Press
August 31, 2016 The Washington Post
You'll Never Believe What This Star Of Heavy Metal Parking Lot Does Now
Photos and Story by John Kelly
A razor-sharp chisel in hand, Zev Zalman “Z.Z.” Ludwick leans into the violin he is making and shaves off a sliver of wood. It curls up, a simulacrum of the Hasidic curls — payot — that hang on either side of his bearded face.
Classical music plays over the radio in the basement workshop of his Silver Spring, Md., home. I ask Z.Z. what sort of music he used to listen to.
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February 1, 2017 Mishpacha Magazine
An Empty Vessel Makes the Best Sound
Story by Margie Pensak Photo by Esky Cook
He started out as a hard rocker, but these days Z.Z. Ludwick is playing to the tune of Rebbe Nachman. Now his hands create song from wood and string, while his soul sings the music of ancient wisdom.
Ludwick’s House of Violin, as the name suggests, is just that — violins everywhere (and a cello here and there), overtaking many a room of Zev Zalman (“Z.Z.”) and Sherrie Ludwick’s cozy home on a tucked-away side street in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Z.Z., 53, the very unassuming, multitalented, heavy-metal rock star-turned-luthier/owner, graciously welcomes us at the front door wearing a black baseball cap that covers his closely shaven head. His long salt-and-pepper beard would suit a rebbe or an aging rocker — take your pick — but not his long, twirled Breslov peyos, which fall to the top of his black work apron.
Unfinished Andrei Dinu violins, made in Romania, line the wall of Z.Z.’s showroom — a converted bedroom sporting whimsical curtains with musical staves and notes. After varnishing, he will precisely plane the fingerboard to the appropriate arch, cut the bridge, and install the hardware and sound post. It takes between 250 to 300 hours to build a violin from scratch. Student instruments, the cheapest violins he sells, are priced at $1,300 to $2,000.
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June 6 2017 CTV News
August 15, 2016 DCist
From Headbanger to Hasid: One Man's Journey Since Heavy Metal Parking Lot
Photos and Story by Ethan McLeod
In the basement of his Silver Spring home, the bearded Z.Z. Ludwick sits in his workshop, carefully assembling the body of a cherry-colored violin.
Zev Zalman, or Z.Z., is a luthier—a person who builds and repairs stringed instruments—and operates the one-man business Ludwick’s House of Violin.
In the adjacent room, more than a dozen instruments sit in their cases in need of repairs. “It’s like being able to bring back a voice that was silenced and just sitting there,” Ludwick says of the repair work.
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July 14, 2016 Washington Jewish Week
The musical odyssey of Z.Z. Ludwick
Once a heavy metal rocker, the Silver Spring resident has a rebbe and a new calling.
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March 13, 2018 Where What When Magazine
Z.Z. Ludwick Serving Hashem with Strings Attached by Margie Pensak
Zev Zalman (Z.Z.) Ludwick is the only Breslover chasidic luthier in the state of Maryland - if not the East Coast. Most likely, he is the only one in the world. (In case you were wondering, a luthier is someone who makes stringed instruments.) Interestingly, it was a string of Divine Providence incidents that led this musician to discover his passion for building and repairing violins.
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