Rich Maxham has spent his life with the violin. The fifth generation in his family to make or play the instrument, he began playing at the age of three and performed extensively as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral violinist. As he grew up, he watched his grandfather make, repair, and adjust violins. While at St. John’s College in Annapolis, he cultivated an interest in violin repair and making. After inheriting his grandfather’s tools, wood, patterns, and violin book library, he began the lifelong process of studying about all aspects of the violin world. He attended the University of New Hampshire’s Violin Craftsmanship Institute summer workshops for repair and restoration and for varnishing as well as the Violin Society of America’s violin restoration, acoustics, and bow restoration summer workshops at Oberlin College.

After graduating from college, he worked as an apprentice with Daniel O. Smith of Lynchburg, Virginia, and learned to make violins. His time there gave him the understanding of the craft needed to apply to violin shops. Following his apprenticeship, he was hired at Potter Violins where he worked in the repair workshop between 2012 and 2016. In 2015 he also began working for the Violin House of Weaver where he had the opportunity to expand his technique and study many exceptional violins. From 2016 until 2020 he worked for Day Violins as head luthier, where he managed the workshop and performed instrument repairs and bow rehairs and repairs. In 2019 he established his own business, Maxham Violins, to focus on violin repair and restoration and bow rehairing. From 2015-2023 he worked at the Violin House of Weaver both as an employee and assisting customers through his independent business, following the retirement of Michael Weller. As of March 2023, he devotes all his working time to Maxham Violins. He has worked with players of all abilities and styles, including members of the Washington National Opera House orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Marine, Army, and Air Force Strings, and many local orchestras in the Washington, D.C. area.