Kolstein tunes up for nationwide expansion

Intent on amplifying its name to grow nationally, Kolstein Music Inc., a Baldwin-based string-instrument company, has expanded its marketing strategy to include partnerships with high-quality string-instrument shops around the country.

In November, Kolstein kicked off its expansion with an inaugural partner — Mi Vida Strings, a 13-year-old firm in Westminster, Colorado. Manny Alvarez, Kolstein’s president, said he is considering two more potential partners but declined to provide details.

Kolstein, celebrating its 80th anniversary this year, makes, repairs and restores violins, violas, cellos and basses. The business, with 15 employees and 2021 revenues of about $5 million, also manufactures accessories, including bow cases and rosin for bows. It sells about 650 instruments a year.

Mi Vida, a two-person firm, sells and repairs about 40 string instruments a  year.

Under the new partnership, “we can offer a full line of Kolstein student, intermediate and fine quality violins, violas, cellos and double basses,” said Michele Trujillo, who owns the business with her husband, Eric Trujillo. The store also added an instrument rental program through Kolstein.

The Colorado shop has dedicated about 300 square feet — nearly a third of its space — to Kolstein’s string instruments and accessories. 

Since launching the partnership, Kolstein has supported Mi Vida with a new website and access to Kolstein’s inventory of products. By making the shop  a new Kolstein Collective Select Member,  it also endorses the partner’s work.

As the Long Island company adds partners, participating firms will “have more of a say in ordering from wholesalers,” Alvarez said. And with Kolstein and the collective’s group buying power, its members can score reduced pricing on volume purchases.

"It’s an excellent partnership because we hold the same high value standards,”  Mi Vida co-owner and string instrument craftsman Eric Trujillo said. It has "given us the room and access to grow.” 

Trujillo said he has restored string instruments for Bob Dylan, private collections, museums and auction houses.  

According to Alvarez, his firm’s other recent orchestration — opening a shop last year in Manhattan at the landmark Essex House to serve Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and Broadway’s string musicians —  adds a distinct panache to the Kolstein brand that its partners can also leverage.