Sergei Litvinov

Sergei Litvinov is a jaw harp maker from Samara. At the 2016 Moscow competition for makers of bow-shaped jaw harps, his instruments took second place in both the medium-register and high-register categories. The two competition instruments were not specially prepared for the event but were ordinary series-produced instruments by the maker. Litvinov’s work was also among the group of instruments placed from second to eighth in the overall ranking; 82 jaw harps by more than thirty makers were evaluated.

Litvinov came to the craft independently, without any previous experience of metalworking. He made his first jaw harp from a piece of wire he had found, using a basic saw, because he wanted to produce an instrument by his own efforts. He also developed his construction largely independently, considering how each detail might be improved; during his first years of work, he was familiar with the instruments of only a few other makers.

By 2011, Litvinov had already established an early production design for his jaw harps. Irina Bogatyryova, who observed the early period of his work, noted that the sound grew cleaner as he gained experience, while his recognisable frame shape had been established from the outset. In 2014, the maker introduced updated instruments in three registers. As he continued to refine the construction, he narrowed the gaps of his high-pitched jaw harps, seeking a balance between a bright sound and reed stability during fast playing. Current and archived catalogue pages show a subsequent expansion of the range, from high-pitched melodic instruments to ultrabass jaw harps.

The frame materials and manufacturing methods also changed. After his early work with nails, Litvinov used reinforcing bar and stainless steel. By the end of 2022, he had discontinued reinforcing bar and moved his entire range to forged frames. His own cases made from oak and bog oak also appeared at that time.

Litvinov shared his experience with beginning makers. Vasiliy Kovatsenko recalls that after meeting him online, he invited Litvinov to visit and learned the fundamentals of jaw harp making from him in a single day. This meeting became the starting point for Kovatsenko’s independent work; he later named Litvinov’s medium jaw harp as one of the two instruments that served as his principal points of reference.

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