They gave me just the right size viola, and are so helpful. They are right near me, so it’s just a short walk. I absolutely love the store!!
BEST MUSIC STORE EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m super happy I found a rental instrument/ music shop in Pleasanton. It’s a cute mom and pop store. It’s a pretty popular place for locals and parents who wanna rent instruments for their kids. It gets pretty busy.. so be prepared to wait for help from someone, esp when it’s school season. The location is convenient. There’s music lessons here as well.
I thought this place was better around this area. Now I found out that they are very greedy. I rented a flute for the whole school year. As the school ends, I returned on the same day when my billing cycle starts. Spoke to the owner who answered my phone as well. Apparently, I was auto charged around 5:30am in the morning but I returned the instrument at 3pm. Though they got the instrument back, he told me that he won’t refund for the fact that I was late for few hours and still charged for the whole month. It doesn’t sound fair to me at all. I would think twice before I go to this store again.
Zero star. I was there with my child. I believe it’s the owner’s son that I spoke with. Pure sarcasm. Was very sarcastic towards me in-front of another customer. Staff was much more respectful and responsive in answering to our inquiries. He could just answered us properly instead he was very rude.
We have been standing in line for at least 15-20 mins. The guy behind the counter is talking and chatting about when he was in high school, showing the customer different damaged violins, and literally taking forever. I can tell that the gentlemen behind the counter are super friendly and customer oriented, but there is a long line. We have all been waiting forever!!!
5. SchwÄn Violins
Address: 205 Main St, Pleasanton, CA 94566 , Alameda County , California , United States
We’ve had a great experience here, renting an advanced level cello, and having bow re-haired. We just purchased a full-size cello for our son and applied the rental credit. The business owner Bill is professional and very knowledgeable for string instruments. He is also a well known instrument maker and makes and repairs the violins and cellos he rents and sells. I recommend SchwÄn Violins for rentals, repairs, and for quality and well priced instruments.
Very knowledgeable store owner with inventory to meet our needs for upright bass even though he specializes in violin and cello. We will continue coming back for more!
Accommodating costumer service, local, helpful and nice teachers. Great quality string instruments at good price, along with high quality rosin.
Great experience getting a not so great violin I owned, fixed to hold tune. I was a newbie! However, after interacting with the owner, I found he knows what he is doing and furthermore, does it well. Highly recommended.
Owner is very knowledgeable and fair priced. Good support and service
Not a good experience, after renting the instrument for 4+ years.
terrible schwan gives you cheap violins for 3 times the price you get in dannville music
then he charges yo 700 hundred dollars for breaking an already broken down violin and still charges you i hate you schwn
6. JAMS Music
Address: 7282 San Ramon Rd, Dublin, CA 94568 , Alameda County , California , United States
Cool store, lots of high-quality instruments. Friendly staff, and they also do instrument repairs. They offer music lessons on most instruments.
Evan helped me out by putting a Vintera 60s Jazzmaster on order for me, and he kept me updated throughout the entire wait. When it was clear that Fender was simply unable to give a reliable wait time due to unprecedented demand in 2020, we cancelled the order, no harm, no foul… and then he introduced me to the Strat that would eventually come home with me.
Before I even took her home, Brian did a complete setup job on it that included putting 10 gauge strings on, instead of the stock 9s. Makes a world of difference to me in terms of tactile response, since it’a what I use on all of my 25.5” scale guitars.
You won’t get better service than the fellas that work here can give you. They know what’s up, they care, and they do their very best to give you an experience worth coming back for. Even when I’ve been back just to window shop, I’ve wound up coming away with new knowledge and a good experience.
Thanks a lot, y’all. There’s hope for the future of musicians yet!
