Strings & Other Things

Whatever you may need in the line of a string instrument or accessories, you’ll certainly find it here. And, a very knowledge, friendly staff that is helpful.

I needed to rent a small violin for my child, our first time, and this was the place our instructor recommended. They responded quickly to a voicemail message, were able to help us the same day, had a wide selection at a variety of prices, including really great instruments (very noticably better and easier to use than the practice instrument the instructor had even to someone who has no experience in violins), and explained their policies and prices very carefully. Offered insurance (which we took since my child is 4 years old) but not at all aggressive, didn’t try to upsell us. Also were very kind to my extremely excited small child who wanted to sit on every chair in the room and to unzip the case herself and try her new violin and «play» a few notes.
One note: a little tricky to find since there is no sign out front and the building looks like an office building. It’s just one building uptown from the Apple Store with the big 1995 over the doors. Just go inside and speak to the guard at the front desk and go up to the sixth floor.

Very helpful service. Very good selection of violin strings. They want to help, not just take money!

Tired of having to tune my G, D, and A strings with the pegs, I came to Strings and Other Things (SAOT) because I wanted a Wittner tail piece with four fine tuners for my violin.
When I called up, I was told that they’d be happy to do that for me, and it would only take a half hour. The problem is, when I arrived at the store, it turns out full-​sized Wittner tail pieces were sold out. Rather than turn me away unhappy, and since it was their mistake, they offered to yank a «lightly used» Wittner tailpiece off of one of their violins and waive the installation fee.
Now keep in mind, a tailpiece is about the least expensive thing on a violin, so it’s not like they were going to make a lot of money on this sale to begin with, the installation charge is actually more than the cost of the tailpiece. Not to mention, this is the sort of high-​end place that could facilitate the acquisition of a Guadagnini violin that would cost several years salary for many folks, so I was particularly impressed with their customer service and how much they cared about my small potatoes transaction.
As for the rest of the store, they have everything you would need to meet your day-​to-​day music requirements, numerous string sets (both cheap and expensive), digital tuners, chin cups, bridges, shoulder rests, etc… you name it.

The staff are very nice and they have a great selection of books for learning like Suzuki. I found my cello teacher here in fact, but if you want any sort of beginner level instruments they really don’t have anything like that. In addition, I wanted to rent, but their prices are very high and the waiting list was like 15 people long. Good for a quick accessory if you’re in the area, but high markups and generally expensive instruments (I found out a cello I bought at Scott Russ music sells for three times the price here).
If you want a $ 50,000 violin, I’d imagine this is probably the place to go.