Our Work Shop 

At the Nicolas Parola shop, we are focused on the experience of the people who play our instruments. It is essential that experience is a good one. We work hard to make it that way. We don’t cut corners or use any wood before its time. We carefully and skillfully hand-craft a variety of instruments so that there is something for everyone and every budget.

The fact is that in China today there are many factories churning out musical instruments. For a vast majority of them, their primary goal is to make as many of them as fast as possible.  This method creates issues for players and is in contrast to the way we do things. 

We feel the most important goal is to achieve a high level of quality and playability in every instrument we make. We satisfy that by using the best well-aged materials and we take our time in the making of each instrument. Only time-tested traditional violin making methods are used. Our handwork demonstrates this commitment.  For us it is not about the number of instruments we make; it’s about how well crafted each and every one of them is, and how well they help the player achieve their goals. 

We are passionate about and have great respect for these wonderful instruments. After all, they were introduced to the world in a much different time. The first violins, violas, cellos, and basses were made over four hundred years ago and have been delighting players and audiences ever since. Although very little has changed in the last four hundred years, they are as appreciated today as they were back then; perhaps even more so. To say that we are proud to be a small part of this rich history does not adequately express how grateful we are to be bringing our instruments to people all over the world.

This rich history and all of its traditions challenge us to be the best we can be.  It tells us – do not rush things and be mindful of the players at all times. We are here to create each instrument in a way that is sure to help each player at every stage of their musical journey.  To accomplish that we are happy to offer a complete family of affordable instruments that enable us to achieve that goal for every player. For each model we offer, we make them: correctly, easy to play, beautiful, affordable, well-balanced, and powerful with excellent projection. We appreciate the amount of time and dedication it takes for a player to become accomplished and feel we must take the time to develop and use all of our skills to craft their instrument in a way that helps them. This is who we are and what is most important to us.

For the instruments we make for the Americas,  we work with Mr. Allen Gatchell who owns a full-service bowed string instruments distribution company known as Gatchell Violins. We have been working with Mr. Gatchell for over ten years and can say he shares our passion for these instruments and our mission to help every player achieve their goals. Gatchell Violins provides all the materials that we use in the making of these instruments. It is always of excellent quality and properly seasoned.  Mr. Gatchell also provides expertise in regard to varnishes and hand graduations of the top and bottom plates. We are happy to have this close cooperation and look forward to its continuation for many years to come. 

Thank you for visiting our website and learning a bit more about us.  If you have any questions, please use the contact us form so we can get you the answers. You can use these links to get more details about our violins, violas, cellos, and basses.  Click here to try them out for yourself.