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About Lashof Violins


The Lashof Violins sign and store lit at dusk.

Celebrating over 30 years in business, Lashof Violins is located in Old Towne Gaithersburg, Maryland. We offer rentals, sales, and on-site repair and restoration for violins, violas, cellos and their bows. We also offer a full line of violin family accessories and the most requested sheet music.


Our friendly, professionally trained repair staff are also musicians who have numerous hours behind the workbench and the music stand. As players, the staff understands the importance of a properly-functioning instrument or bow and the need for affordable, great sounding instruments, bows, accessories, and dependable repairs.


Whether you are an advancing player, the parent of a beginning student, or a professional musician, Lashof Violins' staff will be happy to answer questions in a friendly, respectful, and honest manner. Most importantly, Lashof Violins offers reliability by providing quality products and services for students and players of all ages.

Our Mission


Our mission is to offer useful and truthful information about violins, violin care, and maintenance, to offer honest and fair estimates, and to provide quality products and services so our customers can feel confident about their purchases. We are dedicated to providing courteous and informative service to players of all levels. While there are many violin-related products available on the market, we pride ourselves in offering dependable products and the best prices for those products.

Why Choose Lashof Violins?

  • We specialize in violins, violas, cellos and their bows and understand the craft from all aspects--making, playing, repairing, and teaching. All our sales staff are players and are trained instrument repair technicians with countless hours behind the bench and extensive experience in the violin business.

  • All our dedicated staff are salaried employees so no commissions or sale-related bonuses are paid - our interests lie solely in helping you find the best instrument to meet your needs.

  • We stock a large selection of new and vintage instruments and bows--ranging from beginner to advanced student and professional levels. We stock instruments based on quality and dependability.

  • Instruments and bows are available for a free, no-obligation trial period. Credit Card required for trial; available to local customers only.

  • We do not sell instruments over the Internet. We are in the business of selling musical instruments and believe an instrument should be played before you pay! We want customers to look, listen, and hold an instrument before making such an important decision.

  • Lashof Violins carries a wide selection of Composite Bows--Graphite, Carbon fiber, and Pernambuco/Carbon Fiber Hybrid. We feel strongly about supporting this new, high-quality innovation since the Pernambuco wood used for fine bows is now an endangered species. Composite bows are available to ship for prepaid-trial anywhere within the continental US. To take advantage of our prepaid, mail order composite bow trial, simply purchase a bow from our online store! Upon receipt, you have one week to try out the bow and mail it back (at your expense). As long as the trial bow is shipped out to us within 7 days from date of receipt, we will refund your account for the cost of the bow (bow must still be in new, resaleable condition).

  • Up to 100% trade-in value makes it easy for students to advance (less any devaluation due to wear; available only on instruments still in a resalable condition).

  • Next-day bow rehairing on bows received before 5 pm and a free "loaner" bow available while your bow is being rehaired. (Loaner bows kept more than 10 days past the rehair completion are subject to a rehairing/restocking fee. Lashof Violins reserves the right to refuse this option at any time; "loaners" are subject to availability.) 

  • The most consumer-friendly Rent-to-Own Instrument Rental Program around.

  • Easy directions, free parking, no appointment necessary to make purchases or for simple adjustments like string changes and soundpost setting.

  • An excellent Warranty on all instrument and bow purchases.

  • The beginner’s needs are always treated as seriously as those of the advanced player.

  • We have an excellent selection of the most requested music titles in stock, with all our collections of works cross-referenced by piece, title, and composer.

  • Your property is fully insured while in our possession and will never leave the premises because we do all repairs on-site.

Our Stance on Sales Ethics

A surprising practice in the violin world is the payment of teacher commissions (or "kick-backs"). This arrangement between the violin/music store and a private teacher often inflates the price of the instrument/bow to accommodate for the cost of the teacher commission. This deceives the student who believes they are being offered an unbiased, professional opinion from their teacher based on their own instrument/budget needs.

We at Lashof Violins are strongly against the practice of providing teacher commissions, kick-backs, etc. and do not participate in this kind of business transaction. In order to maintain transparency between the student and the teacher, we believe teachers should be compensated by the student for their time/expertise when assisting in the purchase of an instrument or bow. When a student pays a teacher a previously-arranged flat fee for their help, the student is asking the teacher to represent their best interest in the sale.

Our firm stance regarding this practice has undoubtedly resulted in lost sales from teachers upset by our refusal to pay commissions, but our commitment is to our customers. Excluding the "middle-man" commission helps us insure students get the best-sounding instrument at a fair price.

We as fellow musicians understand the struggle between finding the best sounding instrument and staying within budget. No matter their size or budget, we are here to help players make wonderful music.