In Memory

John Nebeker



 
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08/10/16 03:15 PM #1    

Shonnie Stillman (Hays)

John H. Nebeker

1948 - 1985

John H. Nebeker was born in 1948.  He lived part of his life in Salt Lake City, where he graduated from Skyline High School in 1966.  John worked for Pearce Music as a violin repairer until 1969.  In 1970 he began working for Peter Prier at the Violin Making School of America.  John began making bows in 1976. He moved to Miami, Florida in 1978 to work for Harry Duffy, and he later worked for Don Eckland in Dallas, Texas. John established an independent business in Phoenix, Arizona for a brief period, returning to Salt Lake City in 1985.

John created about 100 bows on English and French models with round sticks. He was awarded certificates at the Violin Society of America competition in 1978. On his best bows, he engraved a silver plate with his identification as maker: ‘J. H. Nebeker’. Branded: J. H. NEBEKER [Wenberg] --  Biographical information by John Dilworth

Although John created relatively few bows, his bows are now purchased at auction in the general range of $900 and above.  A luthier from Berkeley attached the following information to an auction of one of John's bows: 

“John Nebeker worked for me in my shop in Berkeley for about a year in 1976, in between stints with Harry Duffy. It was here he got interested in bow making, and got some tips from John Bolander in San Jose, from whom I also learned the basics. A restless sort, John never stayed in one place very long. While in California he took up hang gliding, which proved to be his undoing in the end. Only 37. A good meticulous worker...”


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