Exceptional Violin Bow Repair and Instrument Restoration in LA

This is a little slice of heaven located in Pasadena. We have been coming to Callier-Scallard for about two years now and I won't go to anyone else.

The entire experience visiting this gem is out of this world. Nothing exists like this anymore, and his ability to keep his shop withstanding any modern day technology is superb. The experience is straight out of a story book.

He is also way more reasonable with pricing than any of the competitors.

Shout out to Craig for helping my daughter's music education grow. Thank you for all of your help.

I took a very old family violin to Craig and he made it an amazing instrument to play. I am a beginner and was thrilled to have this instrument. He restrung it for me as well. He is really interested in helping the customer, and his pricing is extremely reasonable. He has really nice bows for sale also. I will always go to him first for everything violin related.

I am happy to write a review for Callier-Scollard Violins!
This fine string instrument and bow repair shop is nestled inside the historic Green Hotel in Pasadena, CA.
As a long time patron, I have experienced consistent quality craftsmanship with personal service. All work is provided by Master Luthier, Craig Scollard.
His over 40 year career has established him as one of the top practitioners of the craft.
Craig is well known for a client list of professionals performers as well as being a dependable go-to for string teachers and their students.

Sent a bow to be rehaired and couldn't be happier. Craig did a beautiful job, the price was outstanding and the turnaround was rapid. Could not recommend more highly. Thank you so much.

Needed to rehair a violin bow and was recommended to this shop. Craig , the owner really seems to care about his job and customers based on my interaction with him. He has a large collection of instruments in the shop, a testament to how much he values music. He is very honest and trustworthy even offering suggestions on how to prevent your instrument bows from being destroyed. Ignore the shop full of instruments , Craig's work speaks for him as he seems to try and save every one .I would use him each and every time .

Craig is a rare human. Kind, patient, very , very reasonable, both in his approach to doing the finest repair for your instrument, and in his prices. He understands the emotional attachment some of us have to our instruments. After the repair he did, my fiddle sounds Better than Ever.
Which, of course, makes me sound better. (No small feat).
My fiddle had been very poorly repaired - the repair made it unplayable - but now I am in Fine Fiddle (pardon the pun but it's true).
Very Grateful to Craig.

One of the best in the business. Down to earth, not fixated on taking money from people. He is professional and very nice. I highly recommend this shop! He will work with you on whatever you need and will do quality work.

Over the past 4 years I've purchased a fair amount of small-ish stringed instruments from a great European luthier. At the beginning of this year, I splurged--invested in a very unique hurdy-gurdy/cello hybrid instrument he's made since maybe 2008 (refining it all along the way, to his modern/current version, with sympathetic strings, piezo mic, etc.). I'll let you imagine what it looks like :-)

To my horror, however, the instrument arrived with its neck completely broken off, due to some bludgeoning that mysteriously occurred during shipping--even though it was packed extremely well, super secure, and seemingly safe. Of course, shipping an instrument of this size, with all its protective goodies, is pretty expensive. Instead of me shipping it back, my European luthier friend offered to reimburse the repairs cost, if I found a suitable individual in Los Angeles to resuscitate this oddball instrument.

I'm primarily a guitar player, and have many "guitar repair/tech" friends (who repair broken Les Paul necks, etc.). But this wacky axe did not fit the bill for any of them. So I had to go into overdrive, researching like a fiend. After many, many hours, I narrowed it down to a few people, searching the entire time for "cello neck repair," "broken cello neck," things of that sort. Almost all the Yelp reviews I read (various repair folk) implied they did everything *but* repair broken necks, it seemed (lots of fingerboard redoing, rehairing of bows, crack repair, re-finishing/restoration, cosmetic things, etc.).

Then I stumbled across Craig at Callier-Scollard Violins. And there was much rejoicing!

In his "Yelp reviews" I noticed many recurring word combinations: "fixes anything with strings on it, " "broken neck," "cello"... In other words, dealing with all sorts of damage--not just the "less scary things." But when I went to his actual WEBSITE, that's when I knew I'd found the right fellow. (Yes, I also visited every other establishment's website.) Meticulous detail of each instrument (violin, viola, cello, contrabass), and each type of repair he's done, categorized, with photos and explanations, stage-by-stage, step-by-step. With HUGE details (and photos) in the "neck repair" department (especially cello/double bass).

I rang him up, brought my instrument over, and let him work his magic. If you saw what all this entailed, you'd immediately realize how deep of a skill set an instrument repair person must possess to get this dialed in. He ended up not only gluing on the neck (of course), but also pinning it with two screw type bolts, angled diagonally into the neck itself (which would typically be three, according to him, but my instrument already had a bolt going lengthwise through the instrument that needed to be avoided). Oh yeah! Did I mention this instrument has "stopping points," sort of like frets, but nylon ligatures, that are a single string, wrapped lengthwise along the neck? He--in placing his bolts/pins into the fingerboard, AND finishing the fingerboard surface--somehow managed to not snip any of that, which would've resulted in a blow up, like an unspooling "backlash" (fishing pole/reel). Amazing!

Anyways, there's nobody I would recommend more for such a task. Or ANY exotic/oddball/hybrid stringed instrument task. I won't hesitate to bring my next round of damaged gizmos to his expert hands, should the need arise.

One last note: The Yelp "dollar signs" that are shown for his "generalized" cost of repair... 4$ out of 5$... implying the cost of repair, relative to others? I find that extremely misleading, as there's no way to know what type of thing was repaired. This is one of the most reasonably-priced repairs I've ever experienced for an instrument I truly care about. I would say it's "5$" quality service, with way way way way closer to a 1$ relative-type of cost for such a job.

Thank you Craig. You are a most generous wizard!

Nice gentleman helped me fix my sons violin, price was great since I went in expecting to pay an arm and a leg

Great service and amazing prices!! Craig communicates greatly with his clients and understands your needs. I had a violin recently fixed here due to many recommendations, the sound is so much better, Craig also added a lot of new touches to the violin including a chin rest that helps my neck, fine tuners and polished it up quite nicely. On top of that, his bow rehairs are priced insanely well and his work is quick. That's definitely come in handy in emergency situations for me!