoration shop at Reuning & Son Violins. Working for ten years on 17th century instruments carved by Stradivari, Guarneri, and countless others helped to shape and inspire Jesse's own work.

In April of 2015 Jesse moved to San Francisco to establish his own shop focused on making and restoring violins, violas and cellos. Located on Van Ness Street just across from the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall and blocks away from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, his workshop lies at the heart of the city's vibrant arts community. Even after twenty years of craft and repair work, Jesse's heart is stirred to know that his work enables musicians to electrify their audiences with the same passion he, too, felt as a child.