The top 20 music shops in Chattanooga Valley, United States

I was flipping a home and it came with a piano, i didn’t know what to do with it so i asked doug to come and evaluate what it was worth and to see if it could be tuned up. He took care of everything for more. Great guy.

Best Piano Tuner in the chattanooga area. Also does a great job teaching my daughter piano! Very reasonable prices 🙂

Great staff, great selection, great store. We had a really personal one-on-one experience with the staff here and they were phenomenal at getting us exactly what we needed.

One of my favorite stores.

Was upset the first visit when I found out the showroom is appointment only, but when I had questions about ordering a Suhr and wanted to try out some fret/radius/neck profile combos, I put together a wishlist from their stock. Was immensely impressed to find all 4 guitars, serial number specific, were laid out in the amp room with two amps running ready to try out for my appointment. The tiny effort to schedule your appointment to basically get free run at the entire stock of thousands of guitars with no buzzy, noodling going on around you is invaluable. Fantastic experience. Prices on nice cable and pedals were super competitive also.

Nothing wrong with appointment only in a primarily web/mail-order only business. It helps with time management, and also keeps the tire kickers and incessant chatterers out. #GoodWork

Great place to buy you Amps, guitars,top line equipment

If a store prefers to sell online in a “music town” with over 200 local bands there’s usually a good reason they can’t make a go of it locally.

Very happy with the quality of the guitar and the price and the reason for at least two stars, but please read and understand their return policy very carefully. They will not deviate from it and are unwilling to work with finding an equitable solution once you are beyond five days of delivery . I bought a $2600 guitar from Humbucker because I could not find a local dealer with the model. The guitar’s neck ended up being really uncomfortable for me. I realized that the thicker neck was going to cause my arthritic thumb pain going forward. I kept the guitar in showroom condition and inquired about exchanging the 12 day old guitar for a more expensive guitar with a slim neck. Additionally I offered to pay them a 10% restocking fee so they could sell the guitar as a demo if needed. They usually charge 3%. I was told that they could not deviate from their established policy. I have two choices, keep a guitar I am not happy with or sell the guitar on Reverb for a loss. Regardless they have lost a future customer and will purchase my next guitar elsewhere. If you are planning to purchase from Humbucker, caveat emptor.

Drove over an hour to check out their inventory of Suhr Modarn guitars. Come to find out that “they don’t let people play them”. He was nice enough to bring out one I was interested to look at, but that was it.

If your serious about buying some high end gear, LOOK ELSEWHERE. There is NO WAY I would ever spend $2,000+ on a guitar without playing it first and they will NOT earn my business when I order my Suhr Modern.

Sad that you could be more than ready to buy, and they are more interested in internet sales than business right in front of them. Not even sure why they have a “showroom” when you cant even play anything???

Edit:

Thank for your response Brian. I understand your desire to provide the most mint product you can for your customers, but like most relatively expensive products, consumers would like try things before they buy them You wouldn’t simply buy a $2-3K TV from a store simply because they show you what it looks like out of the box, but have no floor model to actually see the picture quality?

Jeremy was very polite, but missed all the points about my trip. He knew I drove quite a ways, was very curious, and knew I wanted a Modern since I explained I was researching them. I was torn between the JP6 and a Modern. At no point did he even attempt to try and say “maybe I should try one out, that may help you decide”. I mean EVERY music store I have been in will let you play something to make sure its what you want. I would understand if it were a 59 Burst that Gary Moore use to own, and was irreplaceable, but these are $2-4k instruments you can purchase from any of the 60ish dealers Suhr has listed on their site.

Again, your staff was very polite, and maybe this is a new business model that companies operate well with. I am just more traditional coming from a background in sales, and understand that the way to create desire is to give the customer a sense of ownership -> floor models, demo drives, fitting room, etc…

I looked around for for months before I decided on my Subaru STI. I drove $15K-$65K dollar cars before settling on my $35K one. All dealers let me go thorough and drive what I was looking at -> Pre-owned STI’s, new STI’s, new BOSS 302 Mustang, ZL1 and SS Camaro, etc… I didnt hurt, scratch, track mud in, or abuse them. I drove them to make sure I would be happy with my investment before buying.

We may never see eye to eye on this but, I dont feel like commuting from Cartersville GA to the TN line just to discover what I did. I am sure others have driver further to discover this. I just wish you site was very clear about your normal policy so that consumers know what to expect if they decide to make the trip to your store.

Again, I appreciate your response.

Sincerely, Paul

Great person good deals on everything..

Mike is great!

Lots of unique stuff. Beautiful Martin and Takamine acoustics. Really fair prices on pawn sales as well, not gouging like most pawn stores do.

