Kevin Cardiff, violin maker, repairman and restorer

Steve Marcus

Violin maker Kevin Cardiff, shown in is home workshop, first took an instrument apart, secretly, when he was 11.

By Kristen Peterson (contact)

Tuesday, July 7, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Name: Kevin Cardiff, violin maker, repairman and restorer

Age: 55

Education: Bachelor of music in violin, Eastman School of Music; Master of music, with distinction, Yale University; Violin Craftsmanship Institute, University of New Hampshire; private study in violin making, restoration and repair with Michael Weller

Career in strings: Cardiff played 12 years in the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra as assistant principal violin. He knew as a child that he wanted a career as a violinist. “Anybody who isn’t sure at 11 or 12 doesn’t have a chance. The year I left the Baltimore Symphony, we had 300 applicants for one seat. It was pared down to 50 applicants who audition. When you get to that level of competition, it’s like being in professional sports.”

Making violins: Cardiff secretly took his first violin apart when he was 11 years old to fix a crack. He used a kitchen knife, hide glue, a hot pot and some clamps that he’d bought at a music store. Though a novice, he’d read some books about old violins and violin makers, including literature by Edward Heron-Allen. He started training for violin making, restoration and repair while in his last year with the Baltimore Symphony and opened his business in 1987. It takes him 200 hours to make a violin.

On new violins: “There used to be a lot of reluctance in buying new violins, but what happened is, the classic violins have become so expensive. People can’t afford them. But there are also so many great instruments out there. We try to fix anything if an instrument is a valuable instrument.”

Following the masters: He has made copies of Stradivari, Rogeri, Gagliano, Pressenda, Amati, Postacchini, Guarneri Del Gesu, and Andrea Guarneri violins that sell for between $8,000 and $15,000. He found the violin of his dreams in a pawnshop in Baltimore the year he quit performing, an Andrea Postacchini that had to be completely taken apart and restored.

He still owns his first full-sized violin and its model, a copy that he made. Finding its origin has been an obsession of his. Reputed to be a Gagliano, it is composed of American wood. “They didn’t get much wood from America in the 18th century,” Cardiff says. The latest theory is that it was made by Giovanni Pistucci around 1890.

Why Vegas? Cardiff and his wife, Edie, a former bassoonist, moved to Las Vegas in February 2008. “Great weather, a million things going on, arts are in their infancy so there’s room for growth. We love the energy, the excitement of the place, the mountains and the fact that we’re in a region where you have the whole West Coast as your oyster.”

He serves about 50 local musicians.

On arts in Vegas: “An area of 2 million that has world-class entertainment deserves world-class culture too. When somebody decides to do something here, it gets done quickly. Smith Center, for example. They don’t even have a full-time orchestra, ballet or opera. On the East Coast, the same moneyed families control the arts. It’s a small group. Out here, you don’t have that sort of Brahmin mentality. There are more possibilities for growth — different people with different ideas.”

Other interests: Bicycling, weight training. Cardiff is active in the Las Vegas Philharmonic Guild. “I like keeping my hands busy. I’m one of those people. I have to be making or doing something.”

He still practices the violin. “One of the things I do to stay young is practice the repertoire I studied as a conservatory student as if I’m getting ready to perform again. The brain can learn things at any age. If you just do the same things all the time and without thinking, your brain is in a pattern, a rut.”

Sticking around? Yes.