Jan Hampton

Jan founded Jan Hampton Violins in 1993 and has repaired and restored violin family instruments for over a decade. She has studied violin and bow restoration with masters of the trade, including: Violin Institute at the University of New Hampshire; Horst Kloss, Master violin maker; Lynn Hannings, Master bow maker; Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts with Hans Nebel, Master violin maker. Jan attended Virginia Commonwealth University studying Classical Guitar performance in the Masters of Music program. She is a member of the Violin Society of America and the Catgut Acoustical Society.

Diana Cole

Diana attended the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and has studied with Hans Nebel, Master Violin Maker. She has over 10 years experience violin shop repair and sales. She has a BFA in Painting and Print Making from Virginia Commonwealth University with a Masters in Education. Diana has over 15 years teaching experience.

Adam Birce

Adam joined the staff of Jan Hampton Violins in 2005. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music and Business at Virginia Commonwealth University in 2008. Adam is apprenticing with Jan in the restoration and repair of instruments and also studies at the University of New Hampshire with master violin maker, Horst Kloss. Adam is an accomplished violinist and violist and assists customers in their selection of instruments. In his spare time, he teaches violin lessons at our shop.

Don Leister

Don has a passion for making beautiful works in wood. He made his first instrument in 1991 and has completed 24 instruments to date. Don has attended many violin making and instrument repair workshops including violin repair workshop at MCLA with Hans Nebel, Violin Craftsmanship Workshop at UNH with Lynn Hannings, and Chimney's violin makers' workshops with Ed Campbell. He is a member of VSA, CAS, GAL, VMAAI, SCAVM and earned a BFA in 1986 at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Suzanne Maerz

Suzanne has been a string player since she was 9 years old, starting on violin, then switching to cello after one year. She is in her junior year at VCU in the Music Education program. Suzanne is a member of the professional educators associations of ASTA, MENC, and MTNA.

Suzanne started working at Jan Hampton Violins in May of 2004 and has become a vital part of the business, assisting young players with their study of music and choice of instruments. Outside of the shop and schoolwork, she mentors several area string players in weekly private lessons as well as manages and performs in the Windemere String Quartet. She also enjoys working with her son’s middle school orchestra class when time allows!