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August 2023 by M B.
I have been a loyal customer of Johnson/Carriage House for decades. I purchased my instrument and bow there and have been coming every year for a bow rehair, problem free. However, today I was rudely turned away and told to come back in a few days or go somewhere else. The man working the desk downstairs was very dismissive and condescending. Apparantly you can't drop your bow off anymore to get rehaired, you have to have an appointment. Ok, that's great, but you couldn't make an exception, this one time, for a loyal customer who drove a long way?! I certainly do not expect preferential treatment, but I was so taken aback by the rudeness and the outright refusal. I'm a professional violinist working in the Boston area and get asked all the time where I get my work done and where I go and I've always recommended Johnson/Carriage House...NEVER AGAIN. I will be taking my business and recommendations elsewhere.
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September 2022 by Daniel Lind
We worked with Phil to buy a Viola. It is rare to have an opportunity to have access to an expert with such professionalism and compassion. Phil guided us through this journey to ownership and made us very happy! Great experience!
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June 2022 by Josh S
Called to get a high end 100 year old violin repaired. They are only repairing instruments purposes in their shop. But they offered to rent me an instrument or sell me something cheaper. How helpful….
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December 2021 by Jacob Mehlhouse
Great shop with a large selection of instruments and bows in an amazing building overlooking a beautiful river. Very friendly staff and truly talented luthiers.
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November 2021 by Crystal Johnson
I am really frustrated with my experience trying to rent a Cello here. I live out of state and was looking for a higher quality cello rental, their master rental sounded like a good option.I needed the Cello by the 11/17 so I called Johnson Strings on 11/6 to see how long shipping would take and if it would be possible to get in time. I spoke with a girl who assured me the time frame to receive it would only be 4 days from when I placed the rental order.I placed the order, called in the next day to make sure it it would be on time. The guy who answered told me that the girl had misinformed me and that it is usually 4 days to prepare and 4 days to ship. I explained I needed it by the 17th and asked if this was still possible. He said he would leave a note as soon as he saw the order in the system to bring it to the front of the line for preparation so that it would be on time.I was suspicious that I had received two different answers and that he hadn't even seen the order in the system yet so I called again the next day. A different guy answered and told me that it would not be on time and that they could not push the instrument preparation to the front of the line unless I paid several hundred more dollars for expedited shipping. I explained what I had been told by two other employees and he said sorry for the misinformation but it is what it is.I ended up having to scramble to find something else locally and cancelled this rental. This was an extremely unprofessional and irritating experience. I was planning on buying the 5k+ Cello after the rental period as long as it had a decent sound. Their unprofessional and indifferent employees have caused Johnson string instruments and Carriage house to permanently lose a customer.
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October 2021 by JuRang KIM Baek
I am a doctoral student in violin performance, and recently purchased my dream violin here at Carriage House Violins. I spent almost whole summer to search my dream violin in different cities, but finally found this violin, which has bright but deep sound and well balanced handsome modern violin. Yoonhee was there for help and she has done so wonderful jobs through all these processes. First, when I was at the shop, she observed what kind of sound I am looking for while I was going through few violins they set up, and then brought this dream violin to me. She knew I would love it, and I really love it so much!! It was literally perfect fit for me. Also, they were so gracious with instrument trial periods, and shipping process was so easy as well compare to other shops. I am over the moon! Thank you, Yoonhee and Carriage House Violin for this amazing experience, and for making my dream come true! ?
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October 2021 by Timothy Paek
I recently purchased a bow from Carriage House and I could not be more happier. Thanks to my longtime friend, cellist, and sales associate, Tom Holdener, I was able to find an upgrade that was a great personal fit for a very reasonable price. I went back about 4-5 times in the last year, and every time there was a different selection of bows to try out. Never have I ever seen so much traffic come through a violin shop.
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September 2021 by Timothy P.
I recently purchased a bow from Carriage House and I could not be more happier. Thanks to my longtime friend, cellist, and sales associate, Tom Holdener, I was able to find an upgrade that was a great personal fit for a very reasonable price. I went back about 4-5 times in the last year, and every time there was a different selection of bows to try out. Never have I ever seen so much traffic come through a violin shop.
