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!

I have gone to Craig for years and years. He is honest and is a master Luther... This month, I brought a friends violin to him for bridge, tail gut, strings and bow re-hair. I had gotten an estimate from another local repairman a few weeks back. That quote was 500 bucks. Craig's price was $172.00 total! The bow re-hair was only 22 dollars!

I have contacts within a well know violin store in Oakland but Covid made travel unwise. Craig mentioned that he had a very nice Chinese Violin for an outstanding price. I shifted gears, knowing that Craig's recommendation always was outstanding and that it was probably half the price of another shop's. Well, he surprised me again! It came with a bow and case. Just plain unbelievable. But the best was to come when my friend a professional session violinist and member of 4 Los Angeles Orchestras begged me to sell it to her!!! I said sorry, better call Craig...

It is rare now a days to friend someone with old world pride of workmanship and an even temperament. But I did learn that Craig has done this work since he was 16 years old, so he know what he's doing. My highest recommendation. Great prices on strings and accessories, also.

Paul

This is the best repair shop in L.A! Craig is a professional and only works on what your instrument needs. My violin is sounding 100% it's potential and I've been going over 15 years!

First timer here! Tucked away in castle green is a violin repair shop! My son had knocked out his sound post. The gentleman was able to fix the violin super quick and was very kind! Huge relief on my part to have it fixed! Thank you! Highly recommend.

Should NOT be four dollar signs $$$$ on Yelp! Craig is the most reasonably priced luthier around. Not only that, but he's a nice guy and is easy to work with. He repaired and fully set up the old fiddle I brought him and gave me an idea of how it would sound when played. Not only was his work excellent, but his tonal prediction was spot on. He's friendly, he knows his stuff, and he's affordable (Without sacrificing quality I might add).

I now live 1 hour away and will still drive to this hidden gem in Pasadena. I usually get my violin bows re-haired he's efficient and charges little for his artwork. Have been coming to him ever since he was in Hollywood by (back then) Amoeba Music. I highly recommend to all my musician friends.
I do have to point out that you need to check his availability schedule since his hours vary per day.