One of the widest range of vintage string instruments. Excellent service and communication. An all-around one-stop store for all string instrumentalists!

I bought a Lillo Salerno (LBS Sicilian violin maker) made in Germany (Guarneri, 2020 model) violin, from Brobst Violin Shop and I couldnt be any happier. Unbeknownst to me, the violin certificate, which is actually a small booklet, came with photos of the finished violin from LBS workshop and every corner of each photo has the makers embossed stamp - really spectacular! My purchase from Brobst also came with a certificate of purchase on high quality paper.The extremely warm and professional pair at Brobst met all my extended questions and requests before I decided to proceed with my dream purchase of owning a professional violin. The shop owners even agreed to a (long) Zoom call without hesitation and I fired away all additional questions I had. I never felt that the couple were edgy or in a rush, rather they held their full attention to my needs. They later assisted me with choosing a violin case (Pure Gewa), which is smaller and lighter than I expected, by asking me what expectations I was looking for: waterproof, music sheet pouch and have thick shoulder straps.Graydon supported me further with organising my purchase to the United Kingdom (England), which ONLY took two days from leaving the shop to my home address, via DHL.If I did not have this dream violin, I would certainly trust to buy from Brobst again!Graydon and family - you are warm and trusting professional people.Thank you.M. Nikos Demetriou

I purchased my first full-sized fiddle here in 2003 with the help of Mr. Brobst. Nineteen years later, David helped me find my second fiddle a couple of weeks ago. Cant recommend this place enough.

Bought a violin for our daughter and received great service. Great family run business!

Always have great help. Sharon is amazing.

Do you ever walk into a place and feel a negative energy? Thats what I felt here. My gut feel was proven to me in the way they dealt with price negotiation. It just doesnt feel like they love the instruments or value building relationships with the musicians. Just not my cup of tea.

It was probably the greatest string store I have been in. Made some friends and got my cello here. Can recommend enough.

Great place, sold all types of cellos and you just tell them your price range and they will give you 3 cellos to try, 1 below, at, and above your price range and you can try them each other for a week and you can even try a bow out

Great selection and very knowledgeable staff. Allowed us 2 hours in a room to try violins for my granddaughter

Even though I had many many questions, David and Sharon patiently helped me through the entire process of purchasing a fine violin. They were friendly and very clear in communication. I highly recommend Brobst Violin Shop for their excellent customer service and diverse range of fine instruments!

Great violin shop... best Ive been to. Excellent customer service.

Utilizing their home trial, I was able to find a vintage instrument that I fell in love with. I was able to negotiate a nice trade in on my prior instrument. I will definitely come back to Brobst in the future for my strings needs. The customer service was great and Sharon was so helpful throughout my experience. Thank you! :)

Excellent selection and extremely helpful staff.

I am looking for a trade-in having a fractional size violin purchased from another shop looking for a full size violin with higher value so I called them to figure out more details about their trade-in policy sharing the information above and this is what I heard exactly; I cannot take your violin and give you a full size violin as I need to sell them, you know what I mean? I can only give you half price of the original price at most, you know what I mean? I just told the guy, thank you for the information and hung-up. Here is what I learned from this shop;1. If you are looking for something that gives less profit for them, you are not a welcomed customer.2. Their evaluation policy on an instrument purchased from another shop has a limit not allowing more than half price of the original purchase price.I just wanted to share this information for the people who is looking for an instrument trade-in. Thanks for reading.

This is family owned shop where several generations work together. They offer high quality instruments which you can buy or rent. You can bring your instrument for a maintenance, to replace the strings or re-hair the bow. They can tune for free!

Best service and most reasonable rental price.

A superb experience here from start to finish, my Symphony Model is perfection and the setup flawless. 100% satisfied in Southwest Virginia :)

Great service and deals. I trust them with all my string instruments. David gave us a fantastic deal at our school for two violas. They were high quality instruments and setup correctly. Additionally, he repaired out string bass. We are grateful for their quality services at affordable prices.

Had a great experience buying a bow, will definitely be giving them by business in the future.

Brobst is simply the best! They are knowledgeable, with caring, practical advice, well-stocked (string instruments, of course, but a first-class selection of sheet music) and the store is filled with fascinating products and curios. What a great place!

