Westbank String Shop

Dr. Sloan is awesome! We are renting our son’s cello from him, and he has held our hands through the very confusing world of first-​time orchestra entry. He has provided service going above and beyond; I won’t even share details of what he’s doing to help us get a last-​minute cello repair around the Thanksgiving holiday, because I’d hate to have someone running to him and saying, «But that Unilocal review said you did such-​and-​such for so-​and-​so!» But I suspect this is just the regular course of business for him, giving incredibly personalized service the old-​fashioned way. Thanks, Dr. Sloan!

This shop is a wonderful gem. The man running the shop is patient and personable. We rented a violin for my daughter here and have had to resize it once as she’s grown and it’s always a pleasure to stop in at this quiet little oasis.

We recently went to Westbank String Shop to rent a cello for my son entering 6^th grade. I can’t remember the last time I’ve had such wonderful customer service. The owner was engaging and made a true effort to connect with my son. You can tell that he has worked with kids and knows how to encourage and talk to kids in a way that they will understand. It was also nice to go to a small, locally owned business. You definitely don’t get the time, patience and care at the larger rental shops like you get here.

I’ve been in business with this shop on and off for about 10 years. I have always been pleased. Dr. Sloan and his son who work in the shop are friendly and helpful as always and are willing to help you make things work. I recently visited there in search of a new bow and violin case combo for teaching lessons to young kids, and he was beyond helpful in finding affordable and durable options. I got the current viola I play with through this shop and I have been very please with it so far. He is a great resource.

I was thrilled (and mystified) to find a string shop deep in South Austin, but remain ambivalent about Westbank. (weird name too, for it’s location near Crockett HS).
On my only actual visit to the shop I found little to browse or ask about, but realized that the shop seems to be providing the rental instruments for school orchestra programs, which is admittedly far-​removed from my world of Suzuki violin lessons. It’s an important, and I’m sure thankless and frustrating job.
(Yelp standards disclaimer — I’m «once-​removed» from the following anecdote, but I feel that it accurately describes «my experience» with Westbank.)
The main source of my ambivalence about Westbank comes down to an experience of one of my private violin students who had been getting instruments from Westbank. She came to the proprietor, Dr. Sloan, with a setup/​tuning issue — the finger stickers showed the correct placement for the fingers on 3 of the strings but not the E string, a clear sign that something is wrong with the setup and the instrument needs some expert attention. Dr. Sloan’s reaction? To give her an earful about having finger stickers on her instrument in the first place.
Is this because he’s just frustrated about cleaning sticky fingerboards? Perhaps he has strong opinions about teaching ear training and muscle memory? In any case, I don’t want my students getting a hard time from the people who provide their instruments, and I found Dr. Sloan’s attitude overtly hostile to my teaching approach, so I just won’t recommend that my students give him their business.