Your Top-20 list of music shops in Cleveland

It’s ok, the last time they closed early while we were there

The place to shop for musical instruments on Sand Mountain.

If you are looking to by on the cheap, try larger cities. B&C has incredible service and knowledge. They may have to charge a bit more, but it’s not worth to drive to Nashville to find the quality and service.

It’s a small place but it has good instruments I like it

Over priced. Only good if you need to grab a pack of strings or something small last minute.

Great little music shop. A good place to look for a starter instrument or replace an existing one.

Good site

I felt watched and rushed.Two women were working there that day, one was very friendly. I did not feel comfortable asking questions and also it was so hot in there.

The people are not friendly, the merchandise is overpriced, some equipment is not even new (and it is damaged) although they don’t disclose that information, and getting around in a wheelchair is next to impossible. The lady at the register didn’t know anything about the equipment. It is definitely worth the drive to go somewhere else.

this place is burnt!

Brilliant

This guy is a rockstar at what he does. Great atmosphere to work in. Had my son with me during my session and he was blown away by the whole process. Look forward to working on future projects with this studio.

Loved being here and working with this studio! Since this was my first experience with an actual recording studio, I was unsure what to expect. I was immediately put at ease and the whole process was amazing! Just recording and listening and fixing anything I wasn’t satisfied with . . . Until we were thrilled with the final outcome. I’m definitely gong back and recording some more. The atmosphere is relaxed and supportive and so cozy. And the historic location is so cool. Check it out for sure!

Good customer service

First time in the shop today. Went in to grab some strings and ended up buying a new guitar!

The deal was so good that I didn’t even play it in the store. Snagged a pre owned (and flawless) Ibanez RG5 with a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gate at the bridge, a Hot Rail in the middle, and an EMG H4 at the neck for $250! There’s more than $250 in pickups on it!

Will absolutely be stopping in regularly to check out the inventory.

Always great… knowledgeable associates, the best musicians friendly music store and the best prices..

Really cool spot, found some really cool old gear…… owner doesn’t seem to want to part with any of it though.

Gotta catch the right people in.. but good little music store..

This store has a modest inventory with some great guitars in it. They are “priced at market” with almost no flexibility on pricing. The only issue I ran into was pricing guitars and amps at the high side of Reverb and Ebay regardless of condition. If the listings are $600 for sale online (but selling for $450 in mint condition) and Highland has a similar item in good condition but missing a knob or backplate, the Highland price will likely still be $550-$600. That said, the employee was nice and fairly knowledgeable when he had time for a quick question. Overall, a good place to check for 1-off and unique guitars but don’t expect a “steal” or to haggle. That just ain’t gonna happen here.

I guess they have some unique items which is cool but the folks behind the counter really seemed like they were annoyed to put their conversation on hold in order to help me and were also EXTREMELY condescending and pretentious. I’m a fairly experienced musician and these guys spoke to me as if I was completely ignorant and always would be.

Twice treated very rudely by staff. I’m over it.

About what you’d expect. Pretentious, unhelpful, and offended that you’d dare shop in their overpriced thrift store. But they’ve been in business forever and they ain’t changing.

Staff is great

Best experience, they are very hands on and help you for what you are looking for and figuring out what you are looking for if you have no clue about stringed instruments and wanting to start, I have been going to this shop for a while now and I can’t help but wonder what inspired this small group of people to carry out such a remarkable business carried down from father to son. This company, let me rephrase that, this family of people related or unrelated, have made a truly inspired mark on many people’s lives by touching them with the art of music.

They do amazing work, super friendly and helpful.

Friendly atmosphere and lots of instruments.

Good product, Good service.

I’ve never dealt with someone so rude over the phone. The owner tried to guilt me with sarcasm and acted like victim when I questioned a price. Full story: I asked to order a cello string. All was going well (owner answered questions about speed of shipping and availability of the string), but then he quoted a price ($81) that was far above what other shops charge. I said respectfully that “I’ve purchased the string for $45 at other walk-in shops” and he became sarcastic and argumentative with me, claiming he was “holding my hand” through the process, and said “Well, I have to pay $35 for this string so what do YOU think is fair for ME to make? $15? What is 35 + 15, huh? Ohhh, maybe $50 is more than you can afford?” A simple, “well this is my price” would have been fine as a response from him, but I felt disrespected so I hung up and decided I’m never going to spend a dime Homewood Musical Instrument Co. I advise everyone else to steer clear of this shop and the guy who owns it.

