Alfés – Top 11 places for music shops11 recommended music shops in Alfés

Randy at Alpha Audio Works… Two thumbs way up! Price was excellent, packed and shipped my guitar the same day. The guitar was in better condition than described. Thanks Alpha Audio Works! Great Product, Stellar Service!

Great spot I’ve been a customer for many moons

Was looking for some stage monitors. They had just got a used pair of top of the lone JBLs. They were a great price as well saved a lot. Used them all week and I love them. Great store with a knowledge staff in Audio and Guitars.

Nice little music store. They had a decent selection of both acoustic and electric guitars and a really good selection of used Amplifiers (and a couple steals in there too). Hidden gem in my opinion

Sam Ash in New Haven/Woodbridge is not ypur typical big store. This place has very nice helpful people in all of the departments. Everyone knows their stuff, and can help you out quickly and easily, even of you’re not sure what you’re looking for.
Talk to Eric in drums, best drum tech ever. If you’re able to explain the sound you’re trying to achieve, he can suggest the proper setup to get you your sound.

Bought a used guitar here… service was great and the guitar was great for the price .

Great place to shop for guitars and DJ equipment and all your music needs would recommend this place to any musical entertainer and who wants to start a new instrument

Helpful

Awesome music things and great customer service is a plus!!

Staff was helpful and friendly, got what I needed.

Drove 25 minutes to the store only to find out it doesn’t open until noon. Utterly rudiculous! Just close your doors for good if you’re going to have such restrictive hours!

Too noisy for me. Got a gift certificate for my grandson, and was happy to leave.

My experience with Sam ash music was very bad there service down right sucks there staff is not business oriented what so ever they have no clue in what there looking at I would strongly recommend guitar center because they are the real deal located off RT 1 orange CT thank you

I’ve been involved with music instruction since childhood. When I sought to renew my involvement with guitar I was recommended to seek out George Raccio at All Things Musical by a friend who had been taking banjo lessons from George. From day one I knew I had found “the guy”. George possesses a wealth of musical knowledge with an understanding of how to pass along his knowledge in an exceptionally patient manner. His musical knowledge base is broad enough to expertly teach a multitude of styles. While I began with finger style acoustic guitar, George was able to transition to electric guitar blues as my musical instruction tastes changed.
The studio/store is charming and Paula, George’s wife, is a pleasure to do business with. She maintains the teaching schedules for the various instructional modalities of which there are many and helps students such as myself to keep track of upcoming lessons. I’ve been taking instruction for close to five years now and consider my instruction at All Things Musical an important part of my life that provides nothing but pleasure inclusive of our annual recital. If you are looking for expert teaching in a warm atmosphere be sure to check them out. You’ll be glad that you did.

It seems wonderful with confrontations of customers.I would recommend this place to children in bands

Cute little place. The people there are very nice.

Never been here i wanted to write a review for no reason

A Sound Choice has been my go to place for all my guitar needs for more than 10 yrs. Great, friendly staff and most important they care and relate to my needs.

Such a nice little store, Owner is very kind and helpful, i really enjoy going there for my guitar needs.

Ken has been my go-to guy for setups for as long as I can remember. Always delivers quality service and super speedy turnaround.

Very convenient

Ordered a guitar on Reverb and Ken always answered the phone and was very helpful throughout the process. I ordered a Larrivee OM-40 and it was listed as brand new but definitely had a dent and 2 scratches which was disappointing but overall a good experience with the process.

The guitar however has a terrible extreme buzzing noice, especially when playing on the first 7 frets of the 4th, 5th, and 6th strings…even when playing a single note and strum lightly…a terrible buzz. I can’t seem to figure out where it is coming from. I will have to take to a luthier which is unfortunate given that it is a brand new guitar. He did say he sanded the saddle down before shipping to lower the action, suspicious that is the problem.

Update: Took it into a luthier. The saddle had been sanded down, action too low, poor job with the setup. Had to build me a new saddle. New strings, and adjusted trust rod as well. Buzzing gone. Sounds and plays like a dream!

Cool little music shop. Worth going and especially if you need a setup on your instrument.

Great place for lessons! Matty is super friendly and will go out of his way to help you!

Great business, very helpful, listens, will great teacher!

My son has learned alot from Matty. He loves going to play music with him.

Great service.

Dirty, stuff everywhere, completely disorganized.

