Bot – Top 20 places for music shops20 recommended music shops in Bot

I’ve taken several guitars and basses here for setup and parts installation. The work is always top notch and they stand by it if something happens to go wrong. I’ve known Scott since I first picked up a guitar when they were at Caldor plaza (now Walmart). He actually helped my mom and I pick it out. I took lessons at the shop with an instructor named Mark right after that purchase. I would not hesitate to recommend this place to anyone.

Very knowledgeable and friendly staff.

The best service on the planet. These guys are like music stores used to be

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.

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.

Always feel the love at Ash! Bought a beautiful mic used for a great deal I had great service and was greeted with a sincere smile.

sales people were helpful and patient and pricing was good.

Big Jim and Eric Wags are awesome. We lost our local music shop where we are. I like to deal with one place that will treat me well.

Been here once but the service was great

Large selection of instruments and at a fair price.

Great customer service. I often spend at least an hour playing instruments I dont have at home.

Everyone was super helpful until I cordially opted to not provide a phone number at checkout. Jordan was helping me and claimed he needed an address or phone number to process the transaction. I pointed out that Radio Shack usually enters a fake number and he ended up doing the same but his entire demeanor had already changed. He set my card and then the pen (to sign the receipt) down on the counter rather than hand them back to me (seemed deliberate but of course I don’t know for certain). I said “Thanks, have a good day” as we finished up but he turned away and didn’t say anything in return. He definitely seemed to take the fact that I didn’t want to provide any personal information way too personally. Pretty silly, if you ask me.

Employees are not interested in serving customers.

A friend who had just purchased a few hundred there went back with a question about a necessary piece required. This young man in the store responded with do your research. Well I was thinking of purchasing a guitar but not now ….Guitar Center was much more helpful and nicer…I will be sure to spread the word

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

Keith was very open and helpful during his purchase of my son’s used drum set. He explained everything clearly and followed through on his statements. Courteous and respectful throughout, he helped make the transaction pleasant. I would definitely return to his shop.

Knowledgeable people

You can get guitars and gear at a million places, but if you want a cool place with just the best stuff – no junk – and someone who knows ALL the details, go here. Bonus if you’re a Gretsch player, because he all the models you wish you had.

Such a great store!! The staff was very nice and helpful!!

Went by the store today awesome selection of really cool guitars that aren’t available anywhere else in CT!

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.

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.

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.

Atención excelente lo recomiendo al 100 buenos precios variedad de artículos y artesanías mexicanas

Mi virgen de Guadalupe estaba ahi

esta muy Bonita

It’s a wonderful

Cositas de México y variedad en dulce y más

I bought an Upton Standard laminated bass a couple of years ago. My bass is the least expensive Upton model. It arrived and only needed to be tuned to be ready to play. Set up was perfect and just as I requested. This bass has become my main gigging bass. It is very easy to play and sounds wonderful. I get compliments all the time on the tone of my Upton Standard laminated bass.

Why buy an imported bass for more money that will need fingerboard dressing and complete set up (likely including a new bridge) when you can buy a ready to play better sounding bass that is made in the USA?

Upton Bass is great! I haven’t had the chance to try their basses yet, but my luthier says they are terrific. I’m on the hunt for a good upright bass, and Eric answered all my questions promptly and was very helpful. I’m still deciding what I’m going to do, but an Upton Bass will definitely be on the list of possibles.

This is my second Upton Bass and this bass is even better than expected.I just wanted to express my gratitude for a beautiful job on my Brescian. The feel is just perfect for my hand and the bridge is cut just right. As I am playing it keeps singing even more (as expected) but beautiful tone and feels great. It’s a WIN. ps I’m 5’4″ with accompanying small hands and the modified slope of the neck and shoulders make for a comfortable fit. Get one!!

I purchased a ply bass that had issues out the door. The geometries where all wrong (e.g., the neck was too thin and was not pitched to the back of the bass) and it had a buzz coming from the fingerboard and bridge setup. They were unable to resolve the buzzing sound and I took it it to a local luthier to have the problem resolved. I ended up donating the bass our school district and purchasing a Shen.
Also do not purchase bows from Upton. I purchased a $2000+ bow made by J.R. Silva, Brazil, which developed a splinter just above the frog within 6 months and Upton would not warrant the bow. I now have a $2000+ paperweight.