I’m very please with their work I highly recommend the know what they know doing
They know their businesses
Very knowledgeable and friendly staff
It’s helpful to have a store like this in the area, but service leaves something to be desired. Customers should be served in the order they come in, not based upon how pushy they are. A simple “who’s next” goes a long way
Brought a bass with a maxed out truss rod to see if they could put a spacer in it. Their repair guy called me a few days later telling me that the truss rod was fine, and that it just needed a proper setup. I go get it and in the shop it looked fine with the action a bit high but okay, but when I got home I discovered that it was tuned half tone down, so no wonder it was fine: less tension, less bow. When properly tuned it still had the problem. So, don’t trust your repairs or setups to this store.
We’ve heard good things about this place so we thought of giving it a try. We went there to rent an instrument but they said the one they have is being repaired. We asked for a return call once it becomes available so we can get it. Five days later and still no call so we decided to call them. Then they said it’s no longer available as someone else already got it.
7. Allegro Music
Address: 3115 Walnut Ave, Fremont, CA 94538 , Alameda County , California , United States
es un lugar donde puedes encontrar lo necesario de instrumentos para musica
Knowledgeable local music shop that provides rentals and music lessons alongside an array of strings, wind, percussion and audio equipment.
Walked in a walked around for 10 mins without anyone asking if I needed assistance. Found what I need online
Great source for music Lovers
I was referred by Ibanez warranty dept. to this store for the sharp fret ends defects on the new electric guitar I purchased. They all were pretty nice and kind, and resolved that issue. However, I noticed that the neck and bridge pickups have pretty bad scratches all over and black spots came up on the fret ends after I brought it back to home. I think that they didn’t cover the pickups while buffing the fret ends, and I don’t know if those black spots are normal after buffing the fret ends. The original issues were resolved, but this guitar got some other cosmetic issues. I wish I was told about the risk of these before the repair.
Return policy is not cleare when i shopped there.
Few years back, my daughter took in her flute for repair. The man saw the flute and said some very insensitive things about how one can own a “cheap” flute that was not meant to be refurbished. My daughter came home crying. The flute was her 4th grade birthday present from me.
8. Guitar Center
Address: 2880 Dublin Blvd, Dublin, CA 94568 , Alameda County , California , United States
Brand new, pressure free environment cables are out in picks as well. Smells new
I love this place. It is the toys r us for musicians. I am horrible at the guitar but that doesn’t stop me from wanting to spend my money and time there.
Great place to see, touch and try musical instruments…I usually go and play various drumps there..
Good
Lots of guitars
Nice store. My complaint was that the sales personnel were not friendly. No one ever asked me if I needed help or had any questions. They probably could have sold something to me but I could buy anything they have online so… they need to give a little more personal service. It’s all about sales training and being able to spot a perspective buyer.
Didn’t have what I needed. I walked around the store for 10 minutes looking for cables. No assistance from employees. Will definitely not come here again.
Nice place
Snobby, pretentious salesman who sneered when I asked if they had any headphones with noise-canceling mics. When I asked where the keyboards were, he pointed to the section and walked away. Rock on, snobby Guitar Center salesman. We all look forward to being moved by your stirring talent.
I like it. The lady was very nice and she described the details for the instruments very well.
Good service and even better teachers!
I was searching for private piano teacher and one of the friends recommended teacher Vivien from C&l to me. At first I was little worried to read the negative reviews here, later on I noticed that they just changed owner and all the bad reviews were for the past. The new owner improved the customer service and all the staff are super nice now. And My daughter and I are having very happy experience with teacher Vivien. She is professional, knowledgeable and patient. She knows how to teach young children. I am very happy I did extra research before I give up.
Rentals are kind of mid, but the teachers here are pretty good and helpful.
good local music book/instrument store. Also you can find private music lessons there. Very convenient.
We rented couple of instruments from C& L Music and we are happy about it. These folks seems to be slightly cheap compared to others in fremont, pleasanton, San Ramon areas(when we researched).
Also couple of time the instrument had issues with soldering(which used to happen in the rentals, as they are not brand new) the C& L folks fixed it without any charges and sometimes they even replaced the instrument within 24 hours of time. Our musicians are happy and same with us too.
