A luthier is someone who builds or repairs stringed instruments, that are either bowed or plucked.

These range from guitars to violins.

The French word lutherie, used in both French and English, refers to the art of constructing string instruments.

Well-known luthiers

Violins, violas, cellos, basses, bows

Italian

• the Amati family
• Bergonzi
• Desiderio Quercetani
• Nicolò Gagliano
• Matteo Goffriller
• the Guadagnini family
• the Guarneri family
• Stefano Scarampella
• Antonio Stradivari
• Domenico Montagnana
• Carlo Giuseppe Testore

French

• Gustave Bernadel
• Charles Collin-Mezin, Jr.
• Charles Jean Baptiste Collin-Mezin
• Nicolas Lupot
• Etienne Vatelot
• Jean Baptiste Vuillaume and family

Hungarian

• Otto Erdesz

German

• the Klotz family
• Karl Hermann (Andreas Morelli)

American

• Scott Cao
• Brian Skarstad

Austrian

• Jacob Stainer
• David Tecchler
• Leopold Widhalm

Swiss

• Johannes Finkel (bows)

Guitars

and other plucked stringed instruments

• John D'Angelico
• James D'Aquisto
• Richard Echeverria
• Leo Fender
• Harry Fleishman
• Enrique Garcia
• Orville Gibson
• Friedrich Gretsch
• Santos Hernandez
• George Lowden
• Christian Frederick Martin
• Bill and Reg May (the Maton company)
• Monty Novotny
• Les Paul
• Jose Romanillos
• Paul Reed Smith
• Elmer Stromberg and his father Charles Stromberg
• Carl Thompson
• Antonio Torres
• Dean Zalinsky

External links

• The Violin Site - Violin Making
• The history of the violin - A quick overview about making and history of the violin, including answers to questions such us "Why old master instruments sound so good"
• http://www.frets.com
• Musical Instrument Makers Forum
• Project Guitar