Celebrating 20 Years of Simply for Strings

In 2006, we took our first trip to Mount Isa. Working closely with local teachers, including our dear friend Yvonne Moore, we helped students access quality instruments set up to withstand the unique conditions of North West Queensland.

Our support also extended to students learning remotely through Mount Isa School of the Air and Longreach School of Distance Education. For young musicians living on remote properties, being able to manage their own instrument was especially important. We fitted instruments with geared tuning pegs, helping students tune independently from an early age, even when their teacher was hundreds of kilometres away.

That first trip was the beginning of a wonderful relationship with the Mount Isa community that has continued over the years. We still make the trip north, most recently in 2024, when Jacqui and Danny visited Mount Isa to provide instrument repairs and servicing for local schools.

Pictured: Tiffany Sproles, Anna and the iconic Mt Isa Lead Smelter Stack

On the 17th of November 2007, we proudly opened the doors to our new home, the Old Church. The shelves were filled and the walls lined with violins, violas, cellos, and double basses, ready to start the next chapter of Simply for Strings. Familiar faces from our early days came to celebrate alongside new customers and curious locals stepping inside for the very first time. Many neighbours commented on how special it was to hear the sound of string instruments drifting through the streets, bringing new life to the beautiful old building.

The Old Church became far more than a music store. It grew into a gathering place for Brisbane’s string community. A space filled with conversation, creativity, learning, and music. Teachers would stop in between lessons, students would spend hours trying instruments, and families would return time and time again as their musical journeys continued.

Following the opening of our store, we were excited to expand beyond retail and began hosting workshops and events for our growing community of musicians and educators.

Brisbane has a vibrant community of string educators, many of whom are also composers creating their own beginner methods and string orchestra repertoire. From the early days, we have loved bringing people together to share ideas, learn, and be inspired.

Over the years, we have hosted events with local composers and educators including Stephen Chin, Loreta Fin, Timo Jarvela, Keith and Natalie Sharp, Anne Svendsen, and Neridah Oostenbroek, as well as international guests such as Jeremy Woolstenhulme and Thomas Gregory.

Pictured is a young Stephen Chin leading a workshop for our community of string educators in 2008.

In 2011, following the devastation of Cyclone Yasi, Anna travelled through North Queensland and saw the impact on local communities firsthand. Among the many losses were school music programs, with some schools losing instruments and resources that had taken years to build.

Seeing the challenges these schools faced, we knew we had to do something to help. We reached out to our community and asked if they had instruments sitting unused at home that could be given a second life.

The response was incredible. Instruments began arriving from all over Australia, each with the potential to make a difference in a young musician's life. Our team carefully serviced and repaired every instrument before donating them to schools in need.

Since then, thousands of instruments have been donated to schools and community music programs, all thanks to the generosity of our customers and the wider string community.

Following the success of String Garden, we launched Behind the Sound the following year to share another side of the instrument world with our community.

While String Garden captured the imagination of children, Behind the Sound was created for adults and curious musicians who wanted to look deeper into the craft. It offers a close-up view of what happens behind the scenes in a luthier’s workshop.

The Simply for Strings team demonstrates and explains common luthier work, from instrument setup and maintenance through to sound post adjustment and sound optimisation.

Behind the Sound reveals the detail, care, and craftsmanship that goes into every instrument we work with, helping audiences better understand what shapes the sound they hear.

In 2019, we expanded our workshop space with a full renovation and dedicated luthier fit-out, marking a major step forward for Simply for Strings. Prior to this, we had only a single bench space, and our luthiers often worked from their home studios while completing repairs and setups.

The new workshop brought everything together under one roof. It allowed our luthiers to work on-site alongside the rest of the team, creating a more connected and collaborative environment.

This expansion also made their expertise more accessible to our customers. It strengthened the link between our workshop, our team, and our community, and remains an important part of how we operate and support players today.

Throughout 2020 and 2021, with the support of our wonderful community, we raised more than $7,000 for Support Act, Australia's music industry charity. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Support Act provided emergency grants to musicians whose livelihoods had been heavily impacted by the loss of live performances.

As many members of the Simply for Strings team are also performing musicians, the effects of the pandemic were felt close to home. We saw friends, colleagues, teachers, and artists lose opportunities almost overnight, and we wanted to play a small part in supporting the wider music community through an incredibly difficult time.

The generosity of our customers helped us raise more than $7,000 for Support Act. At a time when so much of the music industry had come to a standstill, it was wonderful to see our community come together to support one another.

In 2024, we were delighted to welcome Thomas Zweig from Larsen Strings to Simply for Strings for a special series of educational events. Thomas shared his extensive knowledge of string design and manufacturing, offering a fascinating insight into the science, craftsmanship, and innovation behind one of the world's leading string makers.

Alongside the presentation, musicians were invited to book one-on-one sound optimisation appointments with Thomas. Together, they explored different string combinations to help each instrument perform at its very best.

Over the years, we’ve been fortunate to build wonderful relationships with leading names in the international string industry. Visits like Thomas’s give us the opportunity to share those relationships with our community, bringing world-class knowledge and expertise right here to Brisbane.

In 2024, we partnered with Sydney String Centre to present Master Made, one of the most significant exhibitions of fine string instruments and bows ever showcased in Brisbane.

The exhibition featured an extraordinary collection crafted by some of the world's most celebrated makers, including Vuillaume, Gadda, Degani, Sartory, Lamy, Hill & Sons, Tubbs, and many more. Opening night was brought to life by a beautiful performance from Ensemble Cherubim, creating an unforgettable evening for our local string community.

For many of our customers, it was a rare opportunity to experience and compare instruments of exceptional historical and musical significance. Bringing exhibitions of this calibre to Brisbane reflects our ongoing commitment to making world-class string instruments more accessible to Australia's string community.

Twenty years after Anna first packed a Toyota Yaris with instruments and travelled across Queensland, Simply for Strings returned to its roots by getting back on the road.

Working alongside organisations including the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and Camerata – Queensland's Chamber Orchestra, we visited regional communities including Charleville, St George, Goondiwindi, Chinchilla, and Roma. Along the way, we brought the String Garden and Behind the Sound experiences to schools, libraries, and community events, giving more people the opportunity to explore string instruments through hands-on learning.

These regional visits reminded us why Simply for Strings began in the first place: to support musicians wherever they are, strengthen music education, and share the joy of string playing with communities across Queensland.