Portrait
Steve Fletcher is a British luthier based in Essex. He is a maker and a professional cellist, and has been performing for over thirty years.
He trained at the Newark School of Violin Making, graduating with first-class honours. Being a working cellist shapes what he builds: he plays his own instruments in performance before they go anywhere, so the setup and response are judged from the player's side of the bridge rather than the bench.
His instruments are played by chamber and orchestral musicians in the United Kingdom.
The cello we took from Steve had been a favourite of his for a long time and he did all his own performing on it, which tells you most of what you need to know. It has a sweet, refined sound and is very responsive, and it suits chamber music and orchestral work particularly well. Instruments that come to us with that kind of history from the maker himself are rare, and they are usually the ones worth playing.
Elsewhere
Compare instruments against each other, and against an antique, in a blind test with studio audio. No labels until you have chosen.
Where are Steve Fletcher instruments made?
In Essex, the United Kingdom. Every instrument is then set up and checked in our own London workshop before it reaches a player.
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