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Keeping his family's tradition alive is important to Richard Maxham, 23, a fifth-generation violin maker whose family started crafting the instrument more than a century ago. “These are the tools that I inherited from my grandfather," he says while making his second violin from scratch at his home. "Some of them came from my great-great-grandfather’s workshop as well." He says violins are inseparable from him. “I was always fascinated by my grandfather’s work on violins. When I visited the shop, it always seemed like something that I wanted to do. But as I got older it became something I felt I had to do.” His great-great-grandfather started making violins in Pennsylvania in the 1800s. The next two generations carried on the tradition. However, according to Richard, his father - a violinist and music critic - wasn't interested in being a craftsman, although he taught his son how to play one. 'Keeping the tradition that my family has started is really an essential thing to me,” Maxham says. After graduating from college last year, Maxham made his first violin in his home town of Lynchburg, Virginia with the help of a mentor. He spent approximately seven months working on making the violin and some two months varnishing it. He took the instrument to the Potter Violin Company near Washington, D.C. and landed a job repairing violins. When he masters that, he will move on to making them. | 
