Bobbing in the soft swell off Menemsha, Martha’s Vineyard, waiting for a school of bonito, I’m crammed into the bottom of a wee dinghy named Minor Miracle. The year is 1984, my shipmate is Jon Cooper, likewise crammed into the tiny craft. We share a mutual friend and a love of music and fishing, but barely know each other. As shipmates do, we begin to talk. “Coop, besides playing in that cowboy band, what d’you do?” “Well, I make a few instruments.” He says, with a signature humility that matches his boat.

Nearly a quarter century later, Cooper has made quite a few instruments. And quite a name for himself.

Cooper began by playing fiddle, learning it by ear, then entering and winning competitions throughout Maine and New Hampshire. For a time, he made his living from playing music, around the states, then in Europe. And then to the town of Cremona, the Mecca of violin making, where – within the confines of a few city blocks - the highest numbers of great instruments were made in the relatively short time period of 1600 to1740. This golden age of Stradaveri and Guarneri inspired and informed the rest of the trade – and generations of luthiers to come.

Already doing violin repairs, and intrigued with violin making, Cooper persuaded Gregg Alf, an American, recently graduated from The Violin Making International School of Cremona, to take him on as an assistant. For the next three years, Cooper would learn classic violin making concepts and techniques – in the footsteps of the giants.

Returning to the states, Cooper settled down in Portland, then Gorham, Maine, where he resides today with his wife and two sons. His 3-story workshop is just paces from his house, and looks out across a tranquil pond, dimpled by landlocked salmon. It’s a modest shop, with only Cooper and sometimes an assistant, turning out perhaps a total of 15 instruments each year, mostly violins and a few violas and cellos. Of the setting, Cooper says “It’s not by coincidence that the great violins came from small towns and quiet, reflective places.”

What’s most impressive about Cooper’s shop is the star power of his patrons. Back when he was still doing repair work, he rebuilt Alison Krause’s accidently-smashed violin. Today, he’s building custom pieces for the likes of Mark O’Conner, Darel Anger, and Winnefred Horan of Solas. “Jon Cooper is right at the center of the new sound of the violin,” says Anger, “He’s got all the knowledge of the old masters at his fingertips and uses it to create just about any kind of fiddle you might want. He's capable of a very wide range of sounds, from a "legit' classical soloist or ensemble instrument to excellent country fiddles that sound great on a microphone. And on top of that, Jon’s instruments are among the most beautiful objects I’ve ever seen.”

Anger touches on two important points about Cooper’s work; first that his old-world training hasn’t mired him in the past, but rather informed his modern instruments, and second, that Cooper is a bit of a romantic when it comes to aesthetics. He admits a preference for an “antiqued” finish, and painstaking varnishes and burnishes his violins to recreate the golden luster of centuries-old pieces. “What’s funny about this style of antiquing, is that it began around 1780, when they were trying to replicate the old masters,” muses Cooper.

Christopher Reuning, proprietor of Reuning & Son Violins, luthier, restorer, and partner in the renowned Tarisio Auction House, speaks of the high degree of aesthetics that define a Cooper instrument. “His varnish work is very tasteful, not overdone, it has a softness to it and a texture that is just right visually and acoustically.”

Cooper sees his instruments as part of a continuum of gradual change; sharing all the geometry, proportions and measurements of traditional violins, yet fine-tuned to accommodate contemporary tastes. “I did a lot of work in Nashville, and out of that experience, created a violin that excels at jazz and bluegrass,” he says, “It’s just more responsive to the demands that modern players put on their instruments. It’s also a bit bigger, for a darker, deeper sound. ” Indeed, probably half of his commissions are from alternative, jazz or bluegrass players, who expect rich color and response, as well as great tone. Anger speaks proudly of his, “My Cooper violin is one of his 'fiddle' models but works well for every type of music. It's also very rugged and takes a lot of punishment without showing it. It'll also take a lot of musical punishment too, and has a wonderful dark sound that won't cave in.”

His techniques, though, are exactly the same as the great masters. The ribs are hand-shaped around a hot iron. The backs and tops are cut, shaped and arched by hand. And of course, his famous finishes are meticulously applied, rubbed and buffed. Cooper will admit to adding a modern – if unseen – touch here and there. For example, he might place a carbon fiber pin in the heel of neck to strengthen this traditionally troublesome part of the instrument. Or he might add a thin strip of carbon fiber beneath a fingerboard on cellos to add stability while maintaining a nice, slim neck that’s friendlier to the hand.

He speaks of the dialogue that he likes to establish with a prospective buyer. Cooper wants to know what type of music they play, the venues, the other instruments in the band/orchestra. He envisions the life that his progeny might lead, and crafts each instrument with a clear mental picture of its future. “It’s so important for the luthier to know each client, and to hear them, their style of playing. To hear what they want, need and desire from an instrument. This dialogue has been going on for centuries now, between musicians and instrument makers,” he says.

Cooper also shares dialogue with other makers, restorers and historians at the annual Violin Society of America Oberlin Violin Making Workshop. This intensive, two-week session joins some 40 professionals together to forensically analyze a single master’s work, then build an instrument in his style. There’s a tremendous amount of discovery, learning and sharing. Cooper says of the experience, “We’re generating a better body of knowledge by going back to the well, and we’ve replaced a lot of the mythological with solid, substantial information.”

Cooper also is a regular presence at the American String Teachers Association (ASTA) National Convention in Kansas City each March, and at Mark O’Connor’s Strings Conference every July in San Diego. He sees these events as critical to his understanding of the changing tastes in music. And while he’s often putting on presentations about various aspects of stringed instrument construction, he’s also using these conferences to connect with players, instruments, and trends.

Deeply moved by the tragic death of Daniel Pearl in 2002, Cooper decided to create a work of art in memory of the journalist, who was also a violinist and fiddler. In 2003, Cooper built a Daniel Pearl memorial violin to continue Daniel’s legacy through a musical mission of peace. In 2005, a second violin was anonymously commissioned and each summer at the Mark O’Connor Strings Conference, two exceptional students are awarded the use of these violins for one year. It is Cooper’s hope that “By passing these instrument through so many hands and playing past musical borders, perhaps the beautiful sound of these violins will help inspire listeners to live in harmony, on a peaceful planet.”

Cooper sends me a CD with recordings of his instruments being played by many different artists, and although I usually can’t work with music playing, I find myself making an exception. For the next several days, I’m smitten by the richness and sweetness of the sound. I call to thank him and then ask about his boat, “Do you still have the Minor Miracle?” “Oh sure” he says, “but I’ve had to get something a little bigger to accommodate the family. Come on up next time the bonito are biting.”