Quinlan & Fabish Music

I got 2 kids who play violin at school. Instead of going out and buying a Stradivarius for the little brats, we rented their violins through Q&F via the school’s music program. At about $ 23 a month per instrument, it’s not a bad deal. My older son has classes 2x a week, plus practice at home, so it gets plenty of action. My younger son got a violin that was too large for him. A week later, right in time for class, voila, a replacement instrument at the right size, no further paperwork or payment required.
Then during Christmas break, a string broke on my little guy’s violin. We came to the Q&F location in Arlington Heights, located in a quiet industrial area off of Arlington Heights Road. The lady saw it, got the right string, replaced it in 5 minutes and tuned the violin for us at no added charge.
Basically, they help you take care of the instrument and service it as needed. The people are knowledgeable on a variety of horns, drums, and string instruments they rent and sell. And if you need sheet music for a multitude of things, you might find it in their store too.

They are nice, knowledgable and the prices are reasonable especially since you can apply your rental credits toward 40% of the instrument price. I first considered buying a violin and a violin shop but quinlan’s prices were about the same and the violin shop didn’t offer the insurance which is definitely the way to go. No violin shop that offers the insurance the Quinlan does. What price peace of mind?

The only thing this store had going for it was it’s close proximity to my home. Now that they are moving to Arlington Hts. there will be no reason for me to go there. Their prices are no bargain, and the salespeople are either young and inexperienced, or old and pompous. I had an early afternoon music job in the city and stopped in to get a simple inexpensive item for my gig. I stood there waiting for about 15 minutes, and finally asked if the clerk could simply check me out as I had to get to my job. I was totally ignored by this clerk, all I wanted to do was pay and get to my job. Finally I left my purchase on the counter and walked out. Good thing, as I barely had enough time to get to my job. This is a store that is geared towards taking the uninformed parents of new music school students, and taking them to the cleaners. This store is NOT CONCERNED WITH THE NEEDS OF PROFESSIONAL MUSICIANS and should be avoided by professionals. Sam Ash or Horn Stash in this area are both better places to shop for professional level service. Even shopping the online Woodwind/​Brasswind store is way better than wasting your time at Quinlan and Fabish, take a pass on this customer un-​friendly store.

My Son’s school recommended we get his flute from here. Dale at the store was very knowledgeable and helpful. Happy with my first ever music instrument buying experience.

Do yourself a favor and AVOID this store at all costs.
Instruments are way overpriced, staff isn’t very helpful and will act condescending anytime they get a chance, even if they’re wrong about something (which they often are…).
There are plenty of other great music stores in the area, like Horn Stash and Sam Ash. THIS one is definitely the bottom of the barrel.

I walked in and was not helped for 30 minutes. No greeting and not even looked at. The staff does not care if a customer walks in, like other reviews have mentioned.
There were two people working, both making personal calls, but one lady had the audacity to tell me she was working with a customer when she was clearly mindlessly surfing the web. Two other employees were just dicking around. I literally stood in front of the cashier for a good 30 minutes, nothing said to me until he got off the call.
I bought a violin here for a couple thou, and a string broke off after first use. Returned after a week. An older man tells me that he needs to take the down payment+a months payment in order to refurbish the violin, because obviously it’s an incredibly arduous task, requiring hundreds of dollars, to reattach a single violin string. I mean, it’s not like it’s what you do for a living.
Awful service and overpriced, mediocre quality instruments. Please avoid if at all possible.
I think that my review echos a few other poor reviews based on their service. The animosity and the hostile vibe (as mentioned by another reviewer) is palpable.
Saw a for lease sign up front. These folks run this shit show like they’re going out of business — and for humanity’s sake, I hope that’s exactly what’s going to happen.

I’ve never had a problem at this store. The staff are friendly but they don’t bother you if you just want to browse. I have two children who take lessons through instructors at this store and they are very accommodating. I was delighted that I could schedule my son’s saxophone lesson and my daughter’s string bass lesson at the same time.
Another thing I like is that they give the string bass lesson a large room. It’s necessary when putting in two mammoth instruments but I have experienced other places trying to stuff you into a small practice room, which does not allow for proper bowings, nor or the instructor to play along with the student, which is helpful on some techniques.
My son also plays the flute but the Mt. Prospect store does not have a flute only instructor so we went to a different instructor who is not affiliated with the store. This store used to have an excellent flute instructor but he got a job as a band director and does not teach there any longer.
I have noticed a for lease sign in front of the building. I plan to ask what is going on with this location. I’m not sure if they are closing or relocating it. If my options are not a reasonable distance from Mt. Prospect, I’m going to be disappointed.