Send a one month old flute for a repair (Yes, this is our mistake, we should have sent the flute to the manufacture). When we pick it up, scratches are all over the places and even there are some small dents. The service is very unprofessional and we regret to go to this store.
Beautiful pianos.. Mostly Yamahas. Ron, at the store, was super nice. The store has used and new pianos. My son loved playing on the pianos, especially the high end ones.
This is where you should buy your piano. The owners are great people, super friendly and helpful. They helped us find a beautiful used piano that fit our budget.
I buy an piano for my daughter from this store . Gary is very nice and professional. The delivery of the piano went very smoothly.
Nice showroom with lots of beautiful pianos. Gary was super helpful. Only complaint is they only carry Yamaha digitals, so can’t compare to their brands. That said I think Yamaha makes me of the best.
Gary and Mary are pleasant and helpful. Pianos are a big purchase item and it’s nice to have people who will take the time to guide through the process. Ultimately I purchased a used piano through a private owner, but wouldn’t hesitate to make a deal with Music Exchange if the circumstances warranted.
I like this store a lot. I’m from out of town but when I visit they’re nice enough to let me play on any of their pianos. They don’t sell sheet music but have a few books you can use while playing.
Be careful of this place, especially the after sale service. I bought a piano a year ago and it started to have quality issue, which I called the store several times to request the service under warranty. The store had many excuses and did not schedule the service or provided me updates for weeks. People there are very impatient and impolite when I called to check the service request status.
It is really sad that I have to give a 1 star review but all support ends after you have made a purchase. They say that if you buy a piano from them, the first tuning is free. We got our piano from them almost a year ago. After calling numerous times, and trying to get our piano tuned, and giving my phone number as well, I have never gotten an update or a call back. Every time, Ron, who is very nice to talk to, will say he will get someone and then nothing – no call back, no update. This has been extremely frustrating. I have been patient and understand there is some labor shortage etc due to Covid, but this takes the cake. I wish I had gone with a different business to buy our piano
14. Music Depot
Address: 944 B St, Hayward, CA 94541 , Alameda County , California , United States
Known pete for years awesome store. One of the best music stores around. Small but has what you need.
Great pkace to check out. Also if he doesnt have it he can probably order it.
Went in for mandolin strings, probably would’ve bought em here if they had Elixir. Employee made snarky comment as I walked out w nothing in hand. Perhaps if there were better choices I would’ve supported the small business :/
Place is never open-at least not during the posted hours when i have tried to stop in! Not a real useful store, if i can’t go in to buy something.
Came here twice. Hate driving out this way store was closed with no signage or reason. Called and no answer either. At least update your times or put a sign up
I believe I worked with Sue and Josh the guitar instructor (please forgive me if I got the names wrong) over the period of a week to secure a guitar pedalboard that I saw that they had listed online. They both were extremely friendly and helpful.
I do not live anywhere near their store and never even been there so I was a little apprehensive at first to do business online / over the phone. The pedalboard I wanted included a power supply and new both separate would be close to $300+. I was able to get it for less than half of that and they had the guitar instructor drive it to me in Sacramento .. FOR FREE!
I don’t think I have ever received customer service this wonderful and I feel like I got a steal of a deal with the pedalboard. It is really nice to still have mom and pop shops around like this who can offer excellent service and great deals.
I would highly recommend ABC music to anyone.
Great place congenital atmosphere took Flute in for repair they do good work. I had all 3 of my guitars repaired there in past. They are my go to shop when I need A fix for my instruments
its a great store but there’s a lot of bad stuff that happened to me when i was shopping there. The first thing was that it took almost 45 dollars to restring and tune my violin. i wasn’t too mad about that part but the thing that made me do the 3 star was that after 2 days, its out of tune. when i took my violin back from the shop, it seemed like the strings were really stiff and were extremely tight.
Last Thursday, I bought some strings and asked them to tune and polish it. I was told to come back Saturday, and when I did, they had not even touched the guitar. Without offering an apology, I was told to come back Monday. When I picked it up they did not offer any apology, again. This business does not card about their customers.
