 He was convinced that the classical masters of the 17th & 18th centuries had brought the violin to the peak of its formal and sonorous beauty and he was content to emulate them in so far as it was possible for him to do so.Among the makers whose works he copied were of course Stradivari, often the early Strad Amatise types, Guarneri Del Gesu, G.B.Guadagnini, Januarius Gagliano, Mantegazza, Tommaso Balestrieri, Andrea Guarneri, Pietro Guarneri of Mantua, Camillo Camilli as well as Gabrielli.