I got my violin and bow here. I absolutely love both of them and the staff give you lots of options to choose from. Please go to Brobst for excellent service and top notch quality instruments. I cannot recommend them enough.

The go-to place for violin purchase, repair. Mr Brobst and his staff helped our family sort out our mothers collection of instruments recently after she passed away. They obviously love what they do. Our mother insisted we go to them and now we know why.

My son plays violin (hes majoring in violin performance in college). Weve gotten a couple of good violins and bows there and rely on them to clean and tweak the instruments as well as adjust new ones. They have a huge inventory of string instruments and accessories and a large stock of sheet music, books, and training videos. Great rooms for testing out new instruments too. My son trusts the place.

Other reviewers are correct about the selection and service, but I was put off by having paid over $3,000 for a new violin that I was assured they would be happy to resell on consignment, but later refused to do so. Whats an instrument really worth that a dealer refuses to resell at a 20% markup with no expense to them?

By far the most knowledgeable, friendliest, treat everyone like family from a genuine heart, business on the east coast. The entire team, from the oldest to the youngest knows stringed instruments and will take the time to share their knowledge if it means that youre satisfied with the reason for your visit. Its a legitimate judgment free zone as it relates to musical instruments.You will make the right choice when selecting Brobst as the shop to acquire, repair, or learn about your instrument.If youre new like me....a 47 year old adult picking up an instrument for the first time in your life....dont forget to ask them about their list of recommended instructors...Ive selected an amazing instructor (Jim Batts) to help me learn how to play the violin.

Ive had a number of set up jobs done by this violin shop. They are knowledgeable, professional, and courteous. Their prices are standard and the craftsmanship is very good. So good that I will drive 500 miles round trip for their skill and value provided and another 500 miles round trip to pick up. I have always been very pleased with their work.

Best violin shop in the DC area. My family has done business with Brobst for over fifty years, including a restoration of a family heirloom violin (1893).

The experience was great and the man that was working was so nice. I arrived at the shop right when it closed and the man still let me in and took care of my instrumental needs. There was no rushing or no sense of indecency. Everything was very professional and the people were very nice.

I always recommend my students visit for their needs because they treat every client as if they will be a client for life. They spend the time and listen to even the newest player at the youngest age as if they were a seasoned professional. They are all musicians and have remembered all of the angst and issues that go into a students life. Yes, you can buy a lot of things cheaper on the internet, you can drop your instrument off at a franchise music store, but you cannot get the attention and expertise that this shop and family offer. If you go on the weekend you may have to wait for your turn, but once it is your turn, you will have their undivided attention until you have finished your business. I have been pleased for more than 50 years. Well done!

Sales staff were professional and able to answer all our questions.

I am a fledgling cellist at 41. It has been a 20+ year dream to play the cello, and I purchased one 10 years ago while living overseas and never got around to lessons or getting the strings on - until this past year.I went to the store in need of new strings. After 10 years of non-use, the strings sounded tinny and scratchy - though I guess that could have been just me... but my teacher and I decided new strings were in order and with her recommendation, I found myself at Brobst Violin Shop.I could not have been more pleased with my experience. I had no clue what I was doing - just what I needed to have done with my cello. The shop is currently undergoing renovation to enlarge their space. While waiting for my turn, a violinist was getting some work done on his violin and then tried out another violin. The music was beautiful! I am on Suzuki Book 1 (and Twinkle, Twinkle) and was impressed listening to the results of decades of practice.Mr. (Gerald) Brobst was the one helping out the violinist, and he very pleasant and apologized for my wait. I told him I was in no hurry and happy to listen to the music. When it was my turn, I told him what I needed and the strings that I was to change to. He queried if I wanted to spend that much money, and we discussed options. In the end, I still went with the original ones I requested, but it was nice to know he was not just trying to sell me a pair of strings. It was a thoughtful process.After he strung the cello, he tweaked other things - markings for where the strings should go on the nut and then balanced the strings for better sound. Sorry theres probably different terminology to represent better what he did, but that was how I best understood what he explained to me. Then he played my cello to test out the strings, and those strings sounded amazing. And he says hes not a cellist, but a violinist. Well, you could have fooled me. Then because I spent a fair amount of change on strings, especially compared to the cost of the cello, I asked his advice about cellos in general. He talked to me as if he had all the time in the world, and even played another cello for me so that I could hear the difference (even accounting for strings).I had a wonderful experience at this establishment on 11/30/12. I knew I was a beginner-cellist. Even the questions and statements I made show I really dont know what Im talking about yet. The violinist who was the customer knew I was a beginner. Mr. Brobst knew I was a beginner. But never once, did I feel or was I made to feel like I was anything other than a peer.As I left, I introduced myself so that perhaps the next time I visit, hell remember me... because there is no doubt of where Ill go for my cello needs.

