Made In Tahoe: Local man makes music through violins

Joseph Cosmos likes to fiddle around. Besides jamming with other musicians, the 34-year-old bluegrass aficionado (if that isn't too high falutin' a word for his musical genre of choice) and Tahoe native has set up a business in town making violins as well as providing restorations, repairs and set ups for all bow string instruments — violin, viola, cello and bass.

In explaining his craft, the reserved and polite Cosmos first presents a diagram of a violin, with angled and intersecting lines, looking somewhat like the classic diagram of the human body by Leonardo da Vinci. He hopes to eventually imprint the image on t-shirts and hoodies. This pictorial layout helps him determine the cutline and length and width of his instruments. But they are not all the same. Each instrument is an individual combination of art and science. The cost of one of Cosmos' custom violins is around $2000, not bad, he says, considering around 200 hours of labor goes into each one.

From a violin case covered in stickers, looking more like a snowboard — in fact, snowboarding is one of his leisure pursuits — Cosmos removes one of his creations. He meticulously goes over every aspect of the instrument from one end to another, explaining the various components and their function.

He bases his design on a 1717 Stradivarius — "the outline is gorgeous" — with modifications due to the evolution of the instrument over time. But even Stradivari's famed instruments were varied and no two were alike or can be copied exactly. The instrument is the sum of its parts, with no "smoking gun," no one element that makes a Stradivarius a Stradivarius, he said. "There's not a single pattern to be copied."

Cosmos first "fell in love." with bluegrass music after attending a concert here in Lake Tahoe the year after high school and set about learning to play the violin, or fiddle as he calls it. "The thing I absolutely love most about violins and fiddles is they sit between the heart and the head," says Cosmos.
His interest eventually grew from playing the instrument to making the instrument. So in the early years of this century, he headed east.

For six years, Cosmos worked as an apprentice at Chimney's Violin Shop in Bowling Springs, Pennsylvania, where he built 13 violins from start to finish and did more than 200 set-ups, constructing the basic instrument before it is finished.

Then he went on the road as a salesman. He came back to Tahoe for a family reunion where the catalytic converter was stolen out of his car, so he stayed put.
Not much of a market exists in Tahoe for a violin maker, but off the hill, both to the east and the west, plenty of potential customers live and play. Cosmos also travels around to music festivals shopping his wares and seeking feedback, as well as enjoying the music as both an observer and a participant. And don't forget the Internet as a venue for his products.

Cosmos can often be found at different open mic nights around town, where he both listens and performs. He is modest about his talents. "These are the real stars, the violins." Cosmos musical interests have expanded to include rock, folk, swing, Celtic and classical. He explains some of the differences this way: "Folk music is fried foods and alcohol. Classical music is baked goods and tea and coffee."

When not playing or plying his craft, Cosmos enjoys walking his dog, Shady Lane, spending time with his mother and brother and snowboarding. He is extremely careful about his activities so as not to injure his hands. "My hands are my livelihood."

Cosmos is also offering lessons for those who want to learn how to play the fiddle. "I feel like I'm picking up the torch from the players before me and passing it on to the players after."
Cosmos can be reached at (530) 307-3213 or joseph.cosmos@yahoo.com.