The staff are super knowledgeable and very friendly. They have a great selection of products.

Great customer service and I bought 2 trumpets from here and their perfect

Friendly atmosphere

This is an excellent music shop with any kind of music instrument or sheet music you might be looking for – whether student model or professional level instrument they have it. Recommended

Good. place to shop for all your. music. needs.

Friendly & knowledgeable but took longer than expected to get instrument serviced. I was told would be called the next day with estimate, & it was 3 days before I received the call. I told them I had to get instrument back by a specific date for a performance, he said “not a problem”, I was calling them to get it back 4 days before performance, & was able to pick it up the day before it. They kept it for a month, & I was never able to speak directly to guy doing service which was not cheap. Don’t be in a hurry when dealing with them!

BEWARE!!!!! ALL THEY WANT IS YOUR MONEY. My son was suppose to attend a camp. I rented the merchandise on May 31. Was told he would not be able to attend. Called the shop back June 2 explaining how he would not be able to attend. They would not let me speak with management. Took the merchandise back to the shop on June 3. The staff stated that I could not return unless I pay the minimum rental fee of 4 months before I returned. The instrument was never used or open. Brought back in 4 days and still received poor service. I will not be referring this music shop to any parents. Now I’m out of thousands of dollars and my child hasn’t even touched the instrument.

No se los recomiendo, es mejor comprar en online

Be a good place for a music shop that sales and buy instruments but they can’t do anything but sale with out the manager so if u need to sale something don’t go here

I had an absolutely great experience in this huge, well-stocked store. Salesperson, Erskine, was awesome. No pressure, very helpful, patiently letting me try out one guitar after another to make sure I was happy with the amp.

I could have bought this on-line and had it shipped for free and saved $85 in taxes – but I felt the experience was worth paying a little more, and worth supporting a local (non-chain) business.

There are some negative reviews here. I’m sure with doing a lot of sales and service, someone won’t be happy. But I did not experience anything but great gear, and a helpful no-pressure salesman.

Bought two instruments here an epiphone Sheraton and a epiphone eb 3 and a fender rumble 40. They were very patient and worked out a great deal and didnt rush or push me. 10/10 definitely shop here again

Make sure you see Erskine. He will take great care of you.

It was my first time in the store and I had an excellent experience. David was very helpful and friendly as well as the other staff present. The online site lacks a lot of the guitars they have in stock because they get new guitars a lot so I would advise actually going into the store to see their wide selection.

Helpful and kind! Will be back to see them soon.

Usually get good service, but I took my guitar nut to be repaired after my guitar took a spill. I let them know the guitar had fallen and hoped they would fix. The nut was replaced poorly but the guitar had a buzz. Took it back 2 more times. The last visit, the person in charge of the repair (2 weeks later)said I had heavy fingers and raised the stings to a height that made the guitar unplayable. I took to another repair shop and they repaired the nut replaced by Bailey Brothers found a couple of uneven frets repaired the frets adjusted the neck and had to re-setup the guitar from the disaster repair at Bailey Brothers. If in need of repairs I will never return to this store.

Don’t answer the phone

This place is as good as, if not better than, Guitar Center. But this one man that works there is not the friendliest and makes me and my music buddy never wanna come again… I was gonna buy at least $20-$60 of stuff, and my buddy was gonna get his guitar worked on, but we decided against it after our experience today.
My friend and I were playing our guitars together at moderate volumes. No louder than the other customers that passed through. Our volume knobs probably were set around 1. This rude clerk guy came up to us and told us “turn it down, there are customers in here”. When there was maybe 1 other guy in the guitar room at most. What are we, trash? Are we not customers?
Though to be fair, there was a little kid who sat behind us who was louder than both of us combined, and he was tremolo picking the most random nonsensical annoying noise (future shredder?), but he should’ve told the kid to turn down—not us. We both turned our amps off because he was rude the last time we were in the store and we were pretty annoyed at this point. But the kid turned his amp down and continued the random picking and the dude immediately came back and said “hey, okay, turn it off, that’s enough for today” and took the guitar from the kid. The rudest music store clerk we’ve ever encountered. There’s another guy who is super nice that works there who let us turn the volume up—at least 2 or 3 times what we did today—and test every amp in the store. We bought a $2,000 setup from the nice guy in the past, but this rude guy would probably kick us out of the store before we could make a purchase. I didn’t catch his name, but he’s average height, blondish, his hair is thinning, and he had a short beard. A nicer worker told us he’s been there 3 years, though I’m not sure how he’s lasted that long. He’ll probably follow you around like you’re a thief and ask if he can help you 8 times like he did to us the last time we came in the store simply to buy a cable.

