History of creation

My name is Karel Kubelka and I was born on October 20, 1973 in Cologne. I graduated from the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice. At the age of eight, I started playing the violin at the Basic Art School in Kourimi with Mr. Robert Mendel, and I still play actively as an amateur in the Kolín Philharmonic and in the Collegium musicum Kolín quartet.

The craft of violin making has always attracted me, but it was only in 2008 that I decided to fulfill my life's dream and build my own instrument. So I asked the Kutnohorsk violinist Milan Chovan, whose instrument I was playing at the time, to guide me in my violin work. In 2009, I built my first violin under his supervision.

Violin playing enchanted me, so I continued to improve myself under the guidance of Milan Chovan. He taught me violin work. He deserves a big thank you for that. We became friends and still consult each other's work to this day. I also very often went to Prague's master violinist Karl Vávr for advice. I gradually equipped my own workshop and bought the necessary material. Jiří Pátek, the master violinist from Lublin, helped me a lot with this. I gained further valuable experience from the master violinist Ivan Švýcarský, with whom I worked.

Today I already work independently, but I thank all the listed violinists for their support, patience and all the experience they have passed on. I am gradually building my reputation mainly through an honest approach to the craft. That's why I build my instruments by hand from the ground up. I use quality Bosnian maple and Croatian or Alpine spruce.

I build violins according to the Stradivari and Guarneri models. Violas according to the Stradivari and Testore model. I build the cello according to Stradivari's B form. I build violins and violas both on the external form and on the internal form.

At first, I bought ready-made varnishes, I did not believe that I would ever be able to prepare a high-quality and reliable varnish. In the end, after many attempts, I succeeded, and today I prepare the varnishes myself. The basis of my self-leveling varnish is a recipe from Marcian's manuscript from 1550, in which the basic recipe is described. According to the latest studies, varnishes with a similar or the same structure were produced by violin makers in Italy until the first half of the 18th century.

The violins, violas and cellos I build are full-fledged master instruments. I use proven Warchal strings on my instruments.
These strings can also be purchased from me for a good price!


 

Competitions and competition tone plays

In 2013, I took part in a violin competition with the international participation of Violino Arvenzis in Dolno Kubín, Slovakia.
I revisited this competition in 2015 and won the best tone award.
In the same year, I participated in the XIV. International Antonio Stradivari Violin Competition - Triennale Cremona 2015.
I also participated in the violin construction and tone competitions in Dolny and later in Horny Kubín in the following years (2018 - 4th place, 2022 - 6th and 8th place).
I also regularly go to the tone playback competitions organized by the Violin School in Cheb.