About Us
Meet our Staff
Bill Gailes 
was enrolled at the University of Maryland in 1974 as a performance major, while working as a free-lance musician and studying violin making with a local craftsman. After completing his first violin, Op. 1 No 1, in 1975, he gave up performance and decided to concentrate on making and repairing bowed stringed instruments. He continues to study restoration technique at summer sessions with Hans J. Nebel (almost every year for 31 years). He has studied with Arnold Bone on bow rehair and repair, and with Samuel Kolstein (yes, once upon a time we did bass repairs), and even a short course with the great Dario D'Attili in 1975. Today Bill's time is divided between repair of client and shop-owned instruments, sampling and testing new and old instruments and bows for possible additions to our inventory (shopping), and varnish repair on our old and antique instruments.
David McDermott has been working with GVS since 1985. He graduated from the Chicago School of Violin Making. In addition to fine repairs and restorations, he is a gifted maker of violins, violas and cellos. His instruments are available at GVS and pictures are available on this website.
Tom Carroll has worked with GVS since 1976. He studied with Gary Base and now does all of the varnish work on our 'white' instruments. He also does some repair work. In addition, Tom has his own business, buying instruments in the white, varnishing them, and selling them at several shops throughout the country, including GVS.
Mark Mihlbauer has been responsible for all of our bow repairs, restorations and rehairing since 1980. He studied at the University of New Hampshire Violin Craftsmanship Institute. He particularly enjoys the challenge of restoring antique bows.
Susan Huemrich joined the GVS staff in 2003. She studied business at Robert Morris University and now manages our business office. In addition, she assists clients with instrument rentals and purchases and maintains the music inventory.
Lisa Wilcut has been with GVS since 2006. She is apprenticing with the shop to learn repairs and restoration. She spends some time each summer studying instrument repair at Hans J. Nebel's workshops at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. In addition to her skills as a cellist, her contributions to the shop include assisting customers and maintaining the rental instrument fleet.
Julia Snyder has been working at Gailes' Violin Shop, Inc. since 2004. During her breaks from St. Mary's College, she assists customers in the shop and helps maintain the rental fleet. She studied violin performance at Catholic University. In addition to being a fine violinist, she has been studying instrument repair and restoration. After attending Hans Nebel's workshop during the summer of 2005 she began studying instrument set-up with Dave McDermott at GVS. She looks forward to continuing her education in violin repair and restoration in the future.
Betsy Pohlhaus, who has been with the shop since 2003 is a fine violinist who helps us on Saturdays. She assists customers, assists in the office, and does some rental instrument repairs. She attended the Violin Making School of America in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Kathleen Powell is a fine musician who has been with us since 2005. She helps out on Saturdays, assisting customers, assisting in the office, and doing some rental instrument repairs.
Betty Gailes has worked at GVS off and on since 1999 when she and Bill got married. Currently she works mostly from home handling Bill's email correspondence with our European and American suppliers. She also photographs instruments for our website. When she's not working for GVS, she teaches music in an elementary school.
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Contact Us gailesemail@yahoo.com Phone: 301 474 4300 Fax 301 474 4380 Toll- Free: 1 800 245 3167