# Janzen Violins - Complete Website Content ## 1. Home Page (/) **Title:** Handcrafted Masterpiece Violins **Description:** Hermann Janzen creates world-class violins with the soul, workmanship, tonal beauty, and emotional pull of old Italian masterpieces in Mission, BC. **Hero Section:** Handcrafted Violins for Musicians Chasing the Sound They Never Forgot From carefully selected wood to harmonic design and hand-applied varnish, Hermann Janzen creates instruments built for beauty, expression, and the living voice of music. **Testimonial:** “Since I bought the violin from you I have not performed on my Storioni.” — Jerzy Milewski **Emotional Promise:** Not Just an Instrument. A Voice Waiting for the Right Musician. For the serious player who remembers hearing a violin that stayed with them. Each Janzen violin is crafted to deliver exceptional tone, resonance, response, and expression. It is a partnership between maker and musician, designed to elevate your performance. **Features:** - **Selected Woods:** The process begins with wood chosen for its beauty, age, resonance, and ability to become something more than material. - **Harmonic Design:** Every plate, contour, and resonance decision is shaped by a deep study of tone, response, and the elusive character musicians seek in historic instruments. - **Artistic Varnish:** Varnish is treated as both protection and expression, giving each violin visual depth, warmth, and its own unmistakable presence. **Call to Action:** Tell Hermann About the Sound You Are Looking For For serious musicians, choosing an instrument is personal. Share what you are searching for, the music you play, and the voice you hope to find. Hermann will respond personally. --- ## 2. About Hermann Janzen (/about) **Title:** About Hermann Janzen **Description:** Some people find their craft. Hermann Janzen was born into his. Growing up in Brazil, the son of a luthier, he started building his first violin at nine years old. Some people find their craft. Hermann Janzen was born into his. He grew up in Brazil, the son of a luthier who spent his entire life building stringed instruments. The workshop was not a place Hermann visited. It was the world he came up in, where the smell of fresh-cut wood and the quiet patience of handwork were simply part of childhood. So it surprised no one when, at nine years old, he picked up a carving knife and a few tools and started his first violin. He finished it two years later. By the age of fourteen, he had built three violins and a cello. "I've always been a very passionate person, but violin making struck a chord in my heart." Once a knife was in his hand and wood was in front of him, he could not stop. The craft was already deeply ingrained. And when an instrument was finished, when he heard a great player draw real sound and music from something he had shaped with his own hands, that was the icing on the cake. **A Craft Interrupted, and Reclaimed** Life took Hermann in another direction for a time. He built a career in construction, and it served him well until the age of thirty-five, when a severe electrical accident burned both of his hands badly enough to end that line of work for good. It would have been the end of many men's working lives. For Hermann, it became a return. Violin making was the profession he came back to, almost by default, and the hands that could no longer pour concrete could still coax music out of spruce and maple. **The Pursuit of the Perfect Instrument** Building a fine instrument is a discipline of countless small decisions. Form, proportion, materials, every element plays its part, and a luthier has to observe all of them at once to get it right. Hermann has had moments of real fortune along the way. In the mountains of British Columbia, he found a large log of Sitka spruce, and from that single piece of wood he built some of the best sounding instruments of his career. Like all serious violin makers, Hermann signs his work the traditional way. His instruments carry a label bearing his name, Hermann Janzen, a maker's word that the work meets his standard. **A Quiet Place to Build** When Hermann and his family committed to this new chapter, they went looking for the right setting for it. They found Mission, British Columbia. It sits next to the monastery, with lakes scattered through the mountains to the north and a steady current of clean, fresh air. It is one of the quietest places he knows, and quiet is exactly what the work demands. Mission turned out to be more than a workshop location. It is a town full of artists, a hidden secret that not enough people know about. Hermann recently joined the Mission Arts Council after seeing how active and proactive its members were at Heritage Park and other venues throughout the summer. For him, the choice was simple. Why not be a part of it and join forces. *That instinct, to build something good and to do it among people who care, has guided Hermann Janzen for his entire life. It still does, in every instrument that leaves his hands.