Violin shop in tune with the times

Sometimes when he eats lunch at King Fong Cafe, Chris Nielsen will wisecrack to the proprietors about how they are the newcomers in downtown.

After all, the venerable eatery has been open only since 1920.

Nielsen's business, Nielsen Violin Shop, opened in 1918, when his grandfather Niels Christian Nielsen bought out a partner and set up shop downtown. Niels Nielsen had emigrated from Denmark six years earlier at age 19.

Ninety-two years later, Niels' grandson is still selling, renting, repairing and refurbishing violins, thus preserving the skills handed down by his grandfather and father, Norvald C. Nielsen.

On a recent Monday morning, Chris Nielsen was in the midst of the busy back-to-school period, when the shop is besieged by students gearing up for fall music lessons. The phone's answering machine flashed with nine messages that were left over the weekend.

“Everybody's getting their instruments either refurbished for playing or looking for rentals, or sometimes they're upgrading their instruments for the school year,” Nielsen said.

The shop at 1904 Farnam St. is a pleasing combination of workshop and instrument store. Richly polished violins and violas hang in a row on a metal coil strung a few inches from the ceiling. Larger stringed instruments — cellos and basses — are stored in a separate room.

In Nielsen's repair area at the back of the store the walls are lined with tools. The collection includes some of his grandfather's Swedish-made tools and two large saws that seem out of place among the more delicate devices.

“Sometimes you've just got to cut a big piece of wood,” Nielsen said.

Nearby, a bookshelf holds a small library of information on violin history and repair.

Taking over the family business wasn't a given, Nielsen said.

“I went to UNO and got a degree in English literature, but on my afternoons off I'd come down here and work a little bit. After I graduated from college in 1973, I decided this is what I wanted to do.”

Nielsen's ultimate choice of profession and his decision to continue the family legacy was the right one, he said.

“I get calls once in a while from people, they find us in the phone book, and they say ‘I bought an instrument from your dad or your grandfather.'”

But there is no fourth-generation heir apparent, so when the time comes for Nielsen to exit the business, he said, he is “just going to have to work it into somebody else's future.”

That remains a long way off, however, because at age 59 Nielsen plans to continue working for several years. His father is 88 and still enjoys occasionally visiting the shop to chat with old customers or do minor repair work.

The store opened in 1918 at 202 Crounse Block, an address that no longer exists. It has been in its current building for nearly 25 years.

Nielsen said he doesn't know how many customers the store has. A folder of memorabilia holds a letter to his grandfather from violin virtuoso Isaac Stern, thanking him for his help in finding some new bows.

Nielsen's clients include parents of the students calling him today, but they also include people he last talked with years ago.

These are the people who might have saved grandpa's violin and want to give it to a child who is taking music lessons.

People frequently save family instruments, Nielsen said, but don't provide proper storage or maintenance for them.

“Sometimes they get bad treatment, like they're in a barn or something,” he said. “But it's grandpa's violin, and they want it fixed up, and we always tell them whether it's worthwhile to fix up, or if it's just worth doing a wall hanging.”

Nielsen's most valuable instruments are stored in a safe. He removes a German-made violin with an orange-amber tint, turning it over in his hands and inviting his visitor to admire the craftsmanship.

“A violin is what I call a functional piece of art,” he said. “They're just like people — they all have different characteristics.”

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