The sycamore tree sat in the garden of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s childhood home in Liberton, Edinburgh, its branches offering a hideout for the schoolboy who would one day create one of the greatest detectives. More than 170 years on, felled and rotten at the roots, it has been reborn — carved into a violin as a tribute to Sherlock Holmes, who solved so many of his cases playing the instrument.

The violin, which was made by Steve Burnett, is to make its debut on Friday at a concert held by Dunedin School, which occupies Conan Doyle's home, the old Liberton Bank House, to mark 150th anniversary of the author's birth.

The project began after staff at the school contacted Mr Burnett last year to see if he could preserve the centuries-old tree. He plans to make another four string instruments from it and has set up a group, the Conan Doyle Quartet. He is seeking funding for the project, which is to be completed next year.

Joan Foulner, a history teacher at Dunedin, said: “We had to get the tree down because it would be so expensive to restore.” She sought suggestions from the volunteers who help to maintain the garden and they agreed to approach Mr Burnett, who works at a studio in Haymarket.

“I just think it’s so special. I think it’s a great idea and I hope Steve gets funding for the other instruments.”

Mr Burnett christened the violin “Sherlock” and has inscribed upon it: “Sherlock, 150th anniversary, birth of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, wood from sycamore at Dunedin School, former childhood home, Edinburgh, 22/05/2009.”

He said: “I think he [Holmes] would appreciate the fine Italian tone and the look of the instrument.”

Normally, the wood used for violins is left to “season”. Mr Burnett did not have the luxury of time so he treated the green wood to bring it up to standard. “I’ve been doing a lot of research into using green wood. It is a lot harder to stabilise because it is so new. I have tried to create the lovely golden Italian tone. I have tried to work in the ways that Stradivari and Guarneri worked.”

He said that, although the instrument will have to be “played in”, he was delighted with the “sweet, mellow and full, round tones” of the higher strings and the “full, even sound with power and fullness” in the lower ones.

He also sees the violin as an environmental statement “testament to the power of nature in music and art”.

“Coming down to the varnishing, I researched the early techniques as I try and do everything as organically as possible,” he said. “One of the main ingredients is propolis , which I obtained from Tuscan beekeepers. That’s very important for the tone. You can smell the Tuscan landscape and the poplar trees.”

The violin will belong to the school and be used for musical and artistic projects. Mr Burnett hopes that it will be used at a concert at the Sherlock Holmes Museum in London while Mrs Foulner said that the school may also lend it out to gifted violinists who cannot afford their own instrument. “It has to be used,” she said. “It’s not fair to have it and sit it in a cabinet and look at it. But it will have to be very carefully looked after.”

Conan Doyle lived in Liberton Bank House when he attended school in Edinburgh in the 1860s. He had been sent there by his mother who was keen to protect him from the influence of his depressive, alcoholic father.

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