A Fine Contemporary Viola By Guy Rabut, 1998. 16 1/4”

Guy Rabut has dedicated his career for over thirty-five years to creating instruments that fulfill the highest expectations of discriminating violinists, violists, and cellist around the world.

Violin making is an enterprise that beautifully synthesizes the realms of music, art, science, and woodworking. Guy Rabut was raised in a musical and artistic family where he began to play the cello at the age of nine. Along with his musical studies he also developed a strong interest in the visual arts through his father, an artist by profession. This seminal association with music and art led him to explore violin making as a career beginning in 1975 at The Violin Making School of America where he studied with the gifted violin maker, Paul Hart.

After graduation Mr. Rabut moved to New York City where he joined the prestigious firm of Jacques Français. For the next five years he worked In the Français workshop under the renowned restorer René Morel where he had the privilege to work on and study many of the most important Italian instruments played by some of the worlds greatest artists.

In 1984, Mr. Rabut established his own shop in New York, dividing his time between making and restoring instruments. The opportunity to restore some of the finest instruments in the world afforded Rabut a unique insight into the methods and practices of the great makers of the past. Beginning in 1992, with the opening of a workshop in the studios above Carnegie Hall, he began to focus exclusively on creating new violins, violas, and cellos. Today, after more than thirty five years in New York, from his workshop on the upper west side of Manhattan Guy Rabut maintains his commitment to making instruments that will continue to inspire great performances.