Andrew Carruthers Ruggieri model cello, Santa Rosa, CA, 2025 | Metzler Violins

A native of Oxfordshire, England, I worked at the Lawrence Berkeley
Research Labs in California before deciding to follow my passion for
building stringed instruments. Returning to the UK, I studied at the Welsh
School of Violin Making and Repair, near Cardiff. After graduating I joined
the restoration workshops of Bein and Fushi in Chicago to apprentice under
the guidance of master cello restorer, Russell Wagner. In 1996 I opened
my own workshop in Santa Rosa, California, providing restoration services
to the violin trade. Since 2015 all of my work has been devoted to building
new instruments

I’ve been awarded two Silver Medals and a certificate for cello tone and,
with Chris Peterson, a certificate for Violin Tone from the Violin Society of
America.

Lately I’ve been pursuing more community and collaborative projects. “The
Redwood Violin” was a community built instrument, made entirely from
locally sourced, raw materials. In the ongoing “Violinabox” project, ten
violinmakers around the world take turns to add the next part to a violin,
using non-traditional materials found at their own locales.

With my “Off-Beat Violins” I use the medium of violinmaking to explore both
the natural world and questions about violin acoustics and aesthetics.
Entering the “mature” stage of my career, my wish is to experience the
world more broadly through the art and craft of violinmaking.