Very helpful

Excellent shop

if you play guitar and enjoy finer instruments you got to stop in…. the best selection of quality acoustic guitars and a few electrics too for those who like to plug in. They will also match Sweetwater as well. So if you need a new instrument stop in and support a local shop.Very knowledgeable staff as well.

Had a guitar cable when I needed it.

No prices listed

Thé Owners are lousy business

Not many mandolins

I’ve never been more comfortable trying out guitars in a shop. I drove over an hour to get here and the customer service made it completely worth it. They have an incredible selection of great sounding instruments and went out of their way to make sure I found the guitar I wanted. Highly recommend this place.

Finally got to visit after doing some business over the phone 18 years ago with Pete. Great inventory, selection and people. One of the very best examples of why we need to support local businesses and how great a family can run them!

I’m not sure how long this review will be, but I will say upfront that buying a guitar from DuBaldo Music was a great experience, from day one until I took delivery of my instrument, and beyond!

I ordered an Alvarez-Yairi Honduran series (FYM66HD) guitar from Pete at DuBaldo music in April 2021.

For those reading this review in the somewhat distant future, allow me to set the scene a bit:

There was a LOT going on in the world during this time. The COVID Pandemic was still raging, and supply chains were snarled at every turn.

Ports were closed, dock workers and truckers were striking or working limited hours under delayed timelines. Parts availability was questionable at best, etc.

VERY long story short: The guitar had to be hand built in Japan, then shipped to the west coast, then shipped to St.Louis, MO, then shipped to DuBaldo Music in CT before I could take delivery. All the while, considering the conditions of the world as described above.

Pete, Lisa and everyone else at DuBaldo music helped me along at every stage, kept me updated, empathized with and tolerated my frequent calls for updates, contacted the distributor in St. Louis on my behalf, and were generally very pleasant to work with over a period of just over one full year.

I will not pretend that I wasn’t itching to receive my guitar, or that the extended delay didn’t bother me. It was a maddening wait!

But I want to make it crystal clear:

DuBaldo music did their absolute best to get it to me as quickly as possible, considering the extremely challenging circumstances. I can’t say enough about their customer service. It was exceptional at every stage!

When I made my order over the phone, Pete answered all my questions and made sure I was comfortable with what I was ordering as far as the specs were concerned. We made a deal on a VERY good price, and the wait began.

I won’t bore with the details, but between Japan and Connecticut there were numerous significant delays. Mostly unavoidable and one or two caused by decisions that St.Louis Music made, and/or failed to communicate ahead of time.

Pete and Lisa worked through all of this for me deftly, and professionally.

I am not local to the store. I live in DC, about 6 hours away. When the guitar finally arrived, there were 3 in the order, and Pete and Lisa let me know that I could have my pick of the three. Instead of having Pete play them for me over the phone and choosing from pictures, I decided to drive up and try them out in person, and drive it home myself.

Lisa and Nick were more than accommodating, and I was made to feel very comfortable while taking my time to decide. All 3 guitars were incredible instruments and it was a tough decision. Nick provided periodic feedback and assistance as I tried them over a period of about 3 hours. I never felt rushed, bothered, or unimportant. They made sure I was attended to but was not hovered over.

They knew exactly how to help a musician pick an instrument, and it is clear that they wanted to make sure I was equipped to make the right choice, and leave satisfied.

On the way out, as they knew I was a visitor, they even provided local restaurant recommendations, since I had mentioned that I was making my best effort to eat at great places while I was on the road.

I was, and am still, very happy with the decision I made, and with the entire experience of buying from DuBaldo music.

I cannot recommend them highly enough!

My only disappointment was that after a year of talking to him several times a month on the phone, I didn’t get to meet Pete in person, since he was out sick the day I visited.

Hopefully he’s feeling better now, and if I’m ever back in CT, I’ll be sure to stop in and thank him personally!

Thanks again to Lisa, Nick, Pete, and everyone at DuBaldo for a trying, long lasting,, but ultimately completely satisfying experience! The guitar is utterly amazing and will be with me forever, as will the experience of shopping with you.

Great service

Ordered a beautiful mint Pink Paisley ’69 RI Telecaster from the shop on Reverb. Very fast response and amazing customer service. Sent a message around 11am, Corey responded very fast with detailed photos I asked for and details about the guitar. He also set up the guitar before sending it out(all in the same day!!) and I gotta add, they do great work. Guitar came safe and sound. After tuning the guitar played smooth as butter with the action just how I like it. Amazing experience overall, I am so happy with the guitar. Will definitely do business again whether online or if I’m in the area, thanks Corey and everyone on staff at the shop!

