The Raffle Fiddle was made and donated to a group of kids under the leadership of an awesome fiddle teacher named Jeri Halford. With the proceeds from this raffle, she was able to help send numerous kids to summer fiddle camps, and to help with expenses to get to their gigs. The drawing was held at the Montana state fiddle contest, and won by a man that never played it. I was very happy to hear that Sue Jostrum had hunted down the man who had won it and purchased it from him. I know that it will be played and cared for.

This violin was my first experiment with domestic wood. I used big leaf quilted maple for the back and side and engleman spruce for the top. It has been a long time since I have heard it, but I still think it might be the best sounding violin that I have made.

I had a lot of fun embellishing this one. I had just purchased a quantity of legal ivory scraps from a scrimshaw factory in Seattle, so the nut, saddle, and fingerboard were done in ivory.