Instrument Shopping FAQs

1. What is the difference between a less expensive and more expensive violin, viola, or cello?
   • As instruments increase in price the tone wood, varnish, and parts (strings, tailpiece, bridge, pegs, etc.) typically improve in quality. However this is less important and less of a factor than the time spent refining the body and neck to yield a better tone, response, and volume of the instrument when it’s being played. Above $5000, the difference in quality becomes much more about the ability of the player, and makers focus more and more on nuances in order to make musical expression easier in the hands of advanced and master level players.
2. How does my rental credit get applied to my purchase?
   • Credit is calculated according to the terms laid out in the Rental Agreement.
3. Do you offer any credit towards purchase if we rented elsewhere?
   • We make a reasonable effort to honor a portion of your rental credit that has accrued through a different rental program.
4. Do you have a trade-in program?
   • Occasionally we accept instruments for trade in that have been purchased elsewhere depending on their quality, condition, and our need.
5. What is the difference between the instruments Seery Strings offers and those from other shops (particularly online sellers)? 
   • At Seery Strings we first and foremost pride ourselves on our setups. Setting up these instruments is critical to them playing easily and sounding the best they can. This becomes most apparent when comparing what we offer to online retailers who typically rely on factory set ups and take a box off a shelf and send it to you. This is far from optimal and paying a luthier to perform these setups can cost hundreds of dollars. So while it might seem like online prices are better, set up is the part of the equation that the lay person often won’t consider and it will end up costing them more in the long run. Secondly, we cherry pick the industry because we care about not wasting your time. Instead of offering every instrument available in a given price range, we pare down the selection to those models and brands that truly offer the best value.
6. What is the experience like buying an instrument at Seery Strings?
   • At Seery Strings we care about fostering relationships with our customers. From the historic Victorian building we reside in, to our beautiful showroom and instrument trial space, we want you to feel comfortable and relaxed. Our experience allows us to guide you in every facet of the buying process from choosing an appropriate price range to how to approach evaluating the instruments as you try them. You will be hard pressed to find a shop who has a more refined process for guiding your shopping experience than Seery Strings. We take something that can seem daunting and make it easy and pleasant!
7. Do you allow us to trial instruments (try before you buy)?
   • Yes! In fact we encourage it. We offer a one week trial on up to two instruments. Many of our customers like to trial an outfit (instrument, case, and bow) so if they decide to buy they can just pay over the phone.
8. Why does it seem like your prices are more competitive than other area shops?
   • That is a tricky question, but primarily we don’t engage in the age-old practice of secretly paying off teachers to steer sales to our shop (aka kickbacks). This long standing industry practice should be illegal. As a direct cost of business it makes the price you pay significantly higher which is essentially stealing from you the consumer. We have no interest in putting profit ahead of people, on the contrary we want to develop relationships based on mutual trust. 

Bow Shopping FAQs

1. What is the experience like buying a bow at Seery Strings?
   • At Seery Strings we care about fostering relationships with our customers. From the historic Victorian building we reside in, to our beautiful showroom and instrument trial space, we want you to feel comfortable and relaxed. Our experience allows us to guide you in every facet of the buying process from choosing an appropriate price range to how to approach evaluating the bows as you try them. You will be hard pressed to find a shop who has a more refined process for guiding your shopping experience than Seery Strings. We take something that can seem daunting and make it easy and pleasant!
2. Is the bow really that important?
   • Yes! Professional musicians often care more about their bow (or bows) than the instrument. The bow is not just an accessory, it is the item that makes orchestral string instruments sing. Weight, balance, flexibility, material, and of course budget, are important factors when choosing a bow. We typically recommend settling on your instrument first and then finding a bow that pairs best with it and you as the player.
3. Can you choose a bow for me?
   • In theory, yes. Most likely though we will just choose the best selling bow based on how much you want to spend. However, it is much better to take the time and go through the process so that you can feel and hear the differences in the various bows. 
4. Wait, did you say the bow can change the sound of my instrument?!?
   • Indeed! There are now four main kinds of bows: wood bows, carbon fiber bows, hybrid bows (carbon fiber bows with wood veneer), and low resin unidirectional carbon fiber bows. Each material has distinctive characteristics in the tone they produce, and then each individual bow produces distinctive characteristics based on the specifics of its weight, balance, and flexibility. Wood bows tend to yield a warmer tone with more colors, carbon fiber bows tend to produce a cleaner and brighter tone. Low resin unidirectional carbon fiber tends to produce colors more similar to a wood bow, yet maintain the clarity of a carbon bow, while also offering a sharper response. Hybrid bows tend to strike a balance between wood and carbon fiber characteristics.
5. Do you allow me to trial bows?
   • Yes! In fact we encourage it. We offer a one week trial on up to three bows. 
6. What is your selection of bows like?
   • We try to keep as many bows, in a wide range of prices and performance characteristics in stock, as we can. Larger companies may have many more bows than us, but we are fanatical about carefully screening the bows we get to weed out the ones that fall outside the parameters most players prefer. We do not typically offer the most expensive bows due to the unscrupulous business practice of the big name string shops providing teachers with undisclosed kickbacks in our area. This practice results in us being unable to sell the highest priced bows as in the vast majority of cases the teacher makes that decision and the extra money is influencing their decision. We want you to trust us. We are not going to steal from you. We do not do this – ever – even though it limits what we can offer.
7. Do I need more than one bow?
   • It depends. Here are some of the reasons to have more than one bow. It’s good to have a back up bow, sometimes things happen that render the bow unusable and being able to have something else to use just in case isn’t the worst idea. Playing different styles of music or even different tempos and moods of music can be easier when you have the right bow for the job. Some bows feel lighter and are more nimble for faster playing or bouncing bow techniques, some bows feel heavier and produce a darker tone which might be more suitable for slower pieces, especially when needing to play long bow strokes, sometimes a bow blends into a section better, or it helps your sound stand out depending on whether you are trying to melt into a section or solo over the top of one, and sometimes it’s nice to have different bows to play to suit your own mood or to change things up when developing certain techniques.