A Story of Craftmanship: Making One-and-Only Violins

A leader in the UHD TV market with share more than 60%.
Establishing a new Curved TV category.
The world’s first 8K 98″ TV, Bendable 105″ UHD TV, UHD OLED and 105″ Curved UHD TV.

When it comes to TV, Samsung has credibility. And this credibility is a result of a sense of responsibility. People at Samsung feel obligated to develop a product that is new, unique and superior; they take pride in their craftsmanship.

Today we would like to share a story of a Senior Engineer at Visual Display from Samsung who likes to channel his craftsmanship not only to TVs, but also to a musical instrument.

Senior Engineer / Contrabassist

At Samsung Electronics HQ, there is a classical lovers’ music club named ‘DigitalCity Philharmonic Orchestra,’ which consists of Samsung employees from various departments. Senior Engineer IC Noh is a TV developer in the Visual Display division, and a contrabassist in the DigitalCity Philharmonic Orchestra at Samsung.

Senior Engineer / Contrabassist / Violin Maker

One night as he dropped by a music shop to repair his contrabass, he came across a violin workshop nearby. Seeing the light in the dark alley, he approached the workshop and saw a violin through the window. Driven by curiosity, he knocked on the door and took a step inside.

“The violin has a similar structure to the contrabass. It’s just a difference of size and proportion. Most of all, I was so fascinated that I could make my own violin,” said Noh. Without hesitation, he asked for a lesson and started to make a violin. This was four years ago.

Creating the Curvature

Under the maestro’s guidance, he started making violins. To make the perfect curve of a violin, he had to cut, break, and stick the wood over and over again. “Actually, it was more challenging than I expected. While handling the hard wood, I often got blisters on my hands,” said Noh, as he recalled thousands times of cuts. It took approximately two and a half years to complete this first violin.

In fact, to make a violin, it takes time not only to break and cut the wood, but just to wait for the wood to be prepared. The wood needs to be dried off for a long time, since it prevents deformation in the process of being cut into pieces and created as parts for the violin. Therefore, the better the violin is, the longer the wood was dried for, even over ten or twenty years.

Making a One and the Only Violin in the world

If he just tried to buy one, it might have taken two hours or so to get it. However, to have a unique, one-of-a-kind violin, he took pleasure in spending over two years at the workbench every weekend. And now, he’s working on his second violin.

While most members at the workshop have professional connections to the violin, he is the only developer at an electronics company. However, he says it isn’t a problem as long as he has a passion for making a one-of-a-kind violin. “Because every part was created through hard work, it’s so precious to me. I made it on my own so sometimes it is like a child as well, and I can also fix it by myself if there’s any problem. It is priceless,” he added.

Noh dreams of becoming a great luthier. Maybe, we’ll see his name in violin shops. And just maybe, we might even see his name among the greats. An artisan who makes both TVs and violins, not bad, huh?