Thank you Paul, & Pop’s, the 814ce Taylor I purchased was received here in Long Island NY, and looks amazing, as advertised, and plays beautifully. Special thanks for the extra care, packing and shipping, very professionally prepared. Very hard to find that special touch, that you still deliver, these days.
Extremely satisfied with the purchase of my new guitar this month at Tobias. Paul was exceptionally helpful, knowledgeable and a great guy. Would highly recommend his store to anyone looking for a guitar!
This is the go-to place for guitar set-ups, and I recently had a nut replaced. They dug through their stash of nuts multiple times to find one that fit my guitar so I wouldn’t have to have one custom-made. Their perseverance saved me time and money. Love this place!
They are more of a acoustic guitar place not really a place for bass players .
***EDIT***
So, I am knocking down my review from five stars to three; due to my most recent experience a couple months after the first one. So I reached backout to buy another guitar (place order) as I really wanted an AD22e or another model I can’t remember, but after confirming they could place the order I let them know that I wanted the AD22e and to provide me the full price so we could close the deal and they went silent, mind you I didn’t even get a copy of the receipt from my AD27e that never came which I had also requested from the last conversation.
I did finally get my guitar ordered but I had a national retailer place the order. I was disappointed I didn’t hear back from Tobias Music about completing the purchase and obtaining a copy of the receipt for my AD27e that never came.
** original **
Just bought an AD27e (Taylor) from them after finding it for sale online. it was a great buying experience. I’m a lefty, buying guitars online is the norm, and most of the time guitars I buy take a day or two to pack and ship. we had a few emails back and forth and they were quick to respond and very professional. These guys had it packed and shipped the same day, and I didn’t place my order until after lunch; that’s service.
They also took the time to dial the guitar in; it came with the action set and was tuned ready to play out of the box. Paul did a great job and really made this buying experience easy, and hassle free. I’ll have to check back often to see what other lefty guitar they get in. If I have the chance, I will buy from them again.
4. Music Source
Address: 33113 US-45, Grayslake, IL 60030 , Amboy , Illinois , United States
Very good place to go. Jason teaches my daughters and they have enjoyed the lessons . They have improved their level and thanks to Jason they love piano . Jason is professional, serious and an oustanding piano teacher. He really motivates students to learn.
Marie de shazer.
An awesome store, great people and Bob did a fantastic job cleaning, conditioning and restringing my 1980 Ovation 12 string guitar. It was a pleasure doing business with them.
Great teachers and staff! Great collection of guitars and all musical needs! Their Facebook page is so much fun too!
A week and a half later, I’m waiting on a repair that was supposed to take two days. They called on the day it was supposed to be done to say they just started working on it. Two days after that they called again to say it will be done in a week (or maybe less) due to a problem with the instrument that requires additional work. Today (a week later) they said it will be ready two weeks from the day I brought it in. While I can’t comment on the quality of the work because I still haven’t received it yet, I am disappointed with the service so far. I dislike dishonesty, excuses, and false promises. I can only hope that my instrument isn’t being butchered. I hope I’ll get it back and be able to add a positive update to this review. Unfortunately since they lied to me, I can’t trust them, so I’ll have to take it somewhere else to get it checked out after I get it back.
Update: I got the guitar back and had it checked out by a friend’s technician. He said it was in good shape, so I’ve decided to raise my rating by two stars. I won’t forget the bad communication and lack of transparency, so I don’t think I would bring an instrument here for repair a second time.
Why would I come here to buy $21 Elixir Strings when I can get them for $10 on Amazon? Are these even elixirs? I am 2nd guessing because the seal was ripped and the bags are crinkled inside. I feel like I was ripped off here, do not come here for your strings maybe they are knowledgable, but definatley sketchy.
Reviews show that they are open but I cannot seem to find the correct times they are open I tried stopping in on a Saturday around 3 website and google said they were open. But they weren’t too
Bought an over priced patch cable to find out it doesn’t work.
Store staff are incompetent. Ordered books and instruments accessories for me but instead of holding behind the counter they just put them on the shelf for others to buy. Waited two weeks and when I got there only one of the three things I ordered was available. There is a reason mom-and-pop shops like this are going out of business. They have no customer service. Added to which the staff were rude and had a lack of knowledge that was sad.
