A violin on the wall peeks through a row of repaired bows. Tags with owner names dangle with thread. Geoffrey J. Seitz turns to one violin in particular. “If you want a portrait of me, there you go, that’s me.” It was the first violin he made, more than 30 years ago. He used hard rock maple cut from an old table at an antiques shop.

It’s not clear where you’re supposed to stand in Seitz’s longtime violin shop on Loughborough Avenue. To the left, violins. To the right, violins. The difference is, the ones on the right are finely polished and on shelves, awaiting new owners. On the left, the violins are still being crafted or awaiting repair.

“This business is based on a real old-fashioned style of business,” says Seitz. “One could take my business and just go back a hundred years and plunk it right down.” Seitz and his employees chisel, grind, saw, sand, and scrape away at injured violins all day. And, between those jobs, they make new instruments. “This is a pretty recession-proof place,” he says. “People will still be playing the violin. There will always be music.”

It would be easy to think of his job as a lonely one, but the violins make for great company. Seitz picks up a violin after a customer leaves and places it on his shoulder. Leaning into the familiar piece of wood, he pushes the lapping gray hair from his head and plays for a hushed room.

Watch  a slideshow narrated by Geoffrey below or at STLtoday.com