Lorenzo Storioni is considered one of the last of the classic Cremonese master violin makers/luthiers of the 18th century.
Born a generation after Stradivarius and Guarnerius, with no direct link to the great tradition, violin making made a comeback in Cremona with Lorenzo Storioni and his two followers, Giovanni Rota and Giovanni Battista Ceruti.
He was influenced by makers of the previous generations such as Giovanni Battista Guadagnini and Tommaso Balestrieri, and between 1775 and 1795 manufactured a massive number of high-quality string instruments in a conventional manner. However, Storioni made some bold adjustments with his extreme creativeness. He changed the position of the F-hole, selected unusual materials such as local wild maple, and decorated his instruments with wide and rugged fringe, giving them strong but elegant looks as well as excellent sound.
He used a spirit varnish which sometimes appears to have saturated the wood.
His choice of wood was not always the best but that is due to the times in which he was living. From the 1750s to the end of the century Italy endured many wars and finding materials for instrument makers was at times very difficult.