The Award Winning Sheridan String Quartet Of Instruments

Commissioned in Memory of Sidney A. Sheridan by Sidney O. Sheridan

Built By James A. Brown, Violin Maker, Claremont, CA

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Replicas of the four famous violin makers as follows:

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1704 violin of Antonio Stradivari

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1739 violin of Guiseppi Guarneri 

 1580 viola by Gasparo da Salo

 1697 Cello by Andrea Guarneri

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The Wood :

The 30 year old wood was purchased at the 1934 Chicago’s World Fair, coming from the Italian Alps where Stradivari himself procured his violin wood.  In 2001-2003, when the quartet was made, the woods were 100 years old! Using the vintage tone wood, the Sheridan quartet was created in the style of four famous makers from the Italian school of violin-making.  

The Sheridan Quartet was the winner of the Best String Quartet in 2003, at the International Competition held in Tucson, AZ. 

The Sheridan Quartet was performed at a dedication on Father’s Day, 2004 at the Richard Nixon Library.

The Story:

In 1999, Claremont violin maker Jim Brown was approached by Mr. Sid O. Sheridan who asked him to do some work on a celebrated violin which his father, Sid A. Sheridan, had built in the 1930s.  The elder Mr. Sheridan was actually an amateur violin maker and a professional engineer.  The violin he built received great critical acclaim in professional violin making circles, most notably from the famous maker Leroy Geiger of “Voight & Geiger’s” in Chicago.  Mr. Brown was asked to restore the vintage violin for a photo shoot but he was also interviewed at length about his training in the “Italian School” of violin making.  It seems that the senior Sheridan had also purchased enough wood at the 1934 Chicago World’s Fair to build and entire string quartet of instruments.  And not just any wood.  Tonewood for the production of fine musical instruments is very expensive and must be dried naturally over long periods of time before it can be used.  In the case of this particular wood, it was already aged several decades at the time of purchase in 1934 and it was originally harvested from the Northern forests of the Italians Alps, the same location where Antonio Stradivari (Stradivarius in Latin) harvested his wood.  Circumstance prevented the senior Sheridan from starting the quartet project and the wood was crated up and kept by the family for seven decades.  During this time they lived in the U.S., South America and Europe and the wood traveled with them!  After questioning Mr. Brown at length, Mr. Sheridan left and did not return for a full year.  When he did return he indicated that he had researched the project and had interviewed other prospective and reputable builders but that he had decided to commission Mr. Brown to build his Daddy’s quartet.  A completion date of two to three years was given and the project was begun.  It was decided that rather than pursuing the more traditional method of building a quartet of instruments in which all four of the instruments were copies of work by the same maker, this project would include copies of work from four famous makers of the Italian school of violin making.  Therefore the Quartet would be comprised of a copy of a 1697 Cello by Andrea Guarneri, a copy of a 1580 viola by Gasparo da Salo, a copy of a 1739 violin of Guiseppi Guarneri del Gesu (grandson of Andrea) and a copy of a 1704 violin of Antonio Stradivari.  (Three makers from the Cremonese School and one, da Salo, from the Brescian)