Fine Strings is owned and operated by Olivia Pelling, a luthier based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Olivia is a second-generation Luthier who comes from a family with a strong tradition of Lutherie and Craftmanship in Canada and Europe. Fine Strings serves beginner, intermediate and professional musicians with quality making and repair of violin family instruments.

Fine Strings is located in Olivia’s home workshop in Ottawa’s east end. To schedule an appointment or find out location and contact details click here.

Olivia was featured in the very prestigious Strad magazine. The issue highlighted North American luthiers and my workshop was chosen to appear in the regular “My Space” section. Quite an honour! Read the article here or follow her blog.  You can also learn more about Olivia’s passion for instrument-making as profiled on CTV Ottawa’s Regional Contact.

Aside from her skills as a luthier and musician, being an active community member has always been important to Olivia. She volunteers in various local groups with a particular interest in working with youth and with those who have fewer resources available to them. 

A volunteer highlight for Olivia in recent years was in connection with the Leading Note Foundation OrKidstra, where Olivia fundraised for tools, took them to Iqaluit, and then taught a few locals there how to do some basic violin repairs to support the youth fiddle program up there in Canada’s north.

Olivia spends much of her time creating commissioned instruments as well as restoring these beautiful pieces. But, instruments are as much a work of art as they are a work of science. Olivia has been fortunate enough to visit a lab to image the microscopic ultrastructure of the tonewoods she uses to craft her instruments.

She also visited many famous locations to see instruments produced by the old masters being exhibited in museums worldwide and hone her craft.  Read more about Olivia in her bio and how she has breathed new life into each musical instrument she touches.