This review is ONLY for renting instruments and a few minor repairs. I have NOT bought an…read moreinstrument from Fishburn, therefore, I cannot comment on the process, price, or value-for-money of an instrument.
MOST IMPORTANT: The employees are EXCEPTIONAL! They are knowledgeable, and if they don't know, they will find out for you. I have always had great service from them (even though I can be snippy at times). Please be patient with them if you want them to be patient with you.
I have rented 3 instruments (1 violin and 2 cellos) from Fishburn. I rented a 1/8 violin from Fishburn 3+ years ago for my son. I highly recommending instruments for growing children or for adults that are just "trying" out an instrument. Fishburn has a great rent-to-own program where you pay a monthly price and this money counts towards you owning an instrument once the price of the instrument is paid out. I love this program. Here are some of my experiences with renting.
Renting:
Fishburn has different tiers of rental (the higher the quality of instrument, the more money you pay for rental). When I first rented the 1/8 violin, I though, "hey, my kid is just beginning, he doesn't need an expensive rental". I was wrong. All great musicians start out as a beginner, beginners matter. Rent the best that you can afford. A higher quality instrument will be easier to play, better on the ears when practicing (doesn't sound like someone is torturing a cat), and make your kid feel better about him/herself, therefore, making that kid want to practice more. I wish the people at Fishburn would have informed me about this aspect of renting, I would have rented the higher quality instrument first instead of renting el cheapo, then having to come back and trade-up. That being said, the higher priced rental instrument is worth it. I know that they probably source their instruments overseas. I just want to say, the cheap 1/8 violin is REALLY bad. We are now at the 3/4 size, higher quality instrument, and it sounds so amazing. I know Fishburn didn't make the 1/8 violin-shaped-atrocity, but maybe consider sourcing from a better place? With all this being said, yes, PLEASE consider renting from them! Their rental prices are very fair. During renting, they also will clean, repair, and replace strings, bows, etc. for you free of charge.
Once we paid out the price of the violin, we own it and no longer have to pay the monthly rental charge. This was automatic and I didn't have to go in and remind them. This was very nice. When my kid out-grew his violin, I just took it in and they swapped it for a larger one, no additional cost! I'm sure if you wanted/needed a higher quality violin, you would have to pay for the difference. This is understandable. Once you own the violin though, YOU are responsible for paying for repairs and services.
Repairs and services:
I had to re-hair a 3/4 bow. The re-hair price is almost the cost of a new bow. I decided to re-hair instead of buying a new one because my kid will grow and what am I going to do with a 3/4 violin bow? If you have a full-sized bow, maybe having two bows would be useful. The luthier did call me and we spoke about the re-hair vs buying another one. I greatly appreciate her time and her concern. In the end, we re-haired and she did an awesome job.
I have also brought my cello in to reshape the bridge, and change the strings. All repairs were done in a timely manner and they are good at keeping you abreast of timelines to manage your expectations. They are good at exceeding timelines, but things happen sometimes. We have all been there.
Side note: When I first rented a 1/8 cello for my daughter, this had to be special-ordered. There was a mix-up somewhere and the cello did not come on time. Mr. Fishburn called me himself to apologize. In the end, we had a pleasant conversation. It's a 1/8 cello, there are a million other things that are more important.
Final verdicts:
Rent from Fishburn: Yes! Or at least, give them a chance and try it out.
Repair at Fishburn: I have only done minor repairs so YES! For large repairs like big cracks in instruments, I do not have experience so I cannot comment.