I’ve been to the store maybe four times as they were the main supplier to my son’s Music School in Chicago. It’s a long haul from Chicago to get there, but I tend to shop and get service from the company I buy something from. The customer service I’ve received has been spot on for the most part. Usually I’ve gone on a Friday or Saturday when its been busy and it may take a minute or two for assistance. The trombone we bought from them was sooooo cheap and poorly constructed, that we moved up to a Yamaha. Nice enough people, more than fair prices, no real complaints.

Totally agree with Rachel J. (Sad that her comment still rings true 4 years later.)
This happened in Sept ’11. My experience comes from having my daughter take up the saxophone in her school band. We have a sax, as my husband played, it just needed to be adjusted and minor repairs were in order. Quinlan and Fabish was one of the companies that had a booth at the school. I spoke with them and it seemed simple enough. I reminded them that the first band practice was two weeks from then, would they be able to do it. Their answer: «Yes, no problem, we can get it delivered to the school by then with the other instruments.’ Wonderful! Why would a busy mom not want that sort of convenience?
HA! That is so not what happened. When they called with a quote on the repairs, they nixed on being able to deliver the sax to school in two weeks. There weren’t any major repairs (a few adjustments on keys and new pads). The date that was quoted me they could deliver it was over a week past when the instrument would actually be done. (Our school is 13.5 miles away, so a delivery sooner wouldn’t happen… understandable). I said, fine, I’d pick it up when it was done.
When I walked in, I could count about 3 or so employees on the floor. They were all helping other customers, but no one acknowledged my presence. No «Hello», no «We’ll be with you soon»… nothing. When it was my turn, it seemed to go smoothly. I gave the guy my name, and I was picking up a repaired sax and he brought it out. I think the price seemed fine (However, I did not check around). I proceeded to ask him a few questions and he seemed very annoyed and NEVER made eye contact. He was definitely trying to rush me out. I also asked him what reeds to buy since we had none, and he said reeds for a sax (I don’t think he was trying to be funny and sarcastic, which I would have welcomed). Then, he said, «They’re over there.» and pointed to an aisle of little boxes. I told him outright that I never played an instrument and I have no idea what I am looking for. That didn’t seem to matter to him. So I had to actually ask him to show me what to buy. He said, «Well, which size do you need?» I don’t know, you worked on my sax, you tell me… No help whatsoever. I ended up not buying any reeds (or any other impulse purchases that would have normally happened.) and left. I really feel like I should have billed them for my gas and time wasted.
Another parent in the band said she had a similar experience to mine at Quinlan and Fabish.
I ended up going to Libertyville Music (which is 5 minutes from my house), and they were very helpful with picking out reeds (even though I couldn’t give them a size) I showed them the sax, they gave me a box and told me what to look for when buying them in the future.
To quote Rachel J.: AVOID

I wrote a review in 1÷20÷12 which now needs to be updated. Q&F took responsibility for my daughters damaged sax case and they went above and beyond. They sent her a new, much nicer, sax case at no charge. Our original employee must have been new or untrained in customer service. I am wow’d that they sent an entirely new case.

I almost feel I need to offset Rachel J’s review from 2007 — I don’t know if this store deserves the one star treatment. I will agree there’s something a little-​bit ‘off’ about Quinlan and Fabish. These guys are obviously the band and orchestra experts in the area and they seemingly have a lot of books on piano technique and whatnot, but everything we needed had to be special ordered. Who has time for that? On the other hand, person who helped us was very friendly and accommodating but there was another staff member in the vicinity who was putting off a slightly hostile vibe. Like I said, they seem to cater to brass and woodwind and string people. If/​when my wife starts playing the French-​horn, this will be our go-​to place I’m sure.

One word: AVOID
There are several music stores in a reasonable driving distance to not give these people your business.
The first time I stopped there I had a long list of items that I wanted. I was not greeted, nor helped for over 30 minutes. I was however, stared at like I had 3 heads.
When I finally wrangled a salesperson, he was extremely snotty and very put off by the fact that I was an adult beginner. He scoffed when I asked for an inexpensive music stand and still attempted to convince me that the 300 dollar stand would be better.
When I finally got the things I absolutely needed, I went to the checkout counter and was just eyeballing the brochures when a second snotty salesperson snapped «Ya know, you can just take one, that IS what they are there for.» WOW.
I went back a second time, and asked for a very elementary book that any string store should have. The salesjerk rolled his eyes, and waggled his finger toward a section of books. I spent 15 minutes looking for it, with you guessed it, NO help.
I will not go back to this business. There are several other outstanding options in the area.