Recently brought a used instrument to these guys to be cleaned and conditioned. They charged $230 and I’m not really sure what they did beyond $40 worth of repairing. I even priced the individual parts myself and they cost a total of $23. The instrument was very dirty and they didn’t even do a good or complete job of wiping it down. We didn’t get any paperwork explicitly stating what they were going to do so we can’t really argue the point. The inside of the instrument wasn’t even touched during cleaning because there is obvious dust and grime that was there when we gave it to these guys.

We also bought a mouthpiece for the instrument, I previously priced it at $10 online and it was $35 at this place. An outrageous markup.

All of this was after agreeing to a monthly payment for an instrument only to be informed the day before it was needed that they didn’t have any in stock so we had to scramble to find a different option. Because of this, they also didn’t send us a cleaning kit for the instrument that had been fully paid for.

I will be looking for another place for any other instrument needs.

I’ve used Buddy to tune our Grand piano for the last 5 years. He always shows up when he says and does a great job of keeping our piano purring along. My father in law who used to own a piano store where he taught piano, sold, and tuned pianos always comments on how nice our piano operates after Buddy works his magic. Highly recommended.

Love this place and the people!

Wonderful people, honest

Former employee. Buddy had us perform maintenance and installations before quoting the price in order to stick clients with an inflated bill. Treated customers and employees with disrespect. Schiesty.

Paid over 3K(in advance)for repairs after a small house fire. All they did was move the piano from my house to their shop and back. What a crook.

I would encourage anyone who is considering using or currently using Buddy to read his Glassdoor review page. You’ll be able to read firsthand testimony about how cruel Buddy is.

Good people, very nice environment, and great prices!

Trusted these guys with a set up on my ‘87 Martin j40m. The action was a little high for what I like in an acoustic. They lowered the action to the absolute perfect height. No string rattle and made it so much easier on my fingers. They even cleaned it up for me and got it looking amazing for a 35 year old guitar. If you have an expensive guitar, you can trust them to take care of it.

Awesome folks, and a nice guitar selection. First time in the store but they really made me feel like family. Go here. Buy stuff.

Great people and fair prices. Support your local music store!

Nice people. Nice selection of guitars and gear. They have a lot of strings to choose from.

Friendly staff they have a few harmonicas

Accused me of taking out a screw, when all I asked was for the value of what it would cost to fix that. I fixed it myself 16$ out of my own pocket for a new screw, set of strings, and labor on my workbench at home. I thought about going to small claims court, for not selling me a guitar in the condition they claimed on reverb. I’d been looking for this guitar for a while, I didn’t want to just return it. I just wanted it in the condition that I saw it in and felt insulted when they instantly made me out to be at fault even after sending pictures moments after receiving it from UPS and to top it off I even have video of when I first opened it on the CCTV at work. Overall poor online experience.

I bought a guitar for $2,875 from this shop online and they listed it as mint condition. I had to take it to a local luthier to have the frets polished because they were so dirty the guitar was unplayable. The shop refused to even split the cost ($50), wow! Incredible.

I will never set foot in this place again. Not that they will care. Thought I would give it another chance after several years. Nothing has changed so now I know for sure.

Great music lessons

Learn how to play .

Excellent store and music school very nice people and they are very helpful with what you need.

Great place nice thing nice people

Very friendly and helpful

Super awesome people that works there

Friendly folks,great selection of musical needs

Everyone here is Awesome! Friendly service. Great conversation!

Website gave all the info I was looking for before I plan on go to the store

Nice folks that always helpful.

Great place all around. Awesome atmosphere, great stock, and the coolest manager and product specialists I’ve met. If I could I would put a sleeping bag in the corner and never leave!!!

A great shopping experience. I will definitely go back. I recommend The Fret Shop.

The owner was so kind and generous. Helped me with a guitar I’d been having some problems with and repaired it with care. It’s rare to find service like I received here. Super grateful for his help today.

