Wolf Instruments, 6562 Main Street, The Plains, VA (2026)

09/09/2026

Wolf Instrument Wednesdays: Celebrating 50 Years!

📆2019

A great deal of time went into writing some current history in 2019: the seventh volume in a series of harpsichord-related publications dedicated to Frank Hubbard after his untimely death in 1976. The “Boston School” of harpsichord makers revived a craft that had died out during the 19th century. In the second half of the 20th century Boston was the center of the harpsichord universe: we found ourselves at ground zero in that revolution. This book set out to document the most influential figures in the movement: Hubbard, William Dowd, and Eric Herz. Their apprentices and associates were asked to submit reminiscences; our contribution was the longest, placed as the book’s finale, because we had worked in both the Hubbard and Herz shops, and Bill Dowd joined our shop in semi-retirement. A photo from 1973 shows 25-year-old Tom next to Frank as he prepared to drive a pony at the shop.

Our next Maggini had the challenge of making the bend in the first one done with a round back, intended to be a modern orchestral instrument. The scroll, perhaps Tom’s best, was copied from a Panormo. When Heather Miller Lardin won the principal position with the Handel & Haydn Society in Boston, she asked if we could find her something louder than her old German bass. While we were looking, she borrowed the Maggini (still in the white) to use at a summer festival. After playing it for several weeks, she decided to acquire it with some modifications: baroque fittings, gut strings, and a removable neck.

By the fall we lost Jacob Stone (Pembelton, then) when he went to Iowa to get his Master’s. He was replaced (somewhat) by the arrival of two rescued kittens, Anni and the now-famous Zippi.

A wonderful recording made several years earlier by the Smithsonian Chamber Players was finally released. Organized by Ken Slowik, it took place in a terrific hall in eastern Quebec. Barbara was asked to come produce the sessions, and everyone was thrilled when it received a coveted review in Fanfare magazine saying it was “beyond criticism.”

09/04/2026

Lots of progress on the poplar round back Little Dutchy this week. Neck fit and rough shaped, top glued on and edgework begun, tuning machines fit, and Zippi approved!

09/03/2026

Wolf Instrument Wednesdays: Celebrating 50 Years!

📆2018

We got started on a third “Little Dutchy” bass for Nathan Graham. The back and ribs are Big Leaf maple, and the top was very hard and stiff European spruce. He got an extended fingerboard, Sloane tuners, and a custom C extension. It was the first of our new instruments to have an extension from the beginning, not added later, and free-lances in Pittsburgh.

By 2018 a glimpse of the future had appeared in the shop, although we didn’t know it at the time: Jacob Stone, just 22 and in his last year as a bass student at Shenandoah University, played his senior recital on an early 20th-century bass that he restored under Tom’s supervision as a learning project. He had spent time in the shop on and off during the previous three years, learning to use tools, woodworking procedures and instrument treatments. After the recital, which Tom attended, Jacob started to build his first bass in the shop.

Barbara was honored and humbled to be asked by friend and client Jacques Ogg to act as the producer of a recording by the Lyra Baroque Orchestra of St. Paul, Minn. He had conducted it since 2000, expanding its scope and membership to make it a real musical force in the Midwest. He wanted them to have a recording that was professional in every way to use as a calling card and promote them more broadly. This was a farther flung project with people she didn’t usually work with (there was even someone else to tune the harpsichord!), so it felt like a step up.

Our little leisure time available continued to be devoted to Sheba, who was in her prime. We drove her formally at a big public exhibition with members of the Piedmont Driving Club, but also went on picnic drives at spectacular estates like Llangollan. Sheba’s sociable personality and good manners allowed Barbara to bring her over to offer thank-yous at the end of picnics.

08/28/2026

Tom is trimming the linings and getting everything cleaned up, while Jacob is finishing up the f-holes. We’re getting ready to put the top on the Little Dutchy bass!

Zippi found a rare open spot on a bench and decided it was the perfect place for a nap. It’s hard work supervising the shop! 🐾

08/26/2026

Wolf Instrument Wednesdays: Celebrating 50 Years!

📆2017

Our first modern 5-string bass was commissioned by Jessica Powell Eig after she returned from a European festival where she used a fiver. It was again based on our Maggini design, since the original also had five (or six!) strings.

A highly important publication, The English Double Bass Book, featuring photographs and biographies of eighty basses and forty makers, respectively, needed our services in 2017 for one of its entries. A John Betts instrument owned by Charles Nilles needed meticulous cleaning in preparation for a photo session with highly exacting specifications. Our favorite “National Geographic” pro and friend Ken Garrett spent a day making sure this submission met their standards.

After his Tafelmusik debut in 2013 was a huge hit, Kris Bezuidenhout returned for another week as fortepiano soloist and orchestra director. Having recorded all the Mozart solo piano works on the fortepiano by now, he was increasingly in demand internationally as a conductor, which he often did from the keyboard. The week ended with an extra runout concert from Toronto to Kingston to inaugurate a new hall. Barbara had to go early to prep the piano, but coming back, she rode on the bus with the musicians. The lengthy trip was enhanced by an elaborate martini kit brought in a cooler by the principal violist, who knew that Kris liked nothing better than a martini after a concert. A few of us lucky ones sat in the back and completely consumed his supply.

