About George Stoppani

George Stoppani inherited his Italian name from his Venetian grandfather, Pietro Faustino, who came to London in the early 1900s. George's father and mother were respectively a painter and a sculptress. George studied English and Related Literature at York University, graduating in 1972, but a few years on turned to instrument making. Circa 1977 he began an association with Northern Renaissance Instruments in Manchester where he developed an interest in historical matters and string making. He made a large number of period instruments but then began to make modern orchestral instruments as well.

Real Guts Strings started out purely on an experimental basis - to make strings for period instruments where what was currently available did not seem either satisfactory or even historically credible. Naturally, replacement strings were needed and friends of customers also wanted these strings and the enterprise gradually expanded to meet the demand. Baroque violinists Oliver Webber and Stephen Rouse take part in the making sessions and it is run in the spirit of a musicians cooperative.

George has always been fascinated by varnish as it can either make an instrument look very attractive or, on a bad day can ruin it. It seems that it can have a significant effect on the tone as well. Hopefully there will be more material on this subject on the "technical" page soon. 

Another more recent interest is modal analysis. This means taking measurements from assembled and strung-up instruments to see what actually happens when they vibrate. This has enormous potential for making instruments with superior playing qualities and for diagnosing problems on older instruments.  More on this on the "technical" page soon. 

George has given talks at the Tiverton Conference (the fore-runner of the Dartington Conference) and has written articles for the Strad Magazine, Early Music Today, the BVMA  newsletter and the CAS Journal.