Fantastic customer service! Great selection and super knowledgeable staff!

Martel has lots of effects including everything Strymon makes! Nice people.

Interesting store with some interesting gear. They don’t seem to carry Fender or Gibson. They had a stomp box manufacturing class going on when I visited.

Purchased a guitar for 750, now walking out with 637. Unfortunately I was not told about a very unfair and sneaky return exchange policy until I had asked after already completing the purchase. Also could not see clearly a visible sign inside that states anything about a return policy. When I asked where the sign was upon trying to return this guitar he pointed to have a corner and I still did not see the sign. I do believe that a return policy sign should be at the register for full disclosure. The law does state you are entitled to a full refund if you are not told about the refund policy during the time of the transaction, which I was not informed of that. Limited selection and unfortunately subject to a very steep restocking fee or store credit, if you are a serious musician make sure you know this first as you know that buying instruments is quite expensive and it is hard to want to get locked into something that you do not truly love.

As one reviewer already stated. They have a terrible return policy especially with online purchases. Good store as long as you know you’re going to keep the item but who really knows, its musical gear, its hard to tell if your going to dig it or not until you play it with your rig. Returning a pedal (or probably anything) is just not worth it due the return fees. 2 stars because I received it pretty quickly but definitely wasn’t packed that well. Without a doubt this will be my last purchase from this store. There’s plenty of other great stores to choose from that won’t bend you over on return fees. **Edit for response to the owner** Yes you do clearly state your return fees online. “Small restocking fee” is a bit of an understatement…your restocking fee is 10%. If I pay $250 for a guitar pedal. Right off the bat you’re keeping $25 of my return. I couldn’t imagine purchasing a guitar online through your store.

Throughout the years I have purchased guitars,and Equitment,. We miss Leo. He was the music teacher at Lewis S Mills High School in the 70’s. To ?. I graduated in 72. Great music shop. Get just about anything musical.

They were very friendly and had great prices. This will be my regular music shop from now on!

Keith has has done maintenance on my flutes several times and at a reasonable cost. Now all my flutes play much better. He is a flute player himself and very personable. I’m grateful for him and the lovely music shop.

GREAT SERVICE !!!

Very knowledgeable and friendly staff.

Best

The cellos were in not in good shape and we had to pay a luthiere to redo repairs that were poorly done when we received the instrument.

Great place but website could be better such as pics of some used equipment. I’m a drummer and would like to see what they have for new and used cymbals,stands,drum kits etc. And prices. I have done business with them and always had a great experience the reason for three stars is the website doesn’t do the music shop justice. All and all great store great people.

Clean organized and followed protocols.

I was impressed by the service, patience, and attention to detail at this store. I was even more impressed by Justin N who was incredibly helpful over the phone with a technical question I was having about fret buzz on my Stratocaster. He swiftly diagnosed the issue and I was able to fix the buzz on my guitar immediately. Anyone else could have simply written me off and I would have had to drive 30+ minutes to drop off my guitar needlessly. This is the sort of thing that makes me love Guitar Center and keeps me a loyal patron – I’ll definitely be making my purchases in-store because I love the retail presence and the community Guitar Center provides. Thanks for looking out, Justin!

In an amazing place . the personal is very professional.

Was not happy my mixer on hold was sold…Was not told I had to put $ Down to save it… However Mike was able to find I another one in Orange CT

Lots of broken strings.

It’s ok. Not a great selection of premium instruments, and considering the size of the place I’d expect more variety of almost everything. They need to learn how to pack a music store like the independent guys do — but they’re hard to find these days…

No drum tech, poorest customer service ever. Sweetwater should open a Megastore here instead.

It’s not what it used to be. The inventory is lacking and the guitars need setups.

What a disappointing experience I just had on the phone with Guitar Center in Orange CT. I called to request an ESTIMATE for a bass I am considering selling. This is something I have done many times and always had helpful conversations. The person who answered the phone refused to give me an estimate and told me they never do that. I nicely explained that I understood it was an estimate and that I realized they would have to see the instrument. He refused to look it up … Again, I’ve done this many times… I’d rather not support the chain stores anyway.