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Noted violin maker Hutchins dead at 98

WOLFEBORO, N.H., Aug. 9 (UPI) -- Violin maker Carleen Hutchins, known for the violin octet family of violins, has died in Wolfeboro, N.H., at the age of 98, her daughter Cassie Coons says.

The New York Times reported Sunday that Hutchins defied gender expectations during the mid-20th century by embracing the craft of violin-making and producing a new violin family in which size and pitch are proportional.

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Enthusiasts credit the violin octet family of violins with extending the range of the traditional violin family and overcoming previous acoustic imbalances.

The violin family created by Hutchins was the focus of an exhibition at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2002 and 2003. In addition to "The New Violin Family: Augmenting the String Section" exhibition, Hutchins' creations earned her a Guggenheim fellowship.

Key among Hutchins' efforts to improve violins was the use of free-plate tuning, a process by which the top and backs of a violin are refined before the instrument is fully assembled.

The Times said Hutchins, who died Friday of unspecified causes, is survived by her daughter, her son, William, and six grandchildren.

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