609 North 4th St.
San Jose, CA 95112
P: 408-298-8168 Mon - Sat 10am - 5:30pm
San Jose, CA 95112
P: 408-298-8168 Mon - Sat 10am - 5:30pm
Jon went to violin making school in Guangzhou, China from 1975 to 1977 studying with masters Xu Fu and Liang Guo Hui. He entered the first ever National Competition of Violin Making in China in 1988 and received 2nd place for his violin bow and 3rd place for his viola bow. In 1990, he entered a viola bow in the International Violin Society of America (VSA) competition in New Mexico and won a certificate for viola bow playability.
1992, his violin bow placed 8th place in the worldwide competition in Germany. He entered the New Mexico VSA competition again in 1996 and was rewarded a certificate for both his violin and cello bow for playability and craftsmanship. So enough with the formalities and awards for bow making, point is, he’s good at what he does and has the testimonials from all the San Francisco Bay Area patrons to prove it. As of now, he is a part time bow maker and a full time craftsman. He loves working with his hands and loves working on instruments. He found his calling for violin restoration when he came to the United States in 1991. He found some classes to attend and studied in summer workshops with Nigel in Oberlin, Hans Nebel in Massachusetts, Horst Kloss in New Hampshire. To further along his bow making skills he attended a bow restoration workshop with Lynn Hannings and the California Luthier Boyd Paulson. He was working here at Kamimoto Strings for many years until Mr. Kamimoto decided to retire. Well, Jon took this as an opportunity to add yet another hat to his many hats—that of a businessman. So he bought the business and has been running it for four years now. He loves working with instruments and people who are passionate about their instruments. He could talk to you for hours on end about bows, violins, cellos, violas… you name it! Oh yeah, and about France. He’d love to tell you about when the French government invited him along with a small entourage of string instrument professional to visit Lyon, Paris, Mirecourt, and Toulouse in 2006 where he met more that 53 French makers and dealers. He says he can’t wait to meet you all… and your instruments, of course.
Salutations! My name is Vincy and I have been playing violin for the past 14 years. I was in the San Jose Youth Symphony for 9 years and had the privilege of traveling with them to Germany, Austria, and Japan. I graduated from UC Berkeley in December of 2006. I started working at Kamimotos during the summers in my high school years and I now work here full time. I would be delighted to help you with any questions you may have about violins. I look forward to seeing you here. I’ll be in the office. Come say hello!
Sophia
She’s the one that makes sure that the shop runs smoothly. She makes it so that each and every one of us has everything we need in order to get our jobs done. In violin terms, she’s the peg compound that makes the pegs turn.
