IF YOU GO DOWN TO THE WOODS TODAY...

The article focuses on the move of luthiers to cater economic and environmental factors in choosing timber for instruments. Steffen Nowak, a graduate of the Welsh School of Violin Making in Bristol, England, says that viola and lute makers use local wood for component. It notes that in the 1970's, the European wood was better than American, but it was disproved by Karl Roy. It cites that luthiers are threatened by the demand of wood in the Far East and China.