WELCOME to the website for CarvedStrings. CarvedStrings is the US trading name for the instrument-maker and woodcarver Alice Margerum. From time to time, CarvedStrings also carries instruments designed and/or built by Tim Hobrough (the retired harpmaker with whom Alice trained in Scotland).
She is also working of late on Finnish folk instruments, especially the
This website is usually a bit out of date. Alice is more comfortable working with wood and strings and often forgets to upload the most recent changes.
Exhibitions
CarvedStrings can be seen at:
- May 7-10, 2020 CANCELLED International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, USA
- July 6-9, 2020 CANCELLED International Medieval Congress, Leeds, UK
- 2021
- sadly nothing in-person due to pandemic
- but see me at the virtual Boston Early Music Festival, June 6-13, 2021. She will be on the live chat from 12:00-1:30 on Saturday June 12.>
Due to the cessation of travel and conferences, I am home and working on harps this summer. I currently clearing my backorders of special order carved harps, but if you are interested in one of my standard models, please email or call for availability. Or contact me to discuss a custom project in harps or other stringed instruments. I am also in the process of redeveloping my website in WordPress, so look for that this summer!
Older news
I am located in Hancock, Michigan, on the Keweenaw Peninsula, the northernmost part of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, so not quite local to any metropolitan area, but do swing by if you are on a circle tour of Lake Superior.
PhD AVAILABLE ONLINE - The text of Alice’s PhD thesis, “Situating the Citole circa 1200-1400”, is now available for free from the British Library’s Electronic Thesis Online Service (EThOS). Unfortunately, volume 2, which has all the images and the full quotations with citation to particular manuscripts, has limited access. Please note that the official date for the thesis is 2010, since that is when the work was submitted (yes, the defense was 17 months after submission).
CONTACT INFORMATION
It is best to contact me by email, since that will reach me even if I am at an exhibition. Please note, I try to check her email daily but I am not tethered to my smart phone like some, so I probably won't see your email and reply immediately. I will respond to your message as soon as I can. Thank you for your understanding.
email: carvedstrings@gmail.com
If you wish to phone us, our home landline number is: 906-483-3598.
If you would like to visit Alice in her workshop in the upper peninsula of Michigan, please contact her by email or phone to make an appointment. Thank you.
