page_title: Benning Violins
hierarchical_section_title: Benning Violins
caption_attribution_description: English: Hans Benning working on a violin
context_page_description: Benning Violins is a California-based luthier business, crafting, restoring and repairing violins, violas and cellos since its opening in 1950 as Studio City Music. In 1953, it moved to its current location on Ventura Boulevard. Learning the craft from his brother-in-law, Carl Becker Sr., Paul Toenniges worked in William Lewis & Son in Chicago, and later under Rudolf Wurlitzer, finally opening his first studio in Los Angeles. Crafting up to five instruments a year, they sell for approximately 30-42 thousand dollars.
  Nancy, one of founder Paul Toenniges' daughters, together with her husband, Hans Benning, took over the studio in 1978 after Paul's retirement. Nancy and Hans studied violin making at the Violinmaking School in Mittenwald. Luthier Eric Benning, Nancy and Hans' son who trained with celebrated maker Carl Fredrick Becker, currently runs the business, while his son Nathan also performs as a luthier.
  Notable musicians who bought Benning instruments include Paul Coletti, Sid Weiss, Victor Gaskin and Arnold Jacobs, while Hans Benning restored and maintained several of Jascha Heifetz's instruments during the latter part of his life.
context_section_description: Benning Violins is a California-based luthier business, crafting, restoring and repairing violins, violas and cellos since its opening in 1950 as Studio City Music. In 1953, it moved to its current location on Ventura Boulevard. Learning the craft from his brother-in-law, Carl Becker Sr., Paul Toenniges worked in William Lewis & Son in Chicago, and later under Rudolf Wurlitzer, finally opening his first studio in Los Angeles. Crafting up to five instruments a year, they sell for approximately 30-42 thousand dollars.
  Nancy, one of founder Paul Toenniges' daughters, together with her husband, Hans Benning, took over the studio in 1978 after Paul's retirement. Nancy and Hans studied violin making at the Violinmaking School in Mittenwald. Luthier Eric Benning, Nancy and Hans' son who trained with celebrated maker Carl Fredrick Becker, currently runs the business, while his son Nathan also performs as a luthier.
  Notable musicians who bought Benning instruments include Paul Coletti, Sid Weiss, Victor Gaskin (used while recording Duke Ellington's 70th Birthday Concert) and Arnold Jacobs, while Hans Benning restored and maintained several of Jascha Heifetz's instruments during the latter part of his life. Benning Violins also maintained some of Nathaniel Ayers' violins.
  The Benning family has donated numerous instruments and taught students in Vicente Guerrero, Baja California. One of their students, Tito Quiroz, founded a music school in Ensenada named the Benning Academia de Musica. The Bennings have visited the academy in Ensenada about once a fortnight since 1978. Hans Benning and Quiroz also worked to build a music studio in an Ensenada prison, and conduct rehabilitation work at the Foundation For His Ministry mission in Baja California.
caption: Hans Benning
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D700", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Windows)", "Image DateTime": "2014:07:29 17:50:17", "Image Artist": "Johanna Siegmann", "Image Copyright": "Johanna Siegmann", "Image ExifOffset": "276", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1018", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6173", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/200", "EXIF FNumber": "16/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "640", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2014:07:29 12:18:46", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2014:07:29 12:18:46", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "477741/62500", "EXIF ApertureValue": "209759/62500", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "35", "EXIF SubSecTime": "31", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "31", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "31", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "571", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "800", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[2, 0, 2, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "35", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "2379406", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[17, 35, 14/5, 14/5]", "EXIF LensModel": "17.0-35.0 mm f/2.8"}