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July 2021 by Stephen Lacy
Carriage House is run BY musicians FOR musicians. My daughter has been trying and buying her cellos and bows (by trading up) here for years. The service and support are excellent. I wish all buying experiences were this pleasant. Shoutout to Phil Rush for the always-great experience.
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June 2021 by Mike Murphree
I just took advantage of the trade in option at Carriage House. I traded in my two year old Jay Haide cello for a new Dailey Carcassi cello plus a difference. They used the same price I paid for the Jay Haide for the trade in value. This is an excellent program I recommend which allows armature players like myself to upgrade to better instruments as we slowly improve our ability to play. The Carcassi is amazing and comes with the one year warranty.
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May 2021 by Sean M.
I really don't like to write negative reviews, but felt that my experience might be representative of how Carriage is conducting its business these days with respect to shipping bows (and possibly) instruments on approval, and may therefore be useful for potential customers. This review is only for Carriage House Violins, not for Johnson String Instruments, whom I regularly purchase products from, even though they're all the way on the other side of the country from me. I'm very happy using Johnson String and have never had any reason not to. So, back to Carriage House. In the past, I've used them to try out bows on approval, because I've been searching for many years for a bow that really speaks to me and responds to my style of playing in the way that I want. So, I've tried out bows from Carriage House occasionally, including some very expensive ones that, for whatever reason, were not what I was looking for. I think that, on one occasion, I even had a cello shipped to me to try out; however, I decided it wasn't the instrument for me and returned it. I have always returned the items promptly to Carriage House and in the same condition in which I received them, and of course exercised the utmost care and respect with bows and instruments that don't belong to me. Now, fast forward to about a month ago, and once again I'm looking at bows that they have available, because I'm in the mood to try out one or two. There was one made in the early part of the 20th century that caught my eye, so I ordered it online. After a while, I heard back from Tom Holdener at Carriage House, who left me a voice mail asking me to call him. I called back, couldn't reach him directly, so I left a message, and also asked him in the message if it was possible to send the bow instead to my work address rather than my home address that I had put on the order, since it was much easier to ensure that someone was always at the work address to sign for the bow. Not long after this, I got an email from Tom saying that it was no problem to redirect the bow to my work address, and asked me once again to call him. Eventually, we did connect on the phone, and he asked me why I had selected this particular bow, and what I was looking for in a bow. I replied that I was interested in the bow because of the period and location (Los Angeles area) where it was made, and as for what I was looking for in a bow, I told him that was really tough to answer because one's experiences with bows are highly subjective, that I had been looking for a long time, and when I found the "right" bow, I felt that I would know it. In the meantime, I told him that I just like to sample bows from time to time for this purpose. Tom was very nice and professional the entire time. After this, I took my regular bow into the shop for rehairing, and thought that while I was there, I might as well try out a couple of other bows for a week's time, so I took two bows home with me as I waited for my bow to be worked on. As fate would have it, I quickly fell in love with one of the two bows. Since I hadn't received the bow I had requested yet from Carriage House Violins, I wrote back to Tom -- now this was eleven days after his email -- and let him know that, if he hadn't already sent the bow, there was no need, because I had found a bow that I really loved and had already purchased. Sadly, I never received a reply from Tom after that (and also, the bow I had originally ordered on approval never came). Although Tom was extremely polite, I came away from the experience with a bitter taste in my mouth. I felt that I was being scrutinized under a microscope simply for requesting the bow. If they feel that way about potential customers, then why even offer the service on their website at all? Did he not look at my history with the company as their customer, and see that I was always extremely responsible with their products, returning them promptly and without damage? In addition to this, this "transaction"
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May 2021 by Amy Warren
Took my son to get measured for a violin, awesome customer service.
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March 2020 by Rafal Boni
Great selection of instruments and also a wonderful space to host recitals.
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February 2020 by Josh Portuondo-Dember
Don’t go close to closing time- you will not feel welcome. Ryan just wanted me out the door asap- so much so, he took my money - said I was all set, but didn’t even bother to give me my instrument back lol cold and not friendly - maybe he was just having a bad day.
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January 2020 by Lucy Lee
I had a very good experience getting a new bow here. Phil was knowledgeable and helpful. Also, a really beautiful space!
