James Wimmer is a master violin maker who resides in California. As a young adult James established a jug band and started to perform locally. After a few lineup changes, their repertoire changed to string band music and blues. They wound up taking their act to Germany and finding plenty of work. As a result, Jim wound up staying there for a prolonged period of time and decided to take work as an apprentice violin maker with master craftsman Wolfgang Uebel. James paid his dues and absorbed valuable information from this well established craftsman. He also spent some time in the shop of another master craftsman Herbert Rainer Knobel. After returning to the Unites States, James opened his shop in 1986 and started producing fine concert quality violins.