Joseph Grubaugh & Sigrun Seifert started their careers as violin makers 26 years ago and have gone on to become award winning makers of international stature. Their instruments are played in major symphonies and quartets around the world and are prized for the beauty of their varnish and craftsmanship and their wealth of tone and projection. Grubaugh & Seifert are in the unique position of having collaborated with musicians, artists, historians and scientists and have used this partnership to advance the craft.

Studies: We started instrument making in 1972. Sigrun comes from a musical and artistic family and began her studies at the violin making school in Mittenwald, Germany. Joseph studied music and received a degree from the University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music and started his apprenticeship with A.C. Muller. We met at the shop of Hans Weisshaar, a student of sacconi in Los Angeles in 1977 where Sigrun had already been working for a year. While there we learned the foundations of restoration and the classical Italian methods of violin construction from Weisshaar and though we did much repair as partners, we didn’t make our first violin together until 1982 .

Petaluma: In 1979 we moved to San Francisco and a year later to Petaluma which is a small Victorian river town, north of the Golden Gate bridge where we have worked since.