This place don’t let you rock the hell out like I do so I feel unwelcome and very bored! Just let people rock out

So if you are reading these I bet you see the polarity of the reviews. People seem to love it or hate it. The difference is who you deal with there. I’ve always seen 3 guys and one young lady. There is a big guy with a goatee who isn’t friendly at all and you can tell he gets annoyed if you play with an instrument. Then there is a pretty generic looking guy that does most of the repair work. He is the embodiment of the a*hole guitar shop/ comic book store type guy. You’re beneath him and he makes sure you know it. If you can get past these two the young lady is very nice, and I’ve seen her make women more comfortable in what is usually a very male atmosphere. She also seems to know most of the store’s products equally so if you are looking for a dulcimer ask her. The last guy is the only reason I still shop there. Tall, skinny dude with a Rock a Billy haorcut. Hands down one of the nicest people I have ever met in a store. He could not care less if you came in there without a dollar to your name or a single chord to play. He loves music and wants to spread that around. If anyone there had the skill to warrant being haughty it would be him, but he is the last one there to do anything other than brighten your day. I take friends in there who have social anxiety etc. or are just nervous because they don’t play and he puts them right at ease. I would love to write this place off, but one great employee can make a difference. He doesn’t even know the difference he has made with some of my Army buddies that can barely handle being out of the house, but thanks to him there is one place they can go feel like a regular guy perusing a store. When my son is old enough he is who I want him to take lessons from. Truthfully he deserves a better place to work at.

Wide variety of stringed instruments. Helpful but not pushy staff. Only saw one acoustic\electric bass. Good deals to be found from a local business but do your research.

Had a warranty repair done on my sons telecaster relating to the neck pickup. After waiting for about 45 days for the new pickup to arrive from finder I picked up the guitar without testing it at the store. When I got home I plugged it in to find out that it had a major ground issue. The hum was so intense it seemed as though I was summoning lightening. I returned to the store agitated because it was clear it wasn’t even tested after the repair & $56 dollar setup. David assured me it was normal noise a telecaster makes. He said he had a custom shop telecaster that was even worse. However I played the guitar a lot before the part failed and it didn’t have any loud feedback or 60 hertz hum. (4 gen noiseless) After a lot of back and forth and him calling fender to tell them that the customer is complaining of normal noise. I took the guitar to guitar center and compared it to other noiseless telecasters and even a squire tele and it was obviously way way worse, unbearable! So I sent the guitar back to sweetwater (These guys are awesome) were it was purchased and the guitar tech there told me what the issue was. David at the fret shop had soldered an additional ground on the front pickup and that that solder joint had made contact with or caused interference with the coil wrappings. So it was replaced and now works as it should. Once again the guitar sounds beautiful and clean. I had to pay to have this repair done plus a new pickup along with shipping because it was the result of an improper modified solder failure that I didn’t approve or authorize. I can only assume David is dishonest or hard of hearing and also I’m sure he is the most unprofessional person to deal with. All the time wasted for a $30 part I could have easily replaced myself SMH I thought well it’s covered by warranty. lol.. I try to shop local because we all should but I’ll never spend another of my hard earned dollars here. I was taking lessons here as well, the rooms upstairs are kind of musty smelling just FYI.

Yes of course I am leaving the review for the appropriate business! It is my sons guitar that his mother and I bought for him. 2018 MIM Telecaster thin line deluxe. It was repaired under his name so it wouldn’t cause confusion if he needed some other warranty work done in the future also the registration & the warranty card is in his name. FYI
I’m obviously wrong about your guitar techs name but it was the same guy that has done work on my guitars, my girlfriends guitars and my sons guitars. To my knowledge he is the only tech you have or had at that time.
I took a video of the unbelievable sound that it was making, I have the part that was causing it, I have documentation from the technician at Sweetwater that repaired it and I will be happy to share that with you if you actually care. I prefer and try to support local business but I will not be treated the way I was or lied to period! That guy (whatever his name is) has 0 credibility with me. One bad apple. Everyone else was very pleasant and Andy is awesome, its unfortunate.

The white wire is not factory and was not otherized. The solder has made contact with the coil and or melted the insulation on the factory wires. It literally sounded like it was summoning lightning. Instead of saying oops and fixing it he tried to convince me it was normal. The whole experience was remarkable!

Too lazy to walk over and see if they had an amp I wanted to buy. It waa easier for me to drive an hour to look.