* --- ## 3. The Janzen Sound (/the-janzen-sound) **Title:** The Janzen Sound **Description:** A philosophy of tone rooted in the golden age of Italian violin making. **The Janzen Sound** A philosophy of tone rooted in the golden age of Italian violin making. "I cannot tell you what a wonderful surprise it was to see your excellent workmanship, to recognize your fine hand with a knife, and to hear the mellow sound and feel the playing ease of the instrument." — Isaac Stern | Virtuoso Violinist **The Pursuit of Old-World Tone** The sound of a great Italian masterpiece is unmistakable. It possesses a warmth that fills the room, a clarity that cuts through an orchestra, and a complexity that responds to the subtlest changes in bow pressure. Recreating this sound is not merely a matter of copying dimensions; it is an ongoing pursuit of acoustic harmony. **Wood Selection & Plate Tuning** Every piece of tonewood has its own voice. Through meticulous tap-tuning and flexibility testing, the top and back plates are graduated to work together. The air resonance of the assembled body is carefully controlled to ensure evenness across all strings and a powerful projection that never feels forced. **Harmonic Design & Playability** A violin must be as effortless to play as it is beautiful to hear. The arching, the setup, and the neck geometry are all refined to offer immediate response. A Janzen violin does not fight the player; it partners with them, offering a wide dynamic range and an individual character that develops as the instrument is played. --- ## 4. Instruments (/instruments) **Title:** Available Instruments **Description:** Explore the current collection of handcrafted violins by Hermann Janzen. ### Opus 190 (/instruments/190) **Year:** 2012 **Location:** Mission **Description:** A commanding instrument with a dark, resonant lower register and a soaring, brilliant E-string. Modeled after the golden period masterpieces. ### Opus 194 (/instruments/194) **Year:** 2012 **Location:** Mission **Description:** Exceptional clarity and projection. This violin responds immediately to the bow, offering a vast palette of tonal colors for the discerning soloist. ### Opus 193 (/instruments/193) **Year:** 2012 **Location:** Mission **Description:** Warm, enveloping sound with a distinctly Italian character. The varnish displays a stunning antique amber over a golden ground. ### Opus 191 (/instruments/191) **Year:** 2012 **Location:** Mission **Description:** A beautifully balanced instrument. It offers an intimate, singing voice that projects effortlessly in large concert halls. ### Opus 188 (/instruments/188) **Year:** 2012 **Location:** Mission **Description:** A beautiful Strad model violin, opus 188, made in 2012 by Hermann Janzen. The top is made from Engelmann spruce, cut from Penticton, British Columbia. The tree was 85 years old when Stradivarius was born, and 180 years old when Stradivarius passed away. Interestingly, most of the tree's growth occurred after Strad passed away, spanning a total of 425 years. The back, made of Balkan maple of good structure and fine grain. It has a medium-fine flame slanting up from the centred joint. --- ## 5. Testimonials (/testimonials) **Title:** The Verdict of Masters **Description:** Words from those who know the sound, feel, and soul of a true masterpiece. "I cannot tell you what a wonderful surprise it was to see your excellent workmanship, to recognize your fine hand with a knife, and to hear the mellow sound and feel the playing ease of the instrument." — Isaac Stern | Virtuoso Violinist "Beautiful and excellent workmanship, the instruments are a nice surprise for musicians that are used to playing on Italian masterpieces. These instruments have a typical Italian character and at the same time each one has its own originality. Bravo!" — The Shostakowitz Quartet | Moscow "Since I bought the violin from you I have not performed on my Storioni. I love the instrument and think it is the ultimate in expectations." — Jerzy Milewski | Concert Violinist "The quickest sale of a violin I ever witnessed was certainly for good reason. The instrument, by Hermann Janzen, defied anything modern either in appearance or sound. My sincere congratulations for creating a great fiddle!" — Steven Staryk | Violinist & Pedagogue --- ## 6. Contact (/contact) **Title:** Start the Conversation **Description:** For serious musicians, choosing an instrument is personal. Share what you are searching for, the music you play, and the voice you hope to find. **Luthier:** Hermann Janzen **Phone:** +1 (604) 807-7153 **Email:** ehjanzen@shaw.ca **Location:** Mission, BC, Canada **Inquiry Form Options:** - Available violin - Commissioned instrument - Repair / restoration inquiry - General question