The present William Harris Lee shop in Chicago has surprising similarities to the 1900s W.E. Hill shop in England. Hill had great bowmakers, many of whom would later become famous. Similarly the Lee shop employs top-level violin makers from around the world. A colleague of ours from Maine who worked for Lee in an earlier part of his career told us an interesting story . When the Lee firm put out word that they needed another maker, luthiers from all over the world applied: and one such person, a gentleman from Poland, was awarded an “audition”, and flew to Chicago with his tools & templates. He was given a violin top that had been arched and graduated and instructed to carve both f-holes. After taking careful measurements and tracing the outlines, he quickly carved a perfect f-hole on the treble side. Then, as the onlookers’ eyes widened, he put his knife in his other hand and carved the bass side f-hole also perfectly. Wrong-handed! When asked why he did that, his reply was that he simply wanted them perfectly symmetrical.

The model 370 is the Lee shop’s highest level cello, short of a single maker’s instrument. Beautiful tonewood and varnish, careful attention to detail, and warm dark sound with characteristic WHL strength, which fairly leaps from the cello when touched by the bow. A lovely instrument, with some age, in excellent condition.