Over priced on most of the guitars

Nice hole in the wall for obscure amps.

Good store lots of items he is very helpful

Great owner. I came in to get a guitar restringed because I’m still learning how to play and everything that goes with that. We ended up talking for about an hour in total about his place, my guitar, and giving me advice on what to do going forward. He does custom woodworking craft, and it all looks great. I will remember his place for at least the next 10 years.

Top-notch service for a range of services. From guitar repair/luthier work to electronics to rehearsal space, to wood-working. These are the “go-to” folks in/around Chattanooga.

Stopped by from out of town for some strings, Hembree just ended up giving me the strings, chatted us up about his business and a few things to do in town. One look around the shop, could tell he takes pride in his work, guitars and beyond. Great guy, wish I was in the market for custom work!

I had a tight deadline and took my guitar project to see Greg at Gig City Customs. He was super helpful and promised he’d work out my issue before my deadline, and he delivered, above and beyond.

I can’t recommend Gig City Customs more. Check out this local luthier and support his business, Greg is an absolute gem.

Started taking lessons there about 4mths ago I believe and my instructor is simply Amazing!!!! His patience with me is enough to Bless him….. They did some work on my guitar that was found, did you know you can have a curved neck??? I didn’t but is got fixed news strings, even me learning it sounds good. My wife even got me an acoustic guitar for an early Christmas present, the staff was a big help to her since she doesn’t know much about my hobby. Awesome staff, thank you for all you have done for me!!!! I recommend!!!

Picker’s has been my go-to shop for over 5 years now. The work on my basses has always been excellent and, even on the 1 or 2 occasions where something has been amiss on pick-up, they immediately rectify the issue with no additional charge. The staff have always been personable, easy to talk to, and open to any questions, no matter how remote. I know when I leave my gear with them that it’s going to be treated as if it was more-or-less their own. Fair prices for good service. The world would be a better place if there were more shops like this, but I wouldn’t wish them the competition.

P.S. Clayton knows his way around a Yamaha.

Stopped doing my own guitars because I get in a hurry and settle for mediocrity. 3 guitars done here and so far 100% satisfied. Very fast and great pricing. Jessie knows his stuff without question. Top notch service by top notch people. Owner is a great guy and a great player. Nothing against GC, I still go there for time to time but I prefer to support the local mom and pop type places and this is one of them. Just go there, you will dig it

As a guitar player my husband enjoy looking around at the music equipment the sales associate was very knowledgeable and friendly we didn’t buy anything but it’s worth looking into

It was the weekend before Valentines Day and I had honey bunny frop off Mom’s guitar for TLC. He paid for it then I paid for it when I picked it up. I would give 5 stars but that was part of my gift according to him. Just irritation
2/27/19 – I just spoke with a kind young man who took my information down to credit my card. I love these guys! They are sincere hard workers who know all types of musical instruments…not just guitars. They will continue to receive all my musical business

Good little guitar shop. Good for strings and picks . a few amps and guitars available. They also do restring and some repair. If you need that sort of thing .

Update to previous five star review: As of 2021 cannot recommend. The old tech left and the new one is questionably skilled and not very honest about the work or issues. Failed to do both setup and electronic work correctly.

We know the owner of this shop, he is a great guy. However, his taste in employees is seriously lacking. The bald man at the counter is incredibly rude. He is short with people and seems to have absolutely no desire to help clients. I doubt anyone in our family will ever shop here or do any sort of business with them again because of the way he treated and spoke to us.

After moving to the area from New York, I was told Picker’s Exchange was the place to go if you want to drop off your guitar for a set up (Restring, Intonation, etc…)

At the time, I owned a Takamine and brought it to them exclusively for a set up every few months. One day, I picked up the Takamine and staff told me that my truss rod was broken and they couldn’t bring the action any lower. I didn’t want to start a confrontation, so I just left knowing they damaged my guitar (since they’re the only ones to service it.)

Well, I bought a new guitar and looked for someone else to do a set up for me, but had no luck. I reluctantly brought it for a set up here. I got back a buzzing mess of a guitar. Having a recording session coming up, I brought the guitar back, and the dude behind the counter joked that I was abusive to my guitar (I do strum very hard for my style of play) and that he would set up accordingly. I laughed and said, “GREAT”!

He took it and adjusted twice in my presence. Still not good. He then adjusted again, and it seemed alright, but once I went into a rehearsal, we realized we were still getting some buzz that would come through on track.

