The Luthier on Elm Street

In a cluttered workshop on Elm Street in Portland, Oregon, a luthier named Marco Benedetti spends his days with instruments other repair shops would refuse. Violins with cracked soundboards. Cellos warped by flood damage. A viola found abandoned behind a middle school dumpster. Marco never rushes. He holds each instrument the way you would hold a bird with a broken wing — firm enough to steady it, gentle enough not to crush what remains.…