I am very proud to be the stringed instrument restorer for The Repair Shop TV programme since August 2021.
It’s an absolute honour to work alongside many talented experts who all restore antiques and treasures brought in by members of the public. It’s a truly heartwarming show and an antidote to today’s throwaway culture. The Repair Shop has won many awards including a Bafta and a National Television Award for best daytime show.
The show is filmed at the Weald and Downland Living Museum just outside Chichester.
The barn really is a draughty old thatched barn and all the experts work for long hours at the benches around the edge and also in smaller buildings outside. All the team producing the programme however work even longer hours than we do and I’m always grateful to them all for their expertise and assistance.
I often get asked if everyone on the show is as lovely as they appear on screen and the answer is definitely yes! It’s wonderful for me as a solitary worker to suddenly have a wealth of workshop buddies as everyone has lots of hints and tips which are shared freely.
Most of my repair work takes place in the barn, apart from my first item where I had to bring the violin back to my own workshop to get work on the cracks finished before the next section of filming was done. The barn is a very tricky environment to work in for a luthier as the glue I use doesn’t always dry in the time I would expect, varnish retouching can be very difficult in the limited light and I have to wait at least double the time I would in my own workshop for varnish filler to dry!
Having said that I’m very happy to work with all of these complications and feel privileged to be able to work there, it’s wonderful to be able to bring the world of stringed instruments into the wider consciousness.
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