Mathias M. Dahl was born in 1888 in Norway and died in 1973 in Minneapolis, MN. At a very young age it was clear that Dahl had a particular aptitude for working with instruments. In 1910, he moved to Minneapolis to study under H.P. Blakkestead through the Blakkestead Music Company. Dahl follows models of Stradivari and Guarneri instruments as closely as possible. His masterful precision is best represented through the f-holes, scroll, and purfling on his instruments. In his lifetime he completed 395 violins. Dahl was also a spiritualist, and claimed to have channeled the old masters to learn secrets of their varnishes.