I dropped my guitar (floyd rose trem) off on a Wednesday to be re-strung, cleaned, and to have the intonation checked/fixed if needed for an upcoming show. The guy at the front desk told me they were busy, but that he would have it done by the following Monday (and said he would try to get it done even sooner). He quoted me $50-$60. All good so far.
Monday rolled around and I hadn’t heard from them, so I called myself. He said the guitar wasn’t done, but that it would definitely be done by Wednesday, and that he would call me. No call. I went in Thursday to pick it up. The guitar hadn’t been touched. The delay would have been acceptable if they just kept me updated, but after the runaround, I can’t recommend this place to anyone. Added an extra star because service was at least friendly, if anything. Go somewhere else for repairs/maintenance.
Left my guitar there for about 3 weeks and when I went there they still had me wait for 3 hours for my guitar and they wanted me to pay more after I payed 60 Bc I payed 60 for strings they have no idea what they are doing
Very good ! Great variety ! Great service! Please support this business! Don’t compare it with bigger stores! Support it !
Charlie Martin is an long time aquaintance and still doing repairs.They are lucky to have him.Everyone there was very nice and helpful.There is no lack of knowledge in this shop.I’ll be going back.
What I wanted was there and my questions were answered.
Buenos instrumentos
Returning customer, second try, Nice store good cus.service. Knowledgeable staff ⚕️.
Amps ready to plug and play.Good place to test your product before you buy. Competitive prices.
I wasn’t able to stay long enough the last time I visited, to buy what I went in there to get. A customer at the counter was talking to a sales rep. He kept coughing and hacking Up. It disturbed me so much that I went running to the door to get out of there as fast as I could. He was coughing and hacking Up when I walked past him as he was standing at the entrance and he was coughing and hacking Up as I past by him on the way out.if a person is sick they should stay home. The sales people need to ask that person to leave and not take a chance on him spreading germs to the customer or customers.
I probably have ever so slightly more insight into this store than the average person as I used to work there, but it was years ago under the previous owner. We were known as the store that had everything and great customer service to boot, but with the highest prices in town. However, unknown to many people, if you had a legit deal we would ALWAYS beat it. Not match it – BEAT it. I hadn’t been in there for YEARS and was ready to make a purchase so I took a bona fide deal to them to see if they wanted my business. Short and sweet – they didn’t want it.
I had a solid deal for right at $200 and they actually asked for $900 for THE SAME THING! The salesperson got upset that I laughed in his face at the $900 (heck, it’s ONLY 4 1/2 TIMES MORE than the other legit deal, why would I laugh at him?) and I told him in no uncertain terms that he richly deserved to be ridiculed with pricing like that, after which I was quite abruptly asked to leave the store, never to return.
If you’ve got much more money than brains, I salute you for shopping at Music Unlimited, otherwise, it’s hard to imagine that you could choose a worse place to do business.
Terrible experience via Amazon. I can not get them ship my purchase!
This place operates as InstrumentPro online. If you look for reviews, you will find mostly zeroes. I ordered something almost one month ago. They charged my card but I never received any confirmation of the order or shipping info. Looks like I fell for the same scam that many others have been victimized by. Don’t even think about buying anything from this place. If you have and got taken, report them to the BBB. If they continue these business practices, they need to be shut down.
19. Riyaaz Music Shop
Address: 30915 Union City Blvd, Union City, CA 94587 , Alameda County , California , United States
Excellent build and sound quality. Good care for craftsmanship and materials used! Would highly recommend!
Riyaaz, the only music shop with high quality and standards. Riyaaz sells various high quality music instruments. They offer instrument sells, repair, and classes The owner (Happy) is an amazing personality.
Awesome resource in the bay area
20. Xiaoying Music Studio
Address: 2598 Secretariat Dr, Pleasanton, CA 94566 , Alameda County , California , United States
