Coffee, Eggs, and a Bluett Bros. Violin
Master luthier Mark Bluett of Bluett Bros. Violins
It doesn't take long after stepping into York's Bluett Bros. Violins to ascertain that Mark Bluett is an expert artisan. Bluett is, in fact, a master luthier.
The shop walls and tables share the wide range of instruments he repairs and builds, and the stools are in use by apprentices. Each is quiet and focused on their own musical project. Instruments include guitars and the standard orchestral instruments — minus the bass, too large for the shop — but also mandolins, acoustic bass guitars, baroque viola d'amores, and others even less familiar.
Thirteen-year-old Mark was intrigued by his friend's homemade instrument. "He made a violin that looked great but was basically unplayable." That fascination eventually led him to study with D.C.'s Willis Gault. Unfortunately, due to the master luthier's late stage in his career, the opportunity only lasted for a year, but it put Bluett on his career path.
His work included time with an electric guitar company and setting up his own business in 1984. He established his current location twenty-two years ago in what previously housed a grocery store and a Rutter's.
The apprentices each had their own work areas on the day of my visit, and each was kind enough to share their work with me during my visit. (Tours are available.) When Bluett is asked what makes a good apprentice, he responds that the common trait of those "who succeed in this business are the ones who have an acute attention to detail and can communicate their love of music."
Detail is critical both in the construction of new instruments and repairs of those older. The shop uses various glues, each with its own qualities and strengths. (Quite literally.) Hide glue, used in many older instruments, for example, can be removed to enable repairs. These instruments were made intentionally in a way that allowed for necessary repairs.
Not surprisingly, the wood quality is essential. Bluett Bros. worked with specific families with generations of experience to obtain the best: air-dried for decades. Mark noted that purchase opportunities for such Italian wood had provided him with wood for use as far out in time as he could see.
The luthier demonstrated how he taps the wood to listen for the tone, or as he notes, "reading the wood." This attention allows him to create consistency in his works that his customers can rely on. The wood is not the only old thing; so are techniques such as using egg white on the instrument's wood or coffee applied as well as varnish.
In addition to the care found in his new works of musical art, he uses only the best attention during repairs. While he does not build bows for stringed instruments, he obtains white Mongolian horse hair when rehairing these essential musician's tools.
Bluett shows the white Mongolian horse hair utilized in rehairing bows.
Mark's artistry also extends to performing, with a 40-year career as a professional musician. He still prefers to play guitar, but he loves being able to create a one-of-a-kind professional violin.
While there have been remarkable centuries-old instruments in his shop, he wants you to know that "great instruments are being made right now and you don't have to wait hundreds of years for them to be of concert quality luthiery as it was and still is."
Bluett Bros. Violins
122 Hill Street
York, PA
http://www.bluettbros-violins.com
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