Walking into Atlanta Violins feels like stepping into a workshop where history, music and craftsmanship converge. The shelves are lined with instruments in every size, from the tiniest violin meant for a three-year-old beginner to gleaming full-size instruments ready for professional hands. Within the beautifully musical clutter is Matthew Phillips, the craftsman whose skill and passion fuel not just this bustling violin shop, but also a global trade in custom guitar picks and a quiet at-home repair business for rare guitars and mandolins.
From Beginners to Professionals
Atlanta Violins is the most visible piece of Phillips’s work, and the numbers show its impact: about 2,000 violins are rented out to beginners each year, seeding the city’s schools and youth programs with future musicians. The shop serves a wide spectrum of customers, from toddlers starting lessons to seasoned adults who play in local orchestras. Sales often come from young players leaving for college or professionals upgrading their instruments, evidence of the shop’s role at every stage of a musician’s life.
The demand extends beyond Atlanta itself. “We see people from Tennessee, Florida, and the Carolinas every week,” Phillips explained. To meet this flow, he and his team tackle multiple repairs a day; everything from bridges and soundposts to varnish work. “Since I’m an art school kid, I love doing varnish work,” he said. “I make my varnish from scratch, and one of my strengths is repairing and touching up old varnish after a repair so the damage disappears.” He estimates that he makes 350 to 400 violin-family bridges a year, the kind of meticulous repetition that sharpens a skill into art.
Matthew Phillips working on a violin scroll, circa 2018.
At-Home Repairs for the Rare and Fragile
The second branch of Phillips’s work happens not in a storefront but in his home, where he takes on vintage guitars and mandolins, most of them dating back to World War II. Unlike the steady stream of violins that flow through Atlanta Violins, this side of his craft is quieter and more selective. “I literally work on thousands of violins in a year,” Phillips said. “But maybe only a few dozen vintage guitars and mandolins.”
For clients, however, those few dozen instruments are priceless. Phillips tells of one man who refused to risk shipping his fragile guitar from Los Angeles. Instead, he drove cross-country, bringing an interpreter with him to ensure clear communication. When the repair was complete weeks later, the man returned the same way to pick it up. Stories like this underline the deep trust collectors and professional players place in Phillips’s hands.
Although just 2% of Phillips’s repair work takes place at home, those instruments carry an outsized weight. While the vast majority of his work happens at Atlanta Violin, this small slice reflects the highest level of trust and craftsmanship, proving that even the rarest jobs can leave the deepest mark.
Custom Picks with Global Reach
If the violin shop embodies Phillips’s local reach, his handmade guitar picks show just how far his reputation travels. Each one is crafted by hand from 1930s Galalith poker chips, a vintage material made from milk protein cured in formaldehyde, prized for producing a warm, tortoise-like tone. No two picks are alike, and each is shaped, thinned and polished entirely by hand.
The result has found a devoted following among professional players. Touring musicians, recording engineers and serious enthusiasts keep them on hand for both performance and studio work. Priced between $25 and $40 each, the picks are expensive by most standards, yet the demand is international: Phillips has shipped them to Japan, Germany, Sweden, Norway, France, Brazil, the UK, and especially Australia, where they have become unexpectedly popular. “They’re big in Australia,” he laughs.
Photo via Bluebird Picks
Antique Reverie
The trust Phillips has earned stems from a lifelong connection to music. While most of his peers listened to pop growing up, he was drawn to 1920s and 1930s jazz and rural roots music, playing along on his cornet to scratchy old records. Guitarists like David Bromberg and Leon Redbone opened his ears to the instrument’s versatility, and when he found a broken 1920s Regal guitar at an antique market for $25, he couldn’t resist trying to fix it.
Every adjustment made the guitar play better, and soon Phillips was hunting down more broken instruments, trading and restoring them one by one. By his twenties he was building mandolins, following the same instinct to blend craft, history and sound. “I’ve always been attracted to old stuff,” he said. “Every little fix made something play better. That started everything.”
A Reputation Built on Trust
Today, Phillips’s work stretches from Atlanta classrooms to international concert halls, from antique markets to recording studios. What unites it all is the trust he inspires — whether from a parent renting a child’s first violin, a touring musician searching for the perfect pick, or a collector driving across the country to place a fragile instrument in his care.
In a world that often prizes speed and mass production, Phillips has built something rarer: a reputation rooted in patience, precision, and a craftsman’s touch that musicians across the globe know they can rely on.
Getting in Touch
Musicians interested in working with Atlanta Violins can visit the shop for rentals, sales, and repairs or explore Phillips’s custom-crafted guitar picks and at-home vintage restorations. His businesses continue to serve both the local community and musicians worldwide, offering trusted expertise across string instruments.
For inquiries about rentals or repairs, visit Atlanta Violins in person or Atlanta Violins’ Website.
Melismatic Media 
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