Back in 1995 I went through a vocational rehab program in the hopes of working again. It was a difficult process trying to figure out just what would be a good job fit for me taking in to consideration my strengths and weaknesses. I started working part time in the violin repair shop and learned on the job. It has been 9 years as of May 2004. I started out learning slowly but have learned so much and continue to learn and improve my skills. We are having a very busy year and I am improving on all my skills at work.

My job is to prep returned rental violins, Violas, Cellos to be rented again. Also to do any repairs that might be needed to them. I also work on violins that customers bring in and instruments from schools.

Part of the training I had was to take 6 violin lesson. I have a musical background so this was fun. Then I learned to just clean them and tune them. Slowly I progressed. I could replace different parts like the strings and fine funers. Then a biggy. The bridge. This took awhile to get good at. Right now I am very good with the violin bridges but need more work on Cellos. They are much thicker and harder to work with. They are precut for the size of the instrument but need to be sawed and tapered to fit each instrument. Later I learned to reglue fingerboards followed by taking the top off of a violin to repair a crack then glue it back together. I have done this many times now.

This may not sound like much but here goes. There is a small post in a violin called the sound post. It is very difficult to put back if it falls down inside the instrument. I tried many times to reset the sound post but always ended up bringing to my boss to do it for me.

Finally one day which happened to be the 6 anniversary of my tbi I decided to give it another try. To my surprise I did it! You have to understand it is a very small area to work with and you need the right tools. I was thrilled to show my boss. So that really made a kind of sad day a happy one. Makes you think of what you have accomplished instead of what you have lost.

2008 update-My repair skills have improved so much since I first put this page together. I have a much larger work load which I find challenging and sometimes frustrating. But all in all I am happy with how things have progressed. Below is a more recent picture in the shop. We were just having a little fun.