Update, 10/28/2023:
… as to your reply, yes, I initially thought this was a great bass until I started using it for rehearsals and the buzzing appeared. I thought it was something I was doing or even due to the new bow. I drove 4 hours one way to your location to have your staff address the buzzing issue and they shaved a high spot on the fingerboard near first position and the buzzing did not appear while I was there. When I returned home and started using the bass again for rehearsals the buzzing reappeared. I wasn’t about to drive an other 8 hours to give your staff a second chance at addressing this. Instead, I took it to a local luthier who fixed the buzzing through a combination of reshaping both the fingerboard and bridge (the bridge was set up for jazz, even though I had told your staff that I play mostly orchestral music). While working on my bass, the luthier pointed out the other issues that I mentioned in my review. I am not a luthier, so I would not have necessarily recognized these issues except that through pro-longed use I might have developed muscular issues.

It also wasn’t until your staff responded last week that they could not help me with the issues with my bow that I decided to post this. I don’t like to post negative comments, but I wanted to warn other potential customers of my experience. Your staff could not even help with how I might get in touch with Mr. Silva. If you sell someone’s product, I would think you would have some form of contact information. I spent a lot of money on this bow ($2000+) and NO I DID NOT CAUSE THIS SPLINTER TO APPEAR. I do not appreciate you implying so by your comment. Had your staff handled things differently, I would not have posted this review.

You, as an owner, could have handled this differently as well. You *could* have contacted me by phone about this, instead of responding to my review in the manner that you did, and I might have considered removing this review. You could have even contacted me directly before I posted this review, as several days had lapsed between my speaking with your staff and my posting this review. At this point, based on the content of your reply, I will not remove this review.

Really great place for anything music. Went there to have my daughters violin checked and was treated great. Staff was knowledgeable and nice. They explained alot to me and also made some great suggestions for the future. We will definately be coming back. Great job.

Cool

Had some issues with a trombone purchased at another store and Bethel Music agreed to work on it and contacted the manufacturer because it was warranty repairs. They even called the manufacturer and arranged for the horn to be sent back and replacement sent to us at no charge. Cant go wrong with Bethel Music.

Good info from employees

Just stopped by quick. Had a great hour. They are the best

Instrument rentals are great for their prices

Prompt and professional! Recently purchased an SBMM Majesty guitar online and it came in perfect condition with Dubaldo only upgrades, Will definitely recommend them and will be making more purchases in the future. Thanks Dubaldo team!!

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.

Great store! Love the selection of Ernie Ball Music Man instruments.

Great service

JC Music have sold my amplifier, clarinets, trumpet. They are very fair and courteous and works with you on getting the best price. I highly recommend using JC Music for you consignment items. Joe D., Cheshire, CT.

My 3 boys take piano lessons at JC Music and I have been pleased to see their growth not only in their technical skills but in their understanding of music theory and their enthusiasm to play. This is in no small part due to Brian’s instruction and also the twice a year recitals which give the boys something fun to prepare for. Additionally we have used JC music’s instrument rental program to get my son’s clarinet for school and found that process smooth and the instrument itself was in excellent shape. Nothing but good things to say about JC music.

My daughter has taken piano lessons with Brian at JC music for two years. It has been a positive experience all around. We have been very impressed with Brian’s knowledge, ability and patience with teaching young children. I would highly recommend him!

Would like to obtain some nice brushes and some type of top hat set used and very sturdy since I break percussion instruments all the time when I perform?

My son, Roberto Luis and Rosa live in Meriden. Are you far from the mall? I have spent a lot of time jamming in Puerto Rico to salsa, merengue, etc but my favorite is funk like Buddy Miles.

My grandson really enjoyed the music lessons and they are very professional and knowledgeable. Highly recommend them.

This was a horrible expierence. They need to get their stuff together, they had already-sold instruments on shelf. They had an amazing guitar sale and when I went to buy, it was already sold! They got my hopes high and let it down and I will not give them my money any longer.

Never have any of the literature or instrument parts I’m looking for. Took 3 months to repair a trombone. I tried to return an item and they wouldn’t give me back the cash to go to another place. The owner has blatantly disrespected my mother on several occasions and doesn’t have much knowledge of much of anything outside of rock music. As far as i’m concerned, this is the worst music store i’ve ever set foot in and would not recommend to anybody.

