The Grace and Glory of Main Violin

On a quiet stretch of Main St., there is a shop that is unassuming from the outside—if you did not peer into the windows to see the musical instruments in it, you might think it was an antique store or a place to trade in used books. On the day I stopped by, I was intrigued by the instruments, but its awning was covered in snow, and I feared the shop, whatever kind of shop it was, would not be open due to the Presidents’ Day holiday. When I opened the door, though, I was pleasantly surprised: this was Main Violin, Fort Lee’s bustling source for classical stringed instruments and accessories. As I browsed the notices on corkboards and music stands—flyers that advertised upcoming concerts, music lessons and the like—a couple waited in the clean, warmly lit showroom with their two boys, aged about eight and 10, for the kids’ cellos to be re-stringed. As co-owner Sean Bae processed the parents’ transaction, the young cellists joked about key signatures in a mixture of Korean and English. I heard the smaller boy tease his brother, laughing, “You don’t even know how to play A-flat? So sad!”

Bae, a classical violinist who studied in Korea and then received a degree at SUNY Purchase, bought Main Violin from its previous owner along with his partner Michael Cho after both had worked there for several years. Now that the shop has been in business on Main St. for 11 years, Bae, Cho and their staff are ready to move to a new facility. As it stands, the music shop is forced to rent out storage space to house some of its inventory; the “new” building, at 523 Summit Ave., is just around the corner from the current location and features over 6000 square feet of space plus ampler parking. The 150-year-old Summit Avenue structure used to be a residence and is currently being renovated so that Main Violin can occupy it sometime in the next few months.

According to Bae, Main Violin has the pleasure of catering to people of all different skill levels, from beginners to professionals. The shop, which limits its product to violins, violas and cellos (notwithstanding bows, strings, parts and books), has even sold instruments to young students who’ve grown up and become instructors—and who then send their own students to Main Violin. Behind a showroom that displays an impressive array of new instruments of all different sizes (“A child of two, three years old could play,” Bae said), there is a workshop—a room where older instruments that are in disrepair are restored so they can be played again. On my tour, I saw no fewer than three craftspeople, including co-owner Cho, hard at work bringing these artifacts back to life.

Bae and Cho also provide a wide variety of sheet music, which Bae claims is very convenient for locals who need it.

“Before they would need to spend more than one hour to go to New York City for this,” Bae said. “Now it’s right here.”

I did not doubt that his business was doing well, the natural result of hard work and a dedication to serving the community. In the short time that I spent in the shop we saw a steady trickle of customers dropping off and picking up their instruments; a large poster hung on the wall depicting the nearly-complete new location. It looks as though 2011 will be a good year for Main Violin—and, by extension, for the classical musicians of Fort Lee.