With the recording session just hours away, I raced back to have it adjusted. The guy behind the counter must have been the owner because I could immediately tell that he cared I needed to return to get it adjusted and wanted me to tell my friends about his shop. Initially he tried to tell me I would have to wait several days for the adjustment, until I explained I had a session in a few hours. Suddenly, he was able to make an adjustment then and there. What’s worse is I took it to my recording session and it still buzzed. Grrr!!!

Look, I get it, mistakes happen and I’m a hard strummer. But, when the guitar comes in fine at stock settings, and you can’t do a simple set up after breaking the customer’s previous guitar, you really shouldn’t be offering to do instrument repair. A set up is pretty fundamental stuff.

These guys just cause more harm than good. It’s a real shame, cause I think everyone here is nice and pretty cool, and the location is super convenient for a service spot.

Giving them a star for working with me and trying to help. But ultimately, this is a place you should avoid if you’re looking to have your acoustic guitar serviced.

great place to Play and great people , Helped me find an instrument that I liked . teaching me to play it . great selection and an enormous heart!

Great place to learn different instruments, very professional. Great for all types of people who want to learn string instruments

I love this place! Miss August is so nice, laid back and super friendly; I love that she gives back to the community by offering free fiddle lesson on Sunday to anyone that wants to learn to play. She also gives private lessons but that fact that she offers classes for free is just AWESOME!! So if you have never been by her beautiful store you should totally stop in. They have a huge selection of fiddles and other stuff you need for your string instruments. If you play stop by and get a jam session going it’s a great space for it with plenty of room for everyone to just chill and enjoy the the vibe in a great environment she’s got going on there. Tell her I sent you!!

I can’t believe they actually offer beginner violin lessons for free! They will even loan you one of their instruments if you need one. And I was so happy to find a local shop that could repair my violin. They were very helpful and I am Very excited!

Fun place I go on sundays

Wonderful local music store.

Oh well, it’s not here. I don’t know what happened or if it moved, but they need to update their webpage. We drove across to town to get some fiddle rosin.

This business is not at this location. Looks completely closed.

Amazing space, very chill. Great place to snag a good vinyl, get a good book, or a coffee. They have candles and crocheted items too!

Awesome shop for books, new and vintage vinyl records. Owner is so nice and helpful

I had my johnson brought in for a setup and they did an awesome job and very fast! Definitely bringing my guitar(s) back!

Had an issue with my son’s instrument the night before a big performance. Went in the day of and they helped us out in a pinch! Very knowledgeable staff! Highly recommended. Will do business in the future.

Very helpful people. Good prices. Highly recommend!!!!!!!

kinnnnnnda rude. Was also bad talking about a regular for some reason.

Very friendly and helpful. Only reason it’s not 5 stars is limited inventory. Will go back.

Dealing with Mountain Music is perhaps the worst experience I’ve ever had with a place of business. I brought my guitar amp here about 8 months back. They have no record of me being there even though the repairman does (according to their hand written log book). They pretty much told me the TN 90 day policy on abandoned property covered them. I understand that legally they had a right to do whatever they wanted with my amp but i received no notice. Not only did they not fix the amp but now I’m out 600$, and they had no interest in helping me figure out what happened or making this situation right. This screams “shady” and extremely poor business practices. Use extreme caution before supporting sketchy places like this, or do yourself a favor and support one of the other reputable, diligent, and respectful shops. Either way these guys won’t be around long.

The owner has an obvious issue with dealing with younger customers and has no interest in selling to anybody who doesn’t look like they have money. I went in there looking for a drum kit and he had no interest in helping me pick one or informing me about what they had. A guitar also fell off the wall near me also and the owner thought I’d done it, when really the whole mounting came out of the wall but he was very quick to huff and puff and act like a child. Would not recommend to anyone. Snobby owner with a attitude

Employee was rude and pretentious. Have spent plenty of money in this place for years, as far back as Dayton Blvd, and Downtown. Due to this experience I will take my business elsewhere in the future.

It’s a red box. Okay selection but nothing great.

Friendly staff and good customer service. Good selection

Best overall selection of instruments and gear in the area.

Had everything my granddaughter needed

Love this place but they didn’t have what I needed.

Helpful staff

This has to be the smallest Guitar Center that I’ve ever been in. Nice selection and helpful staff

I bought a $200 pedal. It was dead in no time, as was their customer service. Who knows if it was used. I bought a guitar once, returned it, and instead of selling it for the used product it was, they sold it as new and increased the price from what I paid. Shifty. They sell used as new. Buy Musicians Friend. At least they’re honest. Same price.

Customer service wasn’t what I expected based on other locations.

It’s always something at this store. No one wants to help and they try to screw you over everything