The Moulder workshop has been established for over 50 years and specialises in high quality reproductions of late medieval and renaissance double reed woodwind instruments based upon the best surviving originals. The instruments are recognised by both amateurs and professionals and have a worldwide reputation.
The extensive range of instruments includes shawms, crumhorns, dulcians/curtals, doucaines
and dulzainas.

Ardival makes a range of historical harps; the earliest from Pictish times 9th/10th century. Variously strung with brass or silver wire, gut and horsehair and played with finger nails or finger pads, there is a huge range of repertoire, technique and sound to explore. We will bring harps to the festival that are for sale and we are also happy to ship commissioned instruments to you. Customers who choose to collect instruments from us in Strathpeffer will be made very welcome.

We are based in the UK and specialise in the construction and repair of traditional stringed musical instruments with a special focus on the lute family. We use traditional methods and materials and strive to make instruments that capture the essence and beauty of the old masters' work. The instruments we make are based on historical examples from a broad range of musical eras spanning from the medieval period all the way through to the renaissance and baroque era.

I have always focused on early plucked instruments of the guitar, lute and harp families. The majority of my designs are my own (gitterns and harps) based on iconography. Even with lutes which are usually based on surviving originals, I like to incorporate the odd detail here and there which puts something of 'me' into the finished instruments.
35 years after starting, I now make the best instruments I have ever made.

Jim Parr has been making early bagpipes and shawms for more than 30 years.

A versatile and experienced performer himself, his instruments are made by a musician for musicians and are played by some of the UL's most prestigious early music groups.

Lizzie Gutteridge plays a wide range of historical instruments, and is a member of Blondel, The York Waits and the New Cambridge Waits and musical director of the Colchester Waits. Her solo live-looping historical music project is Consort of 1.
Lizzie supplies double reeds. If you have an instrument needing a reed and are unsure what type it should have please bring it to the stall at the festivalas soon as you can , as it may be possible to work on it over the course of the day or weekend.

THIS YEAR’S FEATURED MAKER
I am a self-taught instrument-maker and musician, specialising in everything "other".
Primarily making bagpipes, I have in recent years branched out into a large variety of stringed instruments such as lyre harps, citoles, and
other plucked and bowed instruments.
There's very little that I won't try to
make if someone asks, and I always prioritise the sound and playability of my instruments foremost.

FIRST TIME AT MMITD!
For over 20 years, I have devoted myself to the restoration of lost musical instruments in a comprehensive approach combining manufacturing and research.
From the tree to the gut string, the manufacturing method respects historical processes, drawing on in-depth knowledge of current musicological and archaeological knowledge, as well as personal research.

I have been making early bowed string instruments for almost 35 years and I am passionate about researching and learning how medieval instruments might have been made and played. I believe that they were made to the highest possible standards of their time and I seek to do the same in my own work. My instruments have been played by members of the Dufay Collective, Boston Camerata.e.

Philippe Bolton has been making recorders for over 45 years. His production includes a range of medieval recorders based on the three instruments played by angel musicians in the painting of 1463, The Coronation of the Virgin by the Master of the Lyversberg Passion. He has also recreated a double recorder as shown in the 1312 “St Martin is Knighted’ fresco by Simone Martini.

I make medieval and renaissance woodwinds based on original instruments. All my timbers are locally sourced from East Anglia.
I also play them in my wind band
The New Cambridge Waits
(appearing on the Castle Stages
this year).