A treasured violin run over by a car is one of the most extreme repairs carried out by The Stringed Instrument Company in Auckland. Our occasional series of interviews with repairers continues with a chat to Cath Newhook, who took over the company from her mentor, luthier Peter Madill. For many years Cath has trained new generations of specialist repairers, and she and her team have saved many valuable violins, violas and double bases across five decades. Cath explains to Lynn Freeman how she came to repair stringed instruments.