Ballard Violins

Gareth is so passionate and experienced in what he does! He helped me out so much with fixing my old violin, and provided detailed explanation to all my questions. Thank you so much, very lucky to have found ballard violins!

Gareth is an amazing violinmaker and exceptional in repair/restoring Violins, Violas and Cellos. When I came to Ballard Violins regards the issue I was having with my violin, Gareth explained me in detail and patiently what should ideally be repaired so that the my violin was in perfect conditions to contribute for good expressive and technical practice, which is crucial for musical development, music making and performance. All was explained with no additional pressure. I am very grateful for all that was carefully done by Gareth. With no exaggeration, my violin sounds like it never did before. It always had a good sound to my ears and others, but now the violin's beautiful features as more highlighted and present due to all the amazing and unique work done by Gareth.Highly recommended!!!Thank you very much Gareth

My violin has been an up hill struggle for quite sometime. With issues of tone and playability. It’s been through several luthiers around London to great expense and none of them solve its long standing issues.When I took it to Gareth Ballard he patiently listened to my concerns regarding my instrument and methodically explained with great transparency; steps to improve the sound of my violin at a very reasonable price.After I received my violin back from Gareth I was completely blown away by the significant changes in the tone, colours and playability. It was like having a completely different instrument. I can’t recommend Gareth enough for his professionalism and his expertise!

Gareth did brilliant work restoring my violin. I hadn’t played my violin in 8 years which resulted in the pegs not moving at all. I’m so glad that I took my violin to Gareth. He explained how the various parts needed work and brought my violin back to life. It feels and sounds better than ever!

I struggled to find a good luthier near me, and was VERY happy with my service here. Very professional. As my violin was inspected, I was talked through what would have to be done in detail and how it would affect my instrument. Everything was done quickly, for a good price and now means that my violin sounds better than ever. Thank you so much! I'll be sure to come back if I need anything else for my violin.

Gareth is amazing. I took a cello to him with a bag of fittings and a list of modifications and we discussed what would be best and what would fit in my budget (his prices are quite good). The result is an instrument that plays and sounds better than almost all the other instruments I've played (including several worth six figures). Gareth is super friendly and we had lovely chats. I also learned a few tricks about violin set up from him that I've managed to put to good use. Contact him via email or phone before visiting to arrange an appointment.

I went here a while ago to get my bridge replaced. Gareth was fantastic! He is so knowledgable and noticed a few things that were not quite right with the set up of my violin and corrected these too. I will definitely be coming back here if I have any issues with my violin in the future.

So glad I trusted all the 5 star reviews - they were 5 star for a reason. Gareth Ballard restored my viola to life with such a level of expertise and ownership that one rarely sees any more, and turned around to meet my orchestral schedule. A true skilled professional. My viola has never sounded so good.

After receiving my violin back from a massive service by Gareth, it sounds better than it ever had before. Highly recommend.

Fully recommend, he helped me bring back to life a violin that has been sitting in a cupboard for 30 years. When it got to him it had a broken string few cracks and needed some major love… I really enjoy the setup it feels a lot better in the string crossings than the one i’ve been playing!Overall I’m happy with my rescue experiment and I just wanted to say thank you for your help in bringing it back to life!