Works of Music : Craft: In high-tech Orange County, musicians can still get a violin or other stringed instrument repaired and even have one built to order.

Sitting behind a workbench lined with tools and covered in a fine layer of wood dust, Roger Foster hunches over an oddly shaped piece of wood, systematically tapping it to listen to its tone.

The quality of the wood is the most important element of Foster’s work, that and his skill as a craftsman. Properly executed, his skills will create an instrument the same way craftsmen have done for hundreds of years: the making of violins by hand, an instrument that is believed by some to be one of the greatest engineering feats designed by man.

For all of Orange County’s high-tech industries, there are still people who make their living creating from wood musical instruments that are capable of producing the great works of Nicolo Paganini.

Two shops in the county specialize in the making of violins, Foster’s shop in Orange and Michael and Rena Weisshaar’s shop in Costa Mesa. Both establishments are full-service centers for violins, violas and cellos, with much of the business falling into the repair and restoration of string instruments. But for the musician who is looking for a custom-made instrument, both shops can deliver.

Using a plane and wood shaver to carve the arch of the violin, Foster explains the differences that the graduated thicknesses of the body can make to the sound of the violin. It is an important step that must be done with concentration if the finished product is to have the full sound range expected by the musician.

“The sound is the most difficult part of violin-making. To get the graduations just right all over, that’s the key to the sound,” Foster said. “You can make it sound brighter or darker or make it sound nasal. I’ll spend more time with the sound than anything else.”

Rena Weisshaar agrees that the sound is of utmost importance for the final product, but if all the steps leading up to that finished instrument are not taken with extreme care, then the high and low pitches associated with violins will not be attainable.

“The violin is just about the most complex musical instrument that exists (because) there are so many factors physically that are put together to make the sound,” Weisshaar said. “Aside from the excellent materials, it is the honesty of each procedure that nobody watches.”

Trained in Mittenwald, Germany, the Weisshaars came into their trade from different backgrounds, as did Foster, who was trained in this country.

Michael’s father owned a shop in Los Angeles where he worked after high school. Once he decided to follow in his father’s footsteps, he headed for Germany. Because of his background in the field, he only had to study for two years. Rena, a native of Germany, had no such background and took the full 4 1/2-year program. Upon graduation, the couple returned to the Los Angeles shop before opening their own business in Costa Mesa.

Foster’s plunge into the world of crafting instruments was more of a fluke than a planned goal like the Weisshaars.

Just as he graduated from college with plans of becoming a commercial pilot, the Vietnam War ended, sending an entire generation of trained, experienced pilots back to the states.

“I was at loose ends because I had a degree in literature and didn’t want to teach,” Foster said.

A retired friend and engineer showed Foster a violin he had made from directions in a book. “He brought his violin in, and I just fell in love with it,” Foster said. “He showed me the book, and off I went.”

The same friend took Foster’s first violin to a master violin-maker who had a shop in Long Beach. The master was impressed with Foster’s work and agreed to take him on as an apprentice. Working at part-time jobs in between, Foster spent as much time as he could in the shop. “I had been in academics, and violin making is a trade. You know, in Germany, it is simply nothing more than a trade. Even the great school in Mittenwald is a trade school,” Foster said.

Finally, Foster decided to open his own shop to make and repair violins.

“I decided after school that I would spend my life doing what I enjoyed. There are some makers working from their homes, but I can’t believe they’re living very well,” Foster said. “I could probably make a living just making violins, but I don’t think I could live where I live, in Corona del Mar.”

So Foster set up shop in a two-story craftsman-style house on Chapman Avenue in Orange.

“There are not a lack of violin-makers around. Of course, you have to qualify violin-maker . I was certainly no violin-maker when I made my first 10 (violins), but what makes me different from someone in their garage is doing more than just making violins,” Foster said.

Restoration, repairing and selling a variety of makes of violins is the bread and butter for both Foster and the Weisshaars. Catering to the needs of students as well as professionals is what keeps them in business.

“We moved to Orange County because there was no legitimate (violin shop) here,” Michael Weisshaar said. “We had a lot of people that knew (my father’s shop) and were delighted that we were here. We have clients from all over, from San Diego and Laguna.”

Stressing that they do not just cater to the professional classical musician, Rena said they also have clients who are bluegrass fiddlers and young students.

“We take anyone. The little 4-year-old or the amateur and try to treat each one with attention and interest,” she said.

Because most of their time is taken up with the servicing of instruments, both Rena and Foster make new violins only on commission. It can take more than 200 hours to make a violin.

“You don’t just sit down and complete a violin. You steal the hours on the side that you can to do it,” Rena said.

Customers can wait up to a year for their new violin, but for their patience they will be able to choose the color of instrument and the sound quality. They will also pay more than $5,000.

“It takes me more time than ever, and every time’s worse,” Foster said on the process of violin-making. “But I think part of it is I’m very conscious of real small detail now more than in the past.”

On a trip to Italy, Foster decided to start carving the pegs after a craftsman there would stamp on a design that Foster later had to carve anyway.

“I’ll go home and my wife will sit down and sketch out a design,” he added. “It sort of keeps it in the family.”

The tradition of making violins may continue in the Foster and Weisshaar families. One of Foster’s stepdaughters also has a hand in the business by helping out at the shop.