I love this family business. They know what they are doing, and take care of their clients!

We rent two instruments and bought a 3rd from Bropst. They are a great business. Always helpful and reliable. Highly recommended.

The team here was very professional and helpful.

Purchased a viola there for my daughter today. I have dealt with my local music shop for 20 years and they advised me to go see the people at Brobst as my daughter was ready for a professional instrument. Her orchestra teachers, personal teacher, school orchestra teacher also recommended Brobst. She played lots of violas and fell in love with one that will keep her busy for a while (hopefully). Gredon was extremely helpful. We are very pleased.

Helpful and knowledgeable

I had excellent care and attention from the staff who helped me rent my first violin. It was Saturday so a little busy but I didn’t have to wait too long.

Great family business. Caring and helpful staff. Weve been customers for over a decade.

Excellent selection of instruments, friendly staff. We found a wonderful instrument in our price range.

I am a professional violinist and I was looking to purchase a violin after my old violin was not playable anymore. I was looking at violins for a long time and traveled east and mid-US major cities. I was very happy to finally find Brobst violins in DC. I found a beautiful sounding and looking old violin I love very much. I really want to thank the owner and everyone in the shop for all their time, care and effort they put in. I visited them several times over a few months. they let me try several violins for a few weeks and finally also did some adjustments and replacements for the violin I purchased. Especially thankful I am to Graydon andDavid, who did all the adjustments. David who did an absolutely great job, Very professional and actually beyond that, was even meeting and working during his break day with me. They have a very big selection of instruments at all levels. They are all very well maintained and very well setup. Even in busy times when many people visited the shop, David and Graydon took the time and care for each customer and did everything very professionally, kindly and carefully. Thank you again! I strongly recommend this shop. Even if you have to drive a few hours. I found this shop to be the best in all regards from dc-ny.

Brobst was recommended by our first violin teacher and we have been coming here for almost 10 years. They are family owned and operated. They have worked on our own instruments and also we have rented from them. Thry have a rental/purchase program do yiur rent goes toward your purchase.We also get our bows rehaired here.

Best shop for strings

Great place for all your stringed instrument needs. Knowledgeable and professional.

Great selection of violins and bows. Fair price.

My 15-year-old daughter traveled more than 2 thousand miles to Washington DC to attend the National Symphony Orchestra Summer Music Institute three days ago. Yesterday morning she had to bring the borrowed cello to the shop to get the fine tuners installed and the strings replaced to get ready for her seating audition in the afternoon. Graydon not only helped her get everything done quickly, he also gave her some parts for free to make the short endpin work properly. The charge was very reasonable, and the service was great! My daughter was so happy about the service, which also helped me so much relieve my worry! Thank you so much Graydon and Brobst Violin Shop!

Always professional and excellent service. They truly are the best.

Very helpful, they helped setup my first Cello, very knowledgeable I would recommend Brobst Violin Shop to anyone wanting to visit a great family owned shop.

Always get my bow rehaired here. No problems.

Prompt service, quality repair (I am a professional violinist) and great prices!!

WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE WHEN BUYING NEW INSTRUMENT. ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!!!

Excellent customer service, beautiful family owned shop with unique string instruments on display. Our violin rental is in pristine condition, and price is similar to most.

Emily was very kind and they were very informative.

Excellent service, fair prices, top notch quality.

Good service. Really nice people.

One of the best violin shops in the metropolitan area.

Incredible selection.

They uprighted my collapsed sound post and repaired my bow.

Rude, dismissive and unprofessional, overall highly poor customer service

Great service and advice!

Staff was a bit pushy

Great violins