All Amos Hargrave needs to make magic is a little bit of varnish, the right piece of wood and a few lengths of instrument string.

Hargrave, 51, is a luthier the term used for professional crafters of bowed instruments such as violins, violas and cellos.

And while Hargrave isn’t yet mentioned in the same breath as Antonio Stradivari, considered the world’s greatest violin maker, just give him time.

He certainly seems to have the same passion for his craft that illuminated earlier masters like Stradivari.

“I’ve been doing this since 1974. I just enjoy the challenge of design, function and the technical execution. I enjoy the camaraderie among colleagues. Stringing up an instrument is very nice, or making an adjustment to an instrument for a good musician. I love to get up in the morning, and get behind the bench,” Hargrave said.

In August 2001, Hargrave moved to Lawrence from Mission to be near his fiancee, Michele Bergman, whom he married in June. Bergman is the principal cellist with the Lawrence Chamber Orchestra and teaches music in Lawrence public schools.

Before coming here, Hargrave owned a shop in Mission for five years Amos Hargrave, Violin Maker where he made, repaired, maintained, adjusted and restored violins, violas and cellos.

He now has a shop in downtown Lawrence under the same name, where professional musicians and serious students seek him out for a variety of services, from crafting a new violin to restoring a 100-year-old cello from France.

“I do get commissions (to create instruments), but most people who walk in come for set-up work that involves the bridge, the sound post, the things that make the violin play properly. It’s quite analogous to the adjustment and tune-up of an automobile,” Hargrave said.

Most of his customers are from this region.

“I enjoy working as locally as I can the Kansas City area, Wichita, Lawrence and Tulsa. That area encompasses several very good conservatories and symphonies.”

Amos Hargrave is an expert in restoring antique and valuable stringed instruments such as violins. Hargrave has won four gold medals in violin workmanship and tone at the Violin Society of America International Competition.

‘A-ha moments’

Hargrave would seem to have the kind of credentials to inspire confidence in the musicians who come to him.

He earned the degree of luthier in 1977 from The Violin Making School of America in Salt Lake City, where he was in the second graduating class.

In addition, he is also a member of the American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers.

Hargrave has won four gold medals in violin workmanship and tone at the Violin Society of America International Competition. The last time the society awarded a luthier a double gold, Hargrave was the recipient.

From 1979 to 1981, he worked on 57th Street in New York City for the firm of Jacques Francais Rare Violins, Inc., which was considered at the time to be the most prestigious violin shop in the world.

While there, Hargrave had the opportunity to work on several instruments made by Stradivari during the master’s greatest period of violin making, 1702 to 1725. Some of them were valued at more than $1 million.

It was a heady experience.

“When you’re in your mid 20s, it’s all so magical. And you have a hunger for knowledge, to develop your expertise. There are so many ‘a-ha’ moments: to have the privilege of looking inside fine old instruments, to see the original thumbplane marks of a great master from 200 or even 300 years ago, the simple elegance of the mechanics and aesthetics,” Hargrave recalled.

The choice of a good piece of wood is essential to crafting a fine musical instrument. Luthiers like Amos Hargrave also need good light in order to use just the right amount of varnish or violins, violas and cellos.

“You kind of just catch your breath. And then you start studying them even more.”

Since 1974, Hargrave has made 52 of his own violins, nine violas and six cellos. Yet those projects represent less than one-third of his total time spent behind the bench. He has spent the rest of his time restoring old instruments, and making adjustments to others, for students and professional musicians.

Most of the violins, violas and cellos he creates eventually wind up on the market in New York City. The market price for one of his new instruments is roughly $13,000.

Like a time capsule

One of the projects Hargrave is working on these days is restoring a French cello from the late 19th century for a Lawrence customer. It will take him about 100 bench hours to complete the job on the instrument, which is crafted of European maple.

Once he took the cello apart, he noticed that its original maker had signed and dated the wood on the inside. It reads: “Stephane Aubry 1888 Luthier Mirecourt.” Mirecourt is a French town that’s famous for producing fine cellos.

“It’s like opening a little time capsule,” Hargrave said, holding the piece of wood bearing the signature. “It’s fun. It’s like an old member of the family, one of my precursors in this trade.”

He took a photograph of the spot where Aubry signed his name, and sent it to the instrument’s current owner.

The job of a good craftsman who restores fine, old instruments, Hargrave said, is to simply fade into the background leaving no traces of his work, while bringing the instrument back to nearly its original condition.

But Hargrave does leave his mark behind on the instruments he builds from scratch.

“I write ‘Amos Hargrave, Lawrence’ and the date. And I send it on its way,” he said.