Was looking for a specific pair of drumsticks that I needed. I walked in and took a look at the selection they had, and they didn’t have what I needed. I asked a staff member if they could help me out and he helped me figure out what pair I needed. He happened to be the drum instructor. While trying to find the specific pair, my mother who was with me told me that he made her feel uncomfortable because of the way he acted towards her. When they “ordered” it for me and they said it’ll be here in a week.
One week later, I called to see if it had arrived. They said no. I stopped by the next day to see if it arrived and the same instructor said they’ll stop by tomorrow and pick it up for me. (From whatever warehouse they get their stuff from). The next day, guess what? THEY DIDN’T HAVE IT.
Unbelievable service. Waste of time and effort. I ended up going to A-Major Music in Gurnee. Trust me, it is worth the drive and they are MUCH more friendlier and helpful there.
5. Jimmys Music
Address: 124 N Benton St, Woodstock, IL 60098 , Amboy , Illinois , United States
I adore This music store. I instantly felt comfortable here. After almost two years of lessons, I still love it. Jimmy is the best!
Cool place…
Restrung our guitar and tuned while we waited and browsed around the shop.
Explained about their lessons…
Great selection, cool drum clocks too!!!
Thanks Jim.
Amazing service great selection!
Was able to get a specific part for my high hat stand saving me the hassle of driving out to guitar center in Algonquin so that was nice.
Horrible service, I walked in and felt un-welcomed and more of a nuisance to the person working there, who seemed to have a huge ego.
6. Austin’s Violin Shop
Address: 316 Wheeler Rd, Sugar Grove, IL 60554 , Amboy , Illinois , United States
My son loved this company. The do very high quality customer service. Theirs instruments are very high quality.
My daughter loves her violin friendly people
A quaint little shop with beautiful landscaping in a quiet neighborhood. Staff is very friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. Large selection of high quality violins and other string instruments. A beautiful place to spend an afternoon trying out instruments to find the perfect one. Highly recommended.
7. Make’n Music
Address: 780 W Frontage Rd, Northfield, IL 60093 , Amboy , Illinois , United States
Very helpful and friendly staff, knowledgeable, not pushy and genuinely nice. Fair prices too.
This is a great place for lessons and buying quality guitars for a good price!
This is the finest guitar shop in Chicago in my opinion. They are the only authorized dealer of Tom Anderson Guitars, which by itself makes this place worth your time. Probably the most important thing though is the fact that these guitars are expertly set up and maintained.
I had a G&L ASAT Bluesboy that had been giving me grief for years. I had it set up multiple times, refretted by Specimen guitar shop, and it always had this weird thing going on. I took it in here and they (Third Coast, the folks who handle setups etc. when brought in here) were able to diagnose and fix the issue. Now it plays perfectly (almost as good as the Tom Andersons).
You can trust these guys, bottom line.
Great store. Middle of nowhere. And definitely not the shop pictured. They had Les Pauls. But would not sell them. What’s up with that.? Very small selection in unless all you want is Airline guitars. No one said much. Just some people hanging out. Not clean and shiny like pictured. I believe they must have downsized big time. Not impressed. oh well. Ive been to the place pictured years ago. Impressive. What happened?
check em out
Great people. Real nice, know what they’re talking about. Take their gear over the local competition because they just know it better, even if it isn’t spooky. Their techs are very likely great but weren’t in-site available when I visited. It’s still a beautiful shop.
THESE GUYS THINK THEY ARE SO SMART!!!!!!!!!
It is always closed. Make sure you check its web site to see if it is open.
I was in the market for an American made Telecaster and they had nothing to show me. I had my brother n law tell me he wanted to take up bass and they don’t carry basses. I don’t understand what their market is? Another example of how bad the Chicago area music stores are.
8. Walmart Supercenter
Address: 1640 S Galena Ave, Dixon, IL 61021 , Amboy , Illinois , United States
Semi truck parking is difficult, especially when shopping. Spoke to Shawn in management 3/23/2022. Thanks for allowing me to park & shop Sir!
