Levi Maxwell of Mason didn’t mean to start a violin sales business. All he was planning on doing was buying a violin of his own and learning to play it.
“I just love the sound of a violin, cello, anything like that,” Maxwell said. “Music has always been a big thing for me, so learning to play such a diverse instrument, I like the challenge.”
Maxwell eventually sold that first violin a couple years ago, and was surprised to find he was able to sell it for more than he’d paid for it.
“I said, ‘Maybe I should try that again,’” Maxwell said.
From there, he bought violins in bulk, strung them up and tuned them to playable, and he has been selling them ever since.
“I’ve been a musician my whole life, so the passion’s there, and getting instruments into people’s hands is a good thing,” Maxwell said.
While he is happy to track down more-costly violins for interested buyers, most of Maxwell’s stock runs about $67 per violin for the consumer – an attractive price for parents, he said, as many are paying $350 to $400 a year to rent violins for their child’s music classes and running the risk of paying even more should the instrument break.
Maxwell admitted he’s not a master violin technician, but he also does light repairs, like restringing, replacing broken tuning pegs or resetting the sound post deep within the instrument’s belly.
“As far as the basics go, I’m able to do that,” he said.
Anyone interested in purchasing a violin can search for Maxwell on Facebook or contact him at 603-400-7149.