Jordan Hess is a young violin maker from a small farm in east central Indiana, who first began making instruments when he was nine. By age 15, he was working as an apprentice at Indianapolis Violins, and three years later attended the Violin Making School of America. Jordan has worked for Salt Lake City based luthier John Young, and is currently making his own violins based on traditional Cremonese working methods, creating instruments with exceptional tonal qualities and playability. He mostly does new making, concentrating on personal models, and occasionally bench copies of instruments inspired by specific makers. He uses several models drawn from a system of proportional design he developed. These, for the most part, are geometric copies of molds used by Stradivari, Amati, and Guarneri ‘Del Gesu’ among others, although some are entirely original designs. These range in size from grand pattern Strads to smaller ‘Del Gesu’s and have a tonal palette ranging from warm and colorful to rich and powerful.
Apprentice
Hannah Fenn is a violin maker from northeast Ohio. She was first immersed into the violin world at a young age by her mother who would import and wholesale strings and violin accessories from their home. After high school she got a degree in Arts with and emphasis in drawing and painting at Ohio University. Soon after she moved to New York and worked for Glasser Bows in the Bronx. She then quickly decided to pursue violin making fully and did a six month repair study with her cousin Kurt Gläsel in Gelsenkirchen, Germany before enrolling in school. In 2015 she started at the Violin Making School of America studying under Aubrey Alexander and is now in her final year. She is now apprenticing with Jordan Hess.
