For set-up, repair, maintenance, and restoration of violins, Tom Pierce is the specialist to see.

A retired submarine electronics technician, Tom moved to Lafayette, Louisiana, from South Berwick, Maine, to pursue a second career as a violin repairer and maker.

"Loving the fiddle so much, I just had to learn how to play. Once I began playing this magnificant instrument, its intricate character and graceful lines hooked me and I knew I had to learn how to setup, fix, maintain and build them."

His violin making and repair studies started in 2000 at the Violin Craftsman Institute, UNH at Durham, New Hampshire. He studied violin making under the direction of Karl Roy, master craftsman from Mittenwald, Germany, and setup, maintenance, repair and restoration under Horst L. Kloss, a Mittenwald-trained master violin Maker.

For five years before moving to Louisiana, Tom set up, repaired and restored violins at his workhop in Maine.