As often happened, a week of recording starting the day after New Year’s in the Duke University chapel (great acoustics!) was organized by harpsichordist Elaine Funaro. Among her many roles in the harpsichord universe, she was a great performer and promoter of new compositions for the instrument. And her Italian heritage made the title of this program for multiple keyboards a no-brainer. For another recording at the end of January, there was only one harpsichord for Barbara to deal with, but five gamba players with twice as many instruments made the session memorable!

08/21/2026

Finishing the week with more basses together than apart is always a good sign! We’ve been knee-deep in top-off repairs, including one that had been epoxied and Bondo’d on. There are no photos of that one… it’s not safe for social media!

Making has continued right along as well. The Little Dutchy now has its bass bar and f-holes, and the garland has been cleaned up and prepared for the plates. Jacob also finished bending the ribs for his two basses currently underway.

We’ve also taken in a handful of new basses on consignment, in a range of price points, all of which will be making their way onto the website over the next couple of weeks. So stay tuned! Swipe to the end for a sneak preview 👀

And it's not Friday without Zippi. We're not sure how excited she was about the shipment of fret gut, but she was certainly excited by the crinkly packaging!

08/19/2026

Wolf Instrument Wednesdays: Celebrating 50 Years!

📆2016

There was enough double bass activity by 2016 that we started to list instruments for sale (many on consignment) on our website. Special offerings at that moment included an exquisite bass by George Gemünder, a giant by Neuner & Hornsteiner, and a Florentine instrument from Giuseppe Zamberti.

After three years relocating the contents of Charles Fisher’s varied instrument collection (see 2013), it was time to deal with the final sales so his estate could be closed. The famous 1730 Blanchet harpsichord had gone to the Flint collection in Delaware, and most of the smaller non-keyboard instruments were disbursed. But a few larger important pieces had been hard to place: the Kirckman single, the Schantz fortepiano, and the Hess house organ. By the summer of 2016 they had all found appropriate homes, two with private owners; fortunately the Schantz was acquired by the Smithsonian, where we continue to have a relationship with it. The organ was last to leave, finally disassembled before heading to a collector in Texas, leaving our front hall unoccupied for the first time in years.

A beautiful recording of Schumann lieder on the Smithsonian’s Friends of Music label was a watershed in Barbara’s sideline as a producer: for the first time ever she didn’t have to tune the keyboard instrument involved! Friend and colleague Rod Regier came from Maine to service his own fortepiano (6 ½ octaves) while Barbara just ran the session.

Our primary joint recreational pursuit in the ‘teens was driving the wonderful Sheba, our big black mare. Almost every weekend from April - November we were off to some wonderful location for an excursion in company with the Piedmont Driving Club (when it didn’t interfere with concerts). Some of these occasions were public events covered by professional photographers, as was a parade at the National Sporting Library nearby in Middleburg, VA.

08/14/2026

A new Maggini bass in sycamore is underway, and we had the pleasure of seeing both AJ's and Nate's .playsbass Maggini models back in the shop together. A sort of family reunion if you will!

A number of top-off and back-off restorations continue to move forward. Jacob is in full-on rib-bending mode.

And Zippi has been su-purr-vising!

08/12/2026

Wolf Instrument Wednesdays: Celebrating 50 Years!

📆2015

A second Maggini and “Little Dutchy” both were ready in 2015. The former is of old European maple and spruce; now in the hands of Pablo Kennedy, it freelances in the Boston area. The first Little Dutchy turned out so well that we wanted to prove the design with another. It has a top of “pond pine” supplied by Seth Kimmel. Salvaged from a sawmill pond in Oregon after more than a century, the well-preserved wood moves less after being dried out. It can be heard on numerous videos from owner Yoshi Horiguchi.

Six months after his death, the larger musical world bade farewell to Chris Hogwood in London with a properly grand tribute. Held at St George’s church in Hanover Square - Handel’s church -seating capacity was limited, so tickets were issued to invitees. We were thrilled to be among the fortunate; there was no question of whether to go. The Academy of Ancient Music’s chairman offered us use of his room at the fabled Oriental Club, walking distance from St George’s. A beautifully printed program book for the service was decorated simply with the same blue pattern that marked Chris’s personal stationery. Some AAM members who played for the service were former leaders of the ensemble who returned for this occasion.

After the service and lengthy enormous reception, we took the train to Bath, where Chris’s brother Jeremy and his wife hosted us for a couple of nights. The next day everyone went to an auction of his instruments and musical artifacts. A photo of him standing in front of our horse trailer is a favorite, bittersweet portrait.

On a happier note, we finished a new rental harpsichord based on our antique Italian. It was the first false inner-outer version of the design: musically vigorous, and less fragile to move. A peacock took over the lid painting of an Italian ruin.

And finally Opera Lafayette reached the end of their Naxos contract with another world premiere recording of an opera that had been a big hit in the 18th century.

08/07/2026

We’ve added a number of new basses to our inventory over the last couple weeks. About half of them are now up on the website, with more to come!

Jessica Powell Eig stopped by for some maintenance on her basses. A few setup adjustments, fresh strings, and new gut frets. It’s always great to see her (and her collection of colorful bass cases).

Zippi has been especially affectionate this week. And Anni is slowly becoming more comfortable around people... though she ran away after this photo!

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