Musical Instrument Repair in Fitzrovia: £100 Bow Rehairs

Most London string players end up at J.P. Guivier sooner or later, usually holding a bow with half its hair gone or a violin whose seam has opened in a cold rehearsal room. The firm has dealt in violins, violas, cellos and bows since 1863, and its own workshop sits behind the showroom on Mortimer Street in Fitzrovia. It is a dealer first, but the repair bench is the reason many players walk through the door every week.

Joseph Prosper Guivier and Alphonse Villin founded the business in 1863. According to the firm's own history page, it traded from Golden Square, then Warwick Street from 1880, then Great Marlborough Street, before Harry Cohn moved it to Mortimer Street in the early 1940s. It became a limited company in 1952, and Alan Wilks worked there for 46 years, from 1947 until 1993.

From 1993 the shop was run jointly by Robin Hamilton and Richard White. Robin retired in 2017, and today Richard White and his wife Julie run it as co-directors. That continuity matters in a repair shop: the people who sold a student their first full-size violin are often the same ones who set it up again ten years later, when the student is auditioning for conservatoire.

Guivier is one of the few London string shops that prints its bow prices, VAT included, on its website. For violin, viola and cello bows, a full rehair is £100, a new thumbgrip is £50 and a brass eye alone is £55. Silver lapping together with a thumbgrip costs £130, a new screw and eye is £160, and a fine mammoth face for the tip is £230. These were the published figures when this guide was written.

Double bass bows cost a little more because there is more hair and a heavier stick. A bass rehair is £125, a thumbgrip £60, and a bone face £310. Anything larger, such as a cracked head, a broken stick or a rebalanced frog, is assessed on the bench first. The shop says larger repairs and restoration are quoted individually and only after the instrument or bow has been examined.

Instrument repairs have no public price list for the same reason. A soundpost adjustment, a new bridge, an open seam or a crack running from the f-hole each takes a different amount of time on a different instrument. The workshop is headed by Kwonsu Kim, and the team will write an estimate on request, which is useful if your instrument insurer wants paperwork before approving the work.

Bring the instrument in its case together with the bow you actually play on, because a rehair or bridge change is judged against how the whole setup sounds. Tell the luthier what changed and when: a buzz that appears only in damp weather points somewhere different from a buzz that never goes away. If the seam has opened, do not glue it at home; hide glue is used so that the top can come off cleanly later.

The phone also saves a wasted trip on a Saturday, when the workshop may be busy with weekend trials. Players hiring or trying instruments in the showroom often book their bow rehair at the same visit, so mention both jobs when you call.

If you can, hand the instrument over in person on a weekday, when the shop opens at 9.30am from Monday to Friday and stays open until 5.30pm. Doing it at the counter means a luthier can look at the problem with you, play a few notes on it, and tell you whether it is a quick adjustment or a job to leave behind, rather than you describing a buzz over the phone and guessing.

The shop window is the giveaway: violins, violas and cellos stand in rows, with bows fanned underneath, and the stock runs from student outfits to antique Italian instruments. In October 2026 the firm listed a fine violin by Carlo Antonio Testore of Milan, dated to around 1740, which gives a sense of the top end. Repairs for a school violin get the same bench time as dealer stock.

Because it is a dealer, Guivier also carries the small things a repair often reveals you need: strings, rosin, chinrests, shoulder rests, mutes and cases. If your bow comes back from a rehair and suddenly shows up how dead your strings are, you can fix that before you leave. Ask the staff to fit and tune new strings while you wait if the bench is not busy.

J.P. Guivier, at 99 Mortimer Street W1W 7SX, is a few minutes on foot from Oxford Circus and Great Portland Street stations. That puts it in the middle of Fitzrovia, a grid of Georgian and Edwardian streets between Oxford Street and Euston Road that has long been home to musicians, publishers and design studios.

After you drop off a bow, walk east to Margaret Street to see All Saints, a Victorian Gothic church whose interior of coloured brick and tiles is one of the most striking in the West End. Then head north to Fitzroy Square, a quiet Robert Adam square framed by stone terraces, with the BT Tower rising above the rooftops. Charlotte Street, a block east, is lined with cafes and restaurants for lunch while you wait.

J.P. Guivier & Co., 99 Mortimer Street, W1W 7SX. Hours: Monday to Friday 9.30am to 5.30pm, Saturday 10am to 5pm, Sunday closed. Bow prices above include VAT and cover violin, viola and cello bows, with separate double bass rates. Larger instrument and bow repairs are quoted after inspection, and written estimates are available for insurance claims.

The shop handles the violin family and bows only, so guitars, wind instruments and pianos need a different specialist. Bring your bow in its case rather than loose in a bag, since a dropped stick can snap at the head. If you are visiting from outside London, combine the trip with a try-out of instruments or bows in the showroom, which the staff can arrange for players looking to upgrade.