Completely disappointed. I placed an order in store on a instrument that was never placed with JC music. The customer service was poorly displayed and the options they gave us was not acceptable. I asked to speak to the owner several times and would not get on the phone and made his new employee talk to me. I ended up going somewhere else that was amazing

I bought a beautiful Fender Resonator from Corey and Emilio a couple months ago. Not only were they encouraging of my late start to learning guitar, but they even bought the guitar back for a fair price when I failed to become the next Jimi Hendrix!! I’ll be back…I actually miss playing more than I thought I would…perhaps sooner than later.

Came in asking for my electric to get fixed, and the guy at the front took the guitar to the back to see if they had the part. I played around with some of the amazing guitars in the shop, and before I knew it he came out with my guitar fixed and told me it was free of charge. Great store, great guitars, great service! Thanks!

I found a Reverend Kingbolt that Spindrift had listed on Reverb. I called them and they worked out a deal for me to get the hard case Reverend also sells for this guitar. Vince and Corey were super helpful and responded promptly to my questions about the guitar and purchasing. I highly recommend this shop.

Shop owner very helpful with advice on adjusting the action on my mandolin. It is specifically a guitar shop.

An amazing shop, beautiful selection of instruments and very helpful folks.

They really know their guitars.

I brought in vintage Gibson Les Paul custom for a Re fret and they completely ruined it there was surface scratches ,chips in the fret board the frets were un even and buzzed. After 4 attempts bringing the guitar back to the store with the problems only half way fixed every time or even new problems I just cut my loses and brought my guitar to a real professional if you want it done right I do not recommend bringing your guitar here for major repairs

Una excelente experiencia además compre un timbal lo matador buen precio ok grasias y tranki ❤️

best help I got.very nice people
very knowledgeable

Love GC. Always have always will lol

I’ve been dealing with guitar center for years. Bought my second drum kit in Manchester and the negotiating was easy. Brought my old guitar gear years and years later (consisted of preamps and what not) to Orange, and they paid fair prices for the stuff I was willing to accept offer-wise (although they tried completely low balling me on a SansAmp RPM). HOWEVER . . . went in the other day to diagnose my Peavey 6505+ . . Now, I’m not going to name names or throw a salesman under the bus for lack of knowledge on tube amps, but I was actually kind of surprised at the lack of knowledge haha. While that wasn’t an issue at all, seeing that I don’t expect GC salespersons to deliver advice regarding tube care, I was, however, surprised that a 6505+ on the floor had a blown fuse (visibly blown), and I had to provide troubleshooting services in order to facilitate my visit. I just wanted to boot it up to test what the normal gain sounded like vs. my specimen, which was lent to me to diagnose high hissing sounds. On the flip-side, the audio department has a very kind and seasoned salesperson. This guy knows a lot about gear, and offered me fair trade-in prices for some random stuff. I didn’t intend to sell much to GC, seeing they receive a bad rep from having to re-sell gear (and that’s just the business, to be honest), which results in low payouts to those selling gear, but I was satisfied, nonetheless. I will continue business with them, but likely never seek simple advice from the guitar department. Kind of sad, hence the company name.

Lots of broken strings.

Good knowledgeable staff

Ajentes ventas mal trato al cliente

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

S#&t show…..Manager needs to do a better job. Service was at an all-time low. Hopefully better next time.

I bought a new guitar at the store. I dealt with Chris who is very helpful and knowledgable. The customer service and overall experience were great.

Great service and super helpful! Everything you need for your musical needs.

Good prices and very friendly and professional people working there. I’ll always check them when interested in buying something

Had a horrible experience renting with this store, they refused to help and to give me a refund even though it was their fault, and they did not processed the return properly. DO NOT RECOMMEND!

Disappointing experience with stringed instrument rental. Picked up an instrument, brought it home for child (experienced player) to try and a string immediately broke, likely wound too tight or already compromised at the store. Brought it back the very next morning and was told I needed to buy a new string and have someone else attach/retune. Poor way to treat a customer.

I haven’t had much experience with their sales, but their music lessons are top notch. We use Paul Fredericks who teaches my son electric guitar and my daughter keyboard. I’m amazed at how fast they are learning and by how much they want to go to their lessons. Because of the way Paul interacts with my kids, music lessons have never seemed like a chore to them. He also goes out of his way to make rescheduling missed appointments easy for me, which is very helpful as our schedule gets chaotic at times. Music & Arts lesson system is also easy to use and notifies me of upcoming appointments and changes. A+

I am not sure what went wrong with other people but I have had really great experiences. Chris is Professional, helpful and knowledgeable.

Buena atencion

The prices are ok. The parking can be tough. The person working the desk was dismissive of my questions. Not a lot of inventory on display. They seem more about instruction.

