CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — This week's Made in Chicago highlights the longtime violin maker behind Guadagnini Violin Shop, located inside one of Chicago's most historic buildings.
“This is a violin I restored, a Scarampella,” said Chunyee Lu. “It's [from] 1882, I think.”
For Lu, music runs in the family.
“I started playing violin at 5 years old,” he said. “My father is a musician, too; he played at the Shanghai Philharmonic. He passed away.”
He said it was his father's violin that first piqued his interest in violin making.
“I was kind of handy when I was small,” he said. “I like to do some carving stuff. Suddenly, my father has his violin; I said I can make a violin just like my father played. I made a scroll first, the scroll looks nice, and I said, ‘Oh wow, I can make an instrument.’”
Originally from Shanghai, Lu immigrated to the United States in 1989.
He graduated from the Chicago School of Violin Making in 1993. In 2000, Lu opened Guadagnini Violin Shop in the Fine Arts building, where he makes, repairs and restores violins, violas and cellos.
Since opening, Lu has become a well-known and respected luthier. Many of his clients play in orchestras across the country, and some even travel across state lines for repairs, like Ohio violin teacher Thomas Wood.
“Chunyee is phenomenal,” Wood said. “He has been working on my violin for 15 years. I come from Ohio. It's a six-hour drive.”
Lu said it’s musicians like Wood who inspire him to keep doing what he does.
“I really like the music,” Lu said. “I'm fortunate to see all the musicians. I learned a lot from them, too. Sometimes I have to really search what kind of sound they're looking for.”
Lu added that he’s been able to better develop his musical ear by learning from the musicians who come into his store.
“It's like I'm dreaming,” he said.
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