About
Luthier John F. Reed is renowned for the artistry of his fine violins, violas, and cellos. From his workshops in Red Wing, Minnesota and Buffalo City, Wisconsin, he makes several instruments each year and provides expert restoration, repair, and maintenance services for a variety of private clients.
John graduated from Winona State University with a music education/performance degree which gives him a unique advantage when it comes to set-up and tonal adjustments of handmade and student instruments.
He earned a degree in String Instrument Repair and Guitar Building from Minnesota State College Southeast in Red Wing, where he later taught arched top instrument building for many years.
From 1988-1993, John began building violin family instruments as an apprentice of David Folland of Northfield, Minnesota where he received instruction in the building of violins, violas, cellos and string bass.
In 2002, John began a unique instrument building collaboration with Irish violin builder Peadar O’Loughlin, a graduate of the four-year building program in Cremona Italy. Their collaboration was funded in part by a grant from The Center for Teaching and Learning from the state of Minnesota. Working together in Ennis, Ireland, Reed and O’Loughlin wrote and produced the manual “IL Violino Atlantico.”
In Dublin, Ireland, John has worked with James Beatley, a graduate of the Newark School of Violin Making in England. Most recently he returned in 2023 to work with James on a review of Free Plate Tuning.
John has also collaborated with McPherson Guitars, building prototype instruments for nationally known artists including Carrie Underwood and Darrius Rucker. The Band Perry performed with a mandolin and violin made by John on the Late Show with David Letterman in 2013.
Known widely around Minnesota as an instructor and performer, John has been a violinist in the Trio D'Amachi, a Red Wing based piano trio; a performer with the Rochester, Winona, and LaCrosse Symphony Orchestras; and a guest clinician for the Minnesota Suzuki Festival in Rochester, Minnesota. He has also performed with a number of folk, bluegrass, and Celtic influenced groups, including Sweet North and The Back Porch Band.