Thank you for your service n attention. Thank guys for helping me to pick the perfect gift for my wife.

Sales staff were not super knowledgable. We rented our son’s violin for school through them and billing was always an issue even though it was on monthly automatic payment. Glad the saga is over.

Very bad and rude customer service, hang up my phone.

Don’t rent any instrument from this place. People are very rude. Calling customer service takes forever to get someone on the phone. Unfriendly customer service, supervisors don’t want to talk to customers. Find another place to rent instruments for your children.

WARNING! WARNING TO PARENTS!! DO NOT USE THIS SHOP FOR RENTALS! Should be ZERO stars.

We rented from here for 5 years, the first 4 went off without a hitch. This year has been an absolute nightmare. We rented two instruments, same address, same name, same payment. ONE account had no issues, the other the local store put in the wrong address (where we have never lived). Over the last 4 months I have called their headquarters, left messages, emails, etc. trying to get a paper bill MAILED so that I could pay whatever was owed. They were incapable of sending this, and every time I called in could not even find the right account or would tell me everything was fine and they did not know why I was being contacted. When asked why they could not have looked at our other rental account for the correct information they were stunned into silence. Absolute incompetency from the sales staff all the way up to the billing department supervisor who assigned our missing “account” to a collections agency and then gave us the WRONG agency. Save yourself the trouble and stay far, far away from here.

A great store!

Great place I have done drum lessons there for a long time and my teacher is awesome

I bought an EVH Wolfgang Special from Joe at Greenwich music that was used that they listed on Reverb. Joe is a stand up guy and was honest about everything and loyal to the customer. I Would definitely buy from Greenwich Music again!!

It’s a nice place! It’s a bit small but otherwise it’s nice.

We were kindly helped in the store, but we were buying a guitar for our son and we don’t live in the US. We were having problems with internet so we couldn’t research correctly at the moment, but they assured that the amp could be used in 220 current. We arrived home and we connected the amp and it didn’t work. So the amp was burned. Apart from that the price was a bit higher than the same thing in other stores, it’s not nice to pay 50 dollars more, but that is just business and anyone can charge what they want. It was our fault that we didn’t do a good research before buying. But the very kind person that assured us that it would work because he used to be an electrician, and it only needed a basic adapter, was totally wrong and now we are home and we lost an amp, so we paid extra for the set and it didn’t work. You were very kind indeed, but please if you are not sure about something, don’t sell it. Because we lost money and we can’t go back because we don’t live there.

Rudest customer service I have ever encountered. The man I spoke to on the phone yelled and hung up on me. When my daughter went in person to drop off the instrument for repair at the agreed upon time, he remained upset and kicked my daughter out of the store. Strongly encourage anyone looking to have their instruments fixed to look elsewhere. Disappointing experience to say the least.

Their hours aren’t very convenient and I was having a guitar strung and I dropped it off and I didn’t get a call before the store closed and then they were closed the next day Sunday so I didn’t get my guitar until Monday and that was extremely inconvenient. They also have a very small selection of basses.Update, they aren’t even open a couple hours on the 4th of July so I won’t get my guitar till Tuesday I am very upset with this store.

Terrible customer service. Called and said I would be by in 10 minutes for an emergency repair. Guy was nice on the phone. When I arrived 5 minutes early they had closed up and locked. Super helpful…

Michael is wonderful; so helpful! Although there’s plenty to choose from, if he doesn’t have what you need he will order it. If he doesn’t know an answer to your question,he will find it and get back to you. I’m so thankful to have this store 5 minutes from my home.

My daughter took piano lessons from several places over the past few years. Her favorite of all the teachers was Pat at Westbury Music. She has a great formula that kept her engaged and not dreading her classes. Every week she looked forward to the lesson.

Mike, owner, is knowledgeable, professional and friendly. Instruments, music sheets and lessons at affordable prices. Repairs also done in house. Drop in to day hi and take a look around.

Staff is very friendly and knowledgable.

excellent store, good Fender Selection, nice acoustics, lessons, and school instruments.

Ordered instrument for my son, was told to pick up the next day, went the following day to pick it up and it wasn’t there. Also bought a box of reefs for the instrument and was given the wrong kind. The gentleman that waited on us was polite, although he didn’t recognize us even though we had just been in the day before!

Hi Donny

I have taken my guitar and bass here to be setup a few times. I was very happy with the time it took and the results. It averaged about a week for the turnaround and the playability was great. I can’t speak for the lessons or major repair work, but for simple things this guitar/music shop is perfect.