It has alot your looking for
The employees can be really mean but besides that I like it
Found out that their getting rid of a lot of food choices. Deli is smaller now, cereal section is smaller. And then the prices have increased since they remodeled. I wish they didn’t get rid of the greeters by the doors. They helped me out on numerous occasions!
Walmart is great, but sometimes needs better versions of the products offered.
Dirty and rude people working
My husband is an over the road truck driver and stopped at this Wal-Mart without a trailer to buy a few essentials. A security guard rushes up on him demanding he leaves. My husband tried to tell him he was just picking up some groceries but the guard wouldn’t listen .
Bunch of unfriendly people.
9. Offbeat Music Store
Address: 3 S Old Rand Rd, Lake Zurich, IL 60047 , Amboy , Illinois , United States
The staff here is very friendly and knowledgeable. Nick has done a terrific job of repairing my guitar, and helping me find new guitar brands within my budget. A great music store for a musician of any level!
I have been visiting Offbeat and have been getting advice and equipment from Jim for over 20 years. I love their selection of musical instruments and peripherals and they have an incredible repair facility.
This past weekend I had a gig in Highland Park and brought my Strat in for a tune up and new strings. I was running late and failed to get to the store in time to pick up the guitar on Saturday. As I pulled into the Offbeat parking lot, Nick happened to notice me and turned around to come back to the store. Nick was kind enough to reopen the store and let me get the guitar. I was able to make it to the gig and the guitar played so very nicely.
Thanks so much to Offbeat and to Jim and Nick for their great service!
P.S. – Offbeat also offers beginner, intermediate & advance music lessons.
I love Offbeat I go very often and they always make sure I get the best deal possible. They are very friendly and they know a lot about musical instruments and such. They have a variety of unique items such as “Tank Drums” which are very cool and they have just about everything you could want musically. Go check it out!
Music store with a nice selection of instruments. Some vinyl and CDs too, although it has very few, if any, hidden treasures. 2 stars removed because the one employee and 2 of the customers were not wearing masks when I visited. I would have spent more time and money here if they were. Stay safe, everyone.
Friendly people
I was very dissatisfied with this location as they don’t offer any instruments that would allow the user to produce the sounds of Echolocation
10. Don’s Music Land
Address: 7717 N University St STE A, Peoria, IL 61614 , Amboy , Illinois , United States
Don is an amazing man. He took in my brother in law’s beat up Yamaha and made it beautiful again. Don told us about his history with Yamaha. If anyone knows more about the story of Yamaha from a dealer’s and repair perspective in Peoria, I honestly don’t know who it would be.
Shop local folks. They care.
Stopped by the new place (at least to me) while we were back in town. Wish we could have a guitar store like this where I live. I kept finding interesting stuff to check out.
Don knows his stuff. We bought many instruments from him and he is a great guy and cares about his customers.
Gd selection
11. Mayberry Music & Sound
Address: 301 E Broad St, Jonesboro, IL 62952 , Amboy , Illinois , United States
Once again Sandy & I have the opportunity to send Kudos to Paul,Jr. His modifications of our guitar made our performances better & easier.
Great inventory of instruments , reasonably priced .
Great music store!!! Top notch
Buy guitars and strings there sometime.
I really enjoyed the customer service. Employees were really helpful and professional
I am definitely a fan of Mayberry Music And Sound. As a banjo player, I do want to say that they are quite a bit over priced on their banjos and their banjos are not set up correctly. So I would not recommend getting a banjo set up there. Other than that, they are very good if your buyingan instrument from them.
Mayberry is all you could ask for except a good customer experience. Massive selection but all prices are at the higher end and there is very little wiggle room even when trading up. You may find what you need but if you’re looking for some good conversation and a great shopping experience look elsewhere.
The employees here are very satisfied with themselves and have a “cork sniffer” vibe from their precious pedestals. They are all too happy to correct you when talking about instruments and there is a complete lack of a warm one-on-one personal experience. With Amazon’s prices there’s little reason to go here unless you can’t wait or need something immediately.
I have been consistently disappointed with the attitude of and experience from Mayberry’s over the years and recommend taking an extra thirty minutes to go elsewhere or use it as a showroom to purchase on Amazon. It’s just not a very fun experience and fun and music shops I thought were supposed to go hand in hand.
