Jennifer Creadick - violin maker and bow specialist
I began my violin career as a 10 year-old in Wilmington, North Carolina, studying with the well-known Nancy McAllister. At St.Mary's College in Raleigh, NC I studied with Phyllis Garris. It was at summer camp in the mountains of Brevard, North Carolina that I noticed the problems that young musicians were having with their instruments. The seed of my interest in violin making was planted.

In 1982, I was accepted as an apprentice by America's triple gold-medal winning maker Edward Campbell at the Chimney's Violin Shop in Pennsylvania. I was mentored there by the much-admired Samuel Freeman, and I was also able to study with the renowned acoustical researcher and maker Carleen Hutchins. While an apprentice, I made about a dozen violins, violas, and two cellos.

In 1987, I moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina and began working with my new husband Nowell Creadick at his shop, Hillmusic Fine Violins. In 1989 I was awarded an Emerging Artists Grant from the Durham Arts Council. I continued making instruments, including the instrument Dr. Mary Frances Boyce has used in performances for years. I also added to my skills in the field of restoration and appraisal. I have studied in the University of New Hampshire Summer Institute in advanced bow restoration and making, conducted by Lynn Armour Hannings. Ms. Hannings trained with Mr. William Salchow of New York, and with Bernard Millant of Paris, France.

I have studied advanced violin restoration techniques at the Oberlin College Summer Institute for Violin Makers, working with Kenneth Meyer, Jeffrey Robinson, and Vakahn Nigogosian. "Nigo" was one of the last of our connections to the great Rembert Wurlitzer of New York, the source for the traininng of Rene Morel and D'ario D'Attili.

My husband and I moved Hillmusic home, by appointment only, after our first child was born in 1995. I re-opened the shop, keeping regular hours, as Chapel Hill Violins, in the late summer of 2004.

Using experience and integrity to help people find instruments and bows that inspire them is a great joy.

Nowell Creadick - violin maker and restorer, sales and acquistions, appraisals
Nowell Creadick, in charge of instrument restorations, is also very involved in acquisitions and appraisals. Mr. Creadick has had many fine instruments for repair on his workbench, including instruments by Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, Riccardo Antoniazzi, Matteo Gofriller, and Stradivarius. He is restoring a beautiful Carlo Carletti, 1890, at the time of this writing. Nowell also helps place more advanced instruments with more experienced musicians.

Mr. Creadick has had an interesting and varied career. He began playing violin as an undergraduate in college, while majoring in economics with a minor in art. He became very interested in traditional American music while in graduate school (Duke University, Economics, MA, abD). Nowell’s career was initially as Professor of Economics in small Eastern liberal arts colleges, enjoying the teaching aspect of that field for several years. He served as department chair as well as being elected vice chair of the faculty association. Nowell was also a very successful head soccer coach! We have found that Nowell’s training in advanced Economic Theory has served Chapel Hill Violins well in anticipating and understanding the world market for modern and antique violins, as well as providing accurate and timely appraisals for our clients.

Nowell’s main interest outside academia always involved music and musical instruments. His concentration evolved toward the violin and kindred instruments, and he opened the Hillmusic Violin shop in 1977, having received training from several violin makers, as well as having his appraisal and bridge-making skills mentored by Dario D’Attili, the premier expert in America at that time. Nowell’s bridges to this day emulate the beautiful work of the Rembert Wurlitzer shop in New York, the source of training for several of the current experts in our field (e.g. Rene Morel of New York). In 1984 the Hillmusic Violin shop was successful enough to allow Nowell to leave and become an apprentice to violin maker Edward Campbell in Pennsylvania, the most “decorated” violin maker in the country at that time. Mr. Campbell has, as of this writing, won three Gold Medals in open international competition for his violins and cellos, and has achieved the Violin Society of America’s highest award, “Hors Concours”, for the consistent top quality of the workmanship and sound of his violins.

The training we received from Mr. Campbell, himself a graduate of Penn State University, in Engineering, utilizes the modern approach to tuning the wood in the violin according to the principles and methods discovered in the 1960’s and ‘70’s by Carleen Hutchins and her colleagues at Princeton University. This training and its expertise is rare. The top two or three violin makers in this country at this time utilize and understand this method in their making.

Nowell has also studied advanced varnish restoration with Robert Cauer, the former head of the restoration services of William Moennig and Sons, of Philadelphia. Mr. Creadick has additionally studied bow making with Lynn Hannings, one of our country’s premier French-trained bow makers, having trained with Bernard Millant in France. Nowell’s bow making received rave reviews from professional musicians. At this time however, Nowell hopes to concentrate on preparing the instruments offered from the Chapel Hill Violin collection, and to return to active violin making, working on a model that combines the rich power of Guarneri with the beautiful tone of the Amati form.

Mr. Creadick has also maintained his interest in American Studies, and his work in that field can be found in the Library of Congress, as well as an upcoming film and photographs that should be in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution as well as the Library of Congress.

Hours of Operation:
Open Monday through Friday 10am - 5pm.
Evening and Weekend hours are available by appointment.

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Contact Us
Jennifer and Nowell Creadick

Chapel Hill Violins
120 Old Durham Rd.
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
(919) 968-8131

chapelhillviolins@gmail.com
http://www.chapelhillviolins.com