Review: The Art of Modern Violin Making by Ricardo B. Flores

Reviewed by Ken Goodwin

Originally published in American Lutherie #82, 2005 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2015



The Art of Modern Violin Making
Ricardo B. Flores
CD-ROM
www.modernviolins.com

I’m a longtime woodworker who has built a few guitars and knows next to nothing about violins. I can’t offer an expert’s analysis of the procedures presented here, but I can give you my opinion of the clarity of the instruction as well as some thoughts about the CD as a medium of information exchange compared to a book.

Mr. Flores has set up his CD as a large website. No need to connect to the Internet — it’s all self-contained on the disc — but you view it in your browser and you move around by clicking on links. The typical page has a link at the bottom to move to the next page in sequence or to return home to the index page from where you can get to any section you wish. Within the text of each page various phrases are highlighted. When you click on them you are taken to a photograph illustrating the item being discussed. You go back and forth between photos and text by toggling the “back” button.