I won’t shop there anymore. I needed a small screw for a PRS truss rod cover and the luthier wouldn’t even take the time to speak to the young man helping me, or look through his box of old screws to help. Bad customer service.

I’ve always tried to buy from The Fret Shop vs. Guitar Center and have often made purchases there. Including a Martin guitar. Good thing he stays in the back. He cost the store future sales, with his attitude.

Great service and great deals!!!

Been in there a few times for minor flute issues and they are so helpful and polite

Friendly service. Quick turn around on the instrument repair I had.

Nice and very helpful

Its good service very pricey though

My family and I were so excited to purchase our first digital piano and the experience of buying it at Ellis just contributed to that. David, our sales rep, asked us some simple questions about our playing experience and goals and helped us find a great entry-level piano that suits our needs. We’re really pleased with our purchase and will return when we’re ready to upgrade!

I spoke in-depth with David Ellis about a Yamaha grand piano and he was very knowledgeable and extremely honest. He gave me so much of his time. I truly valued his opinion and would highly recommend Ellis Piano!

It’s a family owned business great place we just went in there just to kind of look and see what we were wanting to we’re wanting to get and the gentleman there which is one of the Owner’s sons was very helpful don’t push anything on anybody and and told us the difference between the latter again the other pianos there

my experience was questionable. they decide who they want …

Nice, helpful staff

The staff was friendly, and they have tons of pianos and other equipment to choose from. The space is enormous, and is fun to just browse. They also do repairs. Call or stop by for any musical needs. Would go again.

Great place to learn music and art’s

A wonderful little theater. And a wonderful night with friends.

Love this place. Our Visual Arts meetings are here and there is always a variety of classes going on.

Good work.

Brandon is a wealth of knowledge. The customer service you get from him and the team at Art’s cannot be matched at the big box music stores.

Great helpful staff.

Not a happy place , they hardly acknowledge your presence. Put a guitar on layaway and the girl behind the counter was extremely rude when I came in to make a payment, I forgot they charge 15.00 if you want to use a card and I said sounds like it a tax scam . She said I didn’t have to come there, my layaway is Seven hundred dollars, maybe a little respect would go a long way. Last purchase I’ll make with these people.
Update : okay I went back today and my experience was much better.
I definitely over reacted on my last visit, I still feel a little slighted by the girl saying I didn’t have to come there.
That said Art’s is a fine store .

Good place to buy musical instruments.

The level of customer service you receive really depends on who you speak to at the company. Some do not understand customer service while others go above and beyond to help you out.

I will never do any business with this place again I have had enough

Very nice store but wasn’t able to find what I needed

Completely ridiculous prices for violin strings! The only reason they’re getting two stars is because they weren’t rude about it. $100 for a set of dominants.

Johnson String Instruments sells custom sets of dominant A, D, and G with your choice of e for $76.

Amazon charges $54 for a set of dominants. About half of what Art’s was asking.

I was traveling and wanted a spare set of strings in case one on my instrument broke- I decided to just risk it. Do you people have any respect for working professional musicians or are you just trying to extract as much money as possible from witless amateurs and students who come to your shop?? Shame on you.

Awesome

Kool-aid

Not busy and clean store

Same as all the rest

Great place for your needs

Store was clean, well stocked, and employees were very pleasant

Im disappointed in Oneonta Wal-Mart. Seems bcuz its in a small town with little competition consumers have to deal with low stock, no stock at all and many product’s I’ve bought before are no longer sold here. I wish it were set up like majority of supercenters; the paper products in the grocery section. The womens apparel is improving but still could use more of it. I just have always thought we got a bad deal with this supercenter.

f Wal-Mart.

It was horrible looked like the store was going out of biss.shelves were about empty.or all most .

Very professional and ha well made products, usually always in stock for most all needs.

Any instment you need they have

Always helpful staff

Needed something for last minute on a Saturday for my sound system. That rented to me without any hassle about me being from out of state.

Nice place

Good place

Less than fair.

Great music store. Very helpful and friendly staff

Wish this was still true.. horrible experience recently when attempting to purchase a expensive acoustic guitar. 6/27/22 Went back to make a 2k+ purchase and was informed that I was given the wrong price by a salesman 2 days before. They tried to give other options but not enough to compensate for what was told to me. Very disappointed in a music store I’ve been loyal to for years.

No good