French violins are among some of the most popular old violins today. Among the more famous French luthiers of note were J.B. Vuillaume, Nicolas Lupet, and Charles Francois Gand. Let's take a brief biographical look at each of these three French and the techniques they used in their craft.

J.B. Vuillame was born in Mirecourt in 1798. He worked with Francois Chanot and also had an association with Pique. Vuillaume soon found that old violins were favored over new ones. Thus, he produced a wonderful copy of a Stradivari violin with its worn appearance and even replicated it down to exact copies of Stradivari labels. Moreover, his copies were varnished with a varnish very similar in color and texture to Stradivarius violins. To further enhance the illusion, Vuillaume traveled throughout Tyrol and Silesia in search of old wood and old furniture of any kind. To this day, some feel the famous "Messiah Strad" that traditionally has been attributed to Antonio Stradivari is actually, truth be known, one of Vuillaume's copies, pointing out the above as well as well as other evidence including the fact that some of its characteristics are more notably of the French than Italian styles. The mysterious violin's true identity remains one of the violin world's most intriguing and controversial enigmas to this day.

Nicolas Lupot was born in 1758 and was called the "French Stradivarius". Lupot established a workshop in Paris in 1798. He was appointed violin maker to the King in 1815 and to the Conservatoire de Paris in 1816. His French violins imitated Stradivari more minutely than anybody else had or ever has done to date. Lupot died in 1824.

In 1802, Charles Francoise Gand was apprenticed to Nicolas Lupot in Paris. His French violins are known for their brilliant and textured varnish. Lupot's use of beautifully flamed wood in the backs of his instruments also contributed to their popularity. Besides making wonderful violins for the violinists of his day, Lupot himself was considered quite a good violinist in his own right as well.