BASHFUL CRAFTSMAN WHO DIED LEFT HOME FILLED WITH VIOLINS.

Byline: Associated Press 

It takes time to make fine violins, and Joe Hammalian took 70 years.

When he died this month, his family found violins - 47 of them - in cupboards, closets and drawers, on cabinets and tables in the mobile home where Hammalian, 89, lived alone.

While the family knew of his passion, they were still unprepared for their find last week. They have been searching for appraisers and wondering what to do with jars of secret varnishes, frankincense, saffron and pieces of exotic wood: white pine from Tirol or maple from eastern Turkey.

The son of an Armenian slaughterhouse owner, Hammalian never married. He cut dress patterns for a living in Los Angeles and made his violins at night.

``He loved his violins,'' said niece Margaret Dodd of Lawton, Okla. ``You couldn't go near him without talking about them.''

Hammalian sold several violins in the Los Angeles area for $6,000 to $7,000, according to his receipt book. He made fewer than 100 in all and sold less than half.

Some woods were aged 10 years before Hammalian used them.

``I can smell the wood and tell you how old it is,'' he once said.

Musicians praised the craftsmanship. Mischa Lefkowitz of the Los Angeles Philharmonic said he borrowed a Hammalian violin for a year.

``It was a very strong violin, quite even, with very fine workmanship,'' he said. ``I think it's equal to modern violins by fine makers.''

Hammalian played as a youngster and took up violin making after he broke a finger. It was strictly a hobby. He once turned down a chance to buy his own shop.

``As soon as you make a business of anything, it becomes work,'' he once said.

``We wanted to send him to Italy to go to these conference and enter his violins in competitions,'' said a nephew, Jack Hammalian of Amador City. ``But he said no.

``He was very, very bashful. He didn't go out for blowing his own horn about anything,'' said his nephew.

``In a way, he'd like to sell them, but in a way he'd like to keep them and hug them at night,'' said Kurt Neufeld, one of Hammalian's best friends.