Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/960054
NORTHSHOREMAG.COM 42 APRIL 2018 In John Rowen's violin showroom is a sectional sofa, a casto from a friend. e faded blue plaid couch, in the middle of what was once the family room, is covered with around 150 instruments, some a century or more old. Cellos and basses lounge against the walls nearby, with some even marching into the attached powder room. "I've run out of space," Rowen says with a laugh, gingerly weaving his way around violins leaning on the sofa to pluck an instrument that was crafted in Lynn from the lineup. at's the kind of thing that happens when your business grows organically, as John A. Rowen Stringed Instruments in Boxford has. From Rowen's workshop in his basement, where he repairs and restores stringed instruments, and builds some from scratch, the instruments have expanded into the family room/studio, with its soaring ceiling and light and views pouring in from the surrounding woods. Even so, these represent only a small fraction of his inventory—about 200 homes around the North Shore use instruments rented from him, and a storage facility holds countless more. Every single one of the instruments has been adjusted or repaired by Rowen, who works on about 1,000 instruments a year as a master luthier—the name for someone who builds stringed instruments. "ere is practically nothing related to the violin family that I cannot do, in terms of repairs," Rowen says. He sticks to Old World practices, right down to mixing up his own varnish to replicate what was used by storied luthiers like Stradivari and Guarneri back in the 1600s. "Violins today—traditional ones—are made pretty much the same way they were 200 years ago," Rowen says. "Because of that, it is a dicult profession to learn." Rowen comes from a musical family—his father, Walt, was a well-regarded jazz musi- cian and photographer. While Rowen played some instruments as a child, he came to the violin as an adult, when he took up square and contra dancing as a hobby, and was drawn to the live bands providing the music. He soon found himself sitting in, and teaching himself Rowen's workshop is in his basement where he repairs and restores stringed instruments and builds some from scratch. / L I V E + P L AY /