Linda West

I bought an expensive, carbon fiber cello case from Linda online. It arrived and was damaged in shipping. She was incredibly responsible, thorough and prompt in helping me to return it and get a replacement in a timely manner. She paid attention to the tracking and delivery from start to finish. She also was very helpful in sending me instructions about how to hook up the straps and so forth. I was very impressed with her customer service and will certainly buy from her again.

I have driven from LA to Santa Barbara on several occasions to deal with Linda at her shop, both for repairs and upgrades to my 1880s cello, and to purchase a new «intermediate» cello. I would not dream of going to the trouble of driving up there if not for Linda’s exceptional care, attention, knowledge, and fabulous personalized service.
While I adore my old cello, it was not helping me learn to play in tune (not quite resonant enough for someone still learning). I made an appointment and drove up, thinking I would spend $X on a new cello, based on her excellent website and my online research. I tried the cellos in my price range, with Linda helping me all along, replacing those I ruled out, offering others in my range (not just leaving me overwhelmed in a room by myself, as other shops I’d been to had done) and then she suggested another cello, which was nice and bright (which I wanted) and super-​resonant, and half the price that I planned to spend! Now who does that?!? In addition, after I got home and looked at the cello on her website, I saw that she had given me a nice discount. Now I don’t know if that is standard, so please don’t count on it. I also saw that the bow that Linda included (again she patiently helped me try many, and made suggestions along the way) was relatively expensive, and I got a beautiful, lightweight case included as well. I came up about 6 months later, as Linda suggested, and she made adjustments due to the playing-​in of the cello, included in the original purchase price.
Linda is a cellist herself, her daughter is, I believe, a cello performance major, and she specializes in cellos and personalized service, which is not empty rhetoric here… it is REALLY personalized service. She takes obvious pride in her work, and smartly, she wants you to be ecstatic so you will return. Which I do. I hope to one day either play up to my 1880s cello, or to trade in my intermediate for my «forever» cello. (Linda has a generous trade-​up policy.). I don’t go anywhere else.
I will also say that Linda has some violins and perhaps basses. She has high standards for herself and her instruments, which I’m sure extend to those as well.

We were renting a cello from a more local area, but we kept receiving recommendations to get a higher quality cello from Linda West. We finally made the drive. The service was great and they were very attentive. They fitted my son and took the time to apply tape and watch his technique while playing. It was nice to see my son regain some enthusiasm for his cello, and sure enough he made it to first chair at his school! Thanks Linda West for your professionalism and patience to make sure my son has the best instrument possible for him!