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Meet Brianna Goldberg of BG Bows in Pasadena

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Brianna Goldberg.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I am a Los Angeles native, born and raised in the Valley. In the 6th grade, I began playing double bass. No one else in my beginning strings class wanted to play bass, and I felt bad for my middle school orchestra teacher, so I volunteered. I ended up liking the bass, and I eventually went away to the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston to study double bass performance. I went on to get a Master’s Degree at University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and Performer’s Diplomas at Indiana University.

My music performance career has taken me all over the world, including orchestra tours in Spain, Italy, France, Venezuela, and Brazil. I have attended summer orchestral music festivals, such as the Aspen Music Festival for five summers. I have had the opportunity to study with fantastic teachers and mentors, including Bruce Bransby, Al Laszlo, Don Palma, Francis Senger, and Owen Lee. I have performed in symphony orchestras in Santa Barbara, Monterey, New Mexico, Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, and Las Vegas. I served as Principal Bass for two years with the El Paso Symphony.

After a lot of auditioning for full-time professional orchestras, I realized I would be happier staying put in one place and playing with a variety of different ensembles. I decided to move back to Los Angeles in 2014 and become a freelance double bassist.

In between all the long drives to gigs, the inevitable traffic, and “calendar tetris”, I was able to continue pursuing my hobbies. I love to crochet, reupholster furniture, make stained glass, and work with wood.

Shortly after moving back to Los Angeles, I began to ask my bass colleagues who they brought their bows to for a rehair, which is a maintenance service performed twice a year where the horsehair in a bow is replaced. No one had a very enthusiastic answer. I realized this was an underserved market and I thought I would learn how to work on bows. It also appealed to my love of working with my hands.

In 2016, I traveled to Durham, New Hampshire to study rehair and basic bow repair with Lynn Hannings, a bow maker based in Pownal, Maine. I came back home to South Pasadena and setup a workbench in the dining area of my apartment. This is where I created BG Bows, my small business. I continued to go back to New Hampshire to study more advanced bow repair, as well as bow making with Lynn and bow maker George Rubino.

I started out by specializing in double bass bows since many violin shops in the area do not serve bassists. The bass community is very tight-knit, and word started traveling quickly about my little workshop. Eventually, I started to work part-time at Robert Cauer Violins in Hollywood, rehairing and repairing bows, in addition to maintaining my own bow workshop and performing as a freelance double bassist.

Soon, the business at my shop began to grow even more and I moved into a 600 sq. ft. commercial storefront location in Pasadena. After putting in a lot of work to paint and decorate the shop, it is now a place I feel very happy to work in and welcome customers to. My business has continued to grow and my customers include professional and amateur musicians from all over the country.

Has it been a smooth road?
Everything had been pretty smooth until February 2020. All of a sudden, horsehair suppliers were not able to get shipments of horsehair in from China, where almost all horsehair is cleaned and sorted. Good horsehair is critical for rehairing bows. Myself and many bow makers and repairers panic-bought horsehair in anticipation of a shortage. We knew something big was coming!

And then, there it was—COVID-19. In addition to the horsehair shortage, the crisis led to shutting my doors for most of March and April. During this time, I realized that since musicians were going to be out of work for the foreseeable future, many of my customers may not be able to afford rehairs during this time.

To help out, I started a program called Adopt A String Musician, where musicians could sign up for a rehair to be done when my shop reopened. I then reached out to generous people to sponsor those rehairs. The program was very successful and helped pay for rehairs for 30 musicians. It was also a way that I could keep the rent paid at the shop while I was closed. I was very pleased that so many people in our community saw the value of supporting artists and the arts, as well as a local small business.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
My shop is called BG Bows. I work on violin, viola, cello, double bass, and early music bows, but my first love and specialty will always be double bass bows!

I am proud to be a shop that specializes in bows, as it takes different skills than instrument repair. I take immense pride in my work and I have an extreme attention to detail, with a dedication to presenting my best work on every bow I work on. I work on bows from entry-level student bows to 200 years old historic bows that pre-date the metric system. I treat every bow as if it is an outrageously expensive bow because I believe that all bows deserve that high level of respect. The bow is what actually pulls the sound out of the instrument and is a musician’s voice.

I am also proud that in addition to rehairing and repairing, I now also make bows. I loved the feeling when I finished making my first bow. To take a big stick of precious wood (wood sourced and purchased from existing stock to save endangered forests) and eventually take away enough material to discover the bow it becomes—that is so special to me.

I also love the rare moments where I get to play detective and do some background research about a historical bow with interesting features that a customer brings in for a rehair. I am a life-long learner, and I have an endless curiosity!

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I think a huge part of the success of my business came from being based in Los Angeles. I knew there were a lot of musicians living and working here, but I totally underestimated how many there actually are! Although there is a big demand for quality bow work everywhere, having such a huge and supportive community of musicians made building my business immensely easier.

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