M a r ple s’ Ita li a n m od el s
D
ouglas Marples primarily builds new violins, violas and cellos based on classic Italian models. After graduating in 2007 from the same academy as Hargrave, Marples has made 20 instruments aimed at conservatory-level students and professionals. He estimates a violin takes him about two months from start to finish, and he spends 50 to 60 hours a week making violins or searching for information on violin making. He describes his own violinmaking business as a career change a world apart from his earlier job as an internal medicine physician with a focus on noninvasive cardiology in Dodge City for 23 years. Violin making, Marples says, is meticulous, precise and involves many physically difficult tasks. But what he likes about the craft is that every day there is a new task with different tools. Marples, like Hanson and Hargrave, does most of his work by hand. A band saw might be used to cut rough outlines from bolts of wood, but after that the tools used are primarily chisels, gouges, planes and knives.