Brian Bishop, of Brian Bishop Violins, working on a viola top, 2013.
Photo by Laurie Kay Sommers.
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Brian Bishop came to violin making through his interest in fiddle, an instrument he took up in the mid-1970s when he began working at Elderly Instruments in Lansing. As he wrote in his blog in 2010, “It soon took over a good deal of my life.” In the 1980s he first met violin maker Keith Doerr of Union City, Michigan, and from 1991-94 Brian changed the course of his life’s work with a four-year violin-making apprenticeship with Keith and his brother Ray.
Brian Bishop, Feb. 6, 1992, holding the first two violins he completed under his apprenticeship with Keith Doerr. Courtesy of Brian Bishop. |
Brothers Keith and Ray Doerr (of Union City and Kalamazoo respectively) learned from their father, Ray Doerr, Sr. The senior Doerr was a wood pattern maker who became a self-taught violin maker. Ray Jr. and Keith were both born in the 1910s. Ray had won a Fisher Body scholarship to the college of his choice and chose to study engineering at the University of Michigan. Eventually both Keith and Ray followed their father’s footsteps in violin making.
Brian’s copy of the Violin Makers Handbook, by Ray Doerr. Photo by Laurie Kay Sommers. |
Hear Brian Bishop talk about his apprenticeship with Keith and Ray Doerr.
Brian still keeps notes from his apprenticeship with the Doerr brothers. Photo by Laurie Kay Sommers, 2013. |
Bottles of varnish made by Brian and Ray, using Ray’s distinctive formula. Photo by Laurie Kay Sommers, 2013. |
In addition to the varnish, the shop contains tools, wood, templates, jigs, and fixtures that came from the Doerr’s after they passed away. Certain fixtures—like the iron (as in clothes pressing iron) crafted into a wood bending tool, and the bowling ball attached to a clamping plate that allows Brian to approach the task at hand from the most advantageous angle—are Doerr inventions.
Brian was Keith Doerr’s last apprentice. Another Michigan violin maker, Ed McCoppin, who lives outside Monroe, Michigan, lists Keith and Raymond Doerr among his teachers, although he didn’t finish a full apprenticeship. Like many contemporary makers, he has taken a number of summer workshop classes to further his training. Elon Howe of Newaygo, Michigan, has an eclectic background that included tips from Ray Doerr but not a formal apprenticeship. So Brian Bishop remains the best example of the Doerr legacy. Twenty years later, he still remembers the words of wisdom from his teacher and mentor, Keith Doerr:
"One time I’d screwed something up, and talking to Keith, I was bemoaning the fact that this is so hard! He said, “Brian, if it was easy, everybody would do it, and you’d ask people if they wanted fries with it. He was pointing out that this is very specialized, rare thing. Even if you make one violin, you can legitimately call yourself a violin maker."
From those first 25 instruments, Brian has gone on to complete a total of 155, selling his instruments by word of mouth and through Psarianos Violins (Troy and Ann Arbor). If Keith were still around, he would smile and say, “Brian Bishop is definitely a violin maker.”
Brian Bishop, of Brian Bishop Violins, poses with the top and back of a viola in progress, 2013. Photo by Laurie Kay Sommers. |
This post was written by Laurie Sommers in conjunction with the Michigan Traditional Arts Program, the Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
You neglect to mention that Brian is a splendid fiddler and guitar player who has recorded here in Michigan and is a regular presence at dance and jam sessions in our area. His music making and violin making are two sides of the same remarkable artistry.
ReplyDeletePeter Knupfer