Friendly staff and good price for instrument rentals.

A little hard to find, but owner was very helpful in my search for a solid-woods Classical guitar. Looked at a very nice A/Yari. Has some nice guitars, but he is limited by space constraints. If the f-ups in Washington and the greedy sob’s on Wall St would all drop dead, this store would have a good chance of growing.

Had an excellent selection of strings. Plan on visiting again soon.

I got My sons cello at this store and the bridge was broken and the stand

Great people, extremely helpful and friendly

Josh and Jeff were EXTREMELY helpful, friendly, knowledgeable and patient!
I had to call a few times regarding instrument rental. They both knew exactly what I needed–when I had no clue–and were very accommodating to my needs.
THANKS VERY MUCH!

The employees are very friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful. A big shoutout to Rob for his help today.

I whould l8ke to buy aking or yamaha euphonium

Top notch gear and support!

Great music store for muscians. I had a cornet recently repaired. The work was excellent, quick, and reasonably priced. The staff was friendly and very helpful. I will use them for future trumpet servicing. They also have a very good collection of used instruments for sale.

I live in NYC and amidst Covid had been unable to take my horn to my usual repair place when one of my valves completely froze. Came to the Music Lab for the first time while visiting my folks in CT, and I could not be happier or more impressed. David (the brass guy!) is not only super pleasant but he pored over my horn as if it were his own and fixed/fine-tuned several things beyond the valve (plus that is working perfectly now). Incredibly impressed, happy to have a functional horn again, and I will definitely be back! Highly recommend to any brass players wanting a super detailed, professional repair.

I walked in planning to try and possibly purchase a PRS hollowbody and left happy with a Taylor that I never would have considered without the advice I received. It fits into my collection great and I’m very pleased with the service and knowledgeable staff that helped guide me in the direction I was looking to go to obtain the tone I was searching for, and opening my eyes to options I hadn’t considered. Great shop, amazing selection including many PRS core and SE models that I don’t think will compare to anything I’ll probably ever see. They really do have something for pretty much anything you’re looking for. I’ll be back for sure, thanks guys!

brooooo brian’s guitars is LIT AF, peep this peddle i just copped that tree is literally on fire yoooo i’m literally bricked up rn, this shop is da no like the vybez just hit different like they just finna make u niiiiiceee at it, srsly u need this guitussy in ur lyfe fr fr idk wut else to say

Lots of good selections. Very friendly people. Definitely recommend paying them a visit

BUYER BEWARE: If you’re shopping used online, call ahead and ask them to send you updated pictures of the instrument before you buy.

I just purchased a used guitar online, from Brian’s Guitars. It sounds and looks great.

HOWEVER: the pictures and listing posted online were not accurate. The listing said “near mint” condition. The pictures showed all the tags and plastic seals on the components still intact. When I received the guitar, all the seals were gone. There were scuffs on the pickguard, and there was a screw completely missing near the volume/tone knobs. After an email exchange, I learned that the pictures were posted from when the guitar was new. Still, why was a screw missing?

I may have scored a guitar at a sweet deal, but now my confidence is shook. Even though everything sounds fine, I’m left wondering if a screw was removed to mess around with the internal components. I’ll get that checked out, but given the inaccurate listing, I’m not sure if I would buy from Brian’s Guitars again.

I recently had a vintage bass repaired and appraised here. I left it with them to have the electronics fixed and a general setup done. I got a call that the guitar was ready to be picked up a few weeks later, but had to remind them to also do the appraisal.
I get the bass home and the jack is incredibly noisy. I called and was told that they would make it right at no cost. I take the bass back and the tech puts a new jack in. They still charged me $10 for the jack, the making it right part only included the labor (about ten minutes). I couldn’t care less about $10, but making an extra trip out (about half hour from my home) to have something fixed that should have been done in the first place, guarantees I will never go back here or recommend it to anyone.

Love the layout and they have beautiful guitars. However, customer service is lacking. I advice those that are interested in buying a high-end guitar and enjoy collecting these musical art pieces to look elsewhere as I was told so rudely. Especially if you are a minority. The stereo typing is real!. If you think this is a rant of someone that is not able to afford this level of guitars, well, think again. I have a small collection that keeps growing of high-end to medium range guitars, bass guitars , and amps. I Hope this helps someone that does not want to be profiled while shopping for their next piece of happiness.