AS01/ 77 Circa 1971 English handmade 4/4 violin by H. F Ridley

Two-piece back  of wide-grain maple with narrow curl.  Medium grain maple ribs  with narrow curl and neck of fine grain maple with faint curl. Front of fine grain spruce.  Light amber spirit varnish.  Rosewood pegs with ebony chinrest, fingerboard, tailpiece and endpin.

Many of today’s British modern violin makers will have trained at the London College of Furniture which was was formed in 1964. It had formerly been the Shoreditch Technical College, and the shift in name signifies the aspiration of the staff to represent the local furniture and allied trades.  By the time it closed  in 1990 the College had gained a formidable reputation in the areas that it taught. These were furniture, musical instrument making, interior design and soft furnishing and later creative crafts, restoration and design for disability.