Sound check: Moestafidz tests the sound quality a newly completed violin before being shipping it to the buyer.

Stradivarius stringed instruments are considered the best because of their sound quality and craftsmanship. Now a violin maker in Batu, East Java, is working to emulate the work of Antonio Stradivari.

The melodious sound of a violin, with occasional discordant tones, comes from a house in a dense settlement engulfed in cool air. An old man is turning violin tuning pegs, playing some heroic compositions, and a girl is following his directions on the fingerboard.

It'€™s a glimpse of the daily activity of Moestafidz Chaeroni, 73, who is a violin teacher and maker of this string instrument on Jl. Arjuno in Batu city, 7 kilometers east of Malang city in East Java.

The self-taught violin maker gained his skill from experience and began his career in 2000. In 2004 his handmade violins first sold for some hundreds thousands of rupiah and at present they range in price from Rp 1.3 million (US$92) to Rp 2.5 million apiece.

Handmade wooden violins are becoming very rare to find, making their price 10 times as high as that of factory made plywood violins. Moestafidz responded to this by crafting the instrument from a plank he put under his mattress.

Having no idea of the type of wood he first used, he claimed he had never bought a violin in his life. Yet he owns a handmade violin of a European brand as a gift from a Catholic priest from the Vatican.

He later enthusiastically learned about various species of Indonesian wood for violin making, not all of which he found suitable to serve as main materials. It'€™s because Indonesian wood traded on the market turned out to have come from trees of less than 5 years old. The age of the relevant tree when felled affects the violin'€™s sound quality.

In 2008, he replaced the wood for his violins with maple wood from North America, mostly older than 10 years. Now Moestafidz handles the entire production process on the second floor of his house by combining local and foreign wood. Sawo (sapodilla) wood and ebony are used for the violin neck, with its body made from a blend of cypress, mahogany and maple.

'€œWood quality for the body highly determines sound superiority,'€ said Moestafidz.

It begins with cutting and smoothing out wooden boards according to a violin body'€™s measurements, followed by the crafting and carving of the neck. Parts of the instrument are then joined together before being pressed. This is the most difficult stage of violin making, demanding concentration and a great deal of patience. The next step is painting.

A violin takes 10 days to complete, making it possible for him to make three per month.

Tuning pegs are imported from Germany, while the bows use mahogany or sawo wood with Sumbawa horse tail hair instead of synthetic fiber. The sound and shape of Moestafidz'€™s violins are based on his violin collection and on Stradivarius violins crafted by Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737), a great stringed instrument maker from Italy.

The products of Moestafidz are not inferior to Europe'€™s handmade violins just because they are lighter, louder and less expensive, costing a 10th of the European creations. He makes cellos and violins of 1/2, 3/4, 4/4 and alto sizes. At his age, he continues to receive violin and cello orders from musical equipment shops in Qatar and Dubai.

His handmade violins are displayed in the sitting room of his house and marketed by word of mouth through local and foreign musicians. He will keep producing as long as wooden materials and market demand sustainable and his age permits.

'€œI don'€™t know how long this business will last with all the raw material and capital limitations,'€ said Moestafidz.

'€” photos by Aman Rochman

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