History and Photographs
founded in  1976
   

The Phoenix String Quartet was founded in 1976 as the "Classic Four" in association with the Reiter String Shop.  Professional ensembles from one to eight musicians available.    

Photographs


 Quartet at Orso Wedding                                                                          Quartet at resort in Scottsdale

 
Christmas CD, Trio 2007                                                               Trio at Trailhead Golf Resort Mesa


Duet at Amara Resort in Sedona                                                      Duet at Oak Creek Canyon            


Courtyard in Telapaque


Nancy performing on duplicate of 1734 Hellier Strad,                                 String Quartet at Stonebridge                    


Original Hellier Strad made in 1734 pictured above.
The Phoenix String Quartet performs on two of three copies of this famous instrument. 


Phoenix Country Club



Carl Reiter 1980

Carl Reiter's Violins-- keeping alive a lost art Phoenix news paper Jan. 24 1979.


 "Tis God gives skill,
But not without men's hands:
He could not make
Antonio Stradivari's violins
Without Antonio."  -- George Eliot

 The raw material is a hunk of wood, an ordinary-looking piece of spruce or pine about a foot long, a couple of inches thick and about six inches wide, with one distinguishing characteristic.

    On one end is etched "1860," signifying the year the slab was sawed from a tree trunk.  Now, after 118 years of storage, having been saved for this moment since the year Lincoln was elected President, it is ready to begin life anew.

    The craftsman picks it up, thumps it a couple of times with his middle finger, and listens to the resonance.

Hear that?  This'll make a good one."

      With that observation, Carl Reiter Jr. flashes the kind of quick, sparkly-eyed grin that tells the visitor without words he is doing the kind of work he loves: building violins and other string instruments by hand.

   Proprietor and sales employee of the Reiter String Shop, he is the only full-time violin-maker in Arizona and, he believes, in the Southewst.
   "A lot of others do it for a hobby, but as far as I know, I'm the only one in this part of the country who stays at this full time."

   Not all of his business involves making violins.  Reiter also repairs and restores string instruments-- violins, viola,s cellos, and string basses.

   Between visits from violin afficionados, bluegrass fiddlers, serious collectors and people who don't know a bridge from a tuning peg, but want to buy or sell an instrument, the 52 year old craftsman keeps busy with a half dozen projects in various stages of completion. 

   His instruments are build without the use of any machinery.  with the exception of a saber saw to cut the wood to start.  All of his instruments are original designs.

   Today the shop lives on in Tempe Arizona as the String Shop of Arizona owned and operated by Terrance P. McShane.  Shop luthiers are highly skilled, and they have specialists in all areas, including bow repair, violin, viola, cello, and bass repair, custom bridges, and appraisals.

Phoenix String Quartet is an Arizona Registered Tradename 
Seal and Violin Screen are a Registered US Trademark
www.PhoenixStringQuartet.com

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