Premium music shops of Comuna Dumbrăveni: Our Top-20 selection

Great honest shop here. Had a great online interaction with Dave via email. Want to know why I trust them? Because they talked me out of a purchase. Ha! Thanks again!

Woodbury Music is the best shop around of all of your instrument needs! The shop owner Dave, is both friendly & knowledgeable! I have gotten both common things done (fixing of saxophone keys) as well as unusual things done (fixing of a dulcimer bridge) and everyone has always been great! I have also taken lessons for almost three years now, and my teacher Mike is not only a dedicated teacher, but also a very talented professional. Stop by and check it out!

A hidden gem UPSTAIRS. Don’t miss it. Dave the owner is great, and talented. Patrick Gill is the PREMIER guitar TECH in the whole northwest CT region. He works miracles at a very fair price. Excellent teachers, Will for piano and keyboards and Mike for guitar and bass. Better check them out. I only trust my guitars to Dave and Patrick. Won’t go anywhere else. Seriously.

Great store.
Many guitars at really affordable prices
Nice friendly atmosphere

The owners are so kind and know what their doing.

My son takes lessons, we love it here.

Awesome guys , Frank and Sam

This place broke my guitar and tried to say it was already broken when I brought it in. poor customer service!!Ipaid them to break my guitar basically.i wouldn’t recommend anyone to go there.i couldnt even get an apology. I would recommend going anywhere but there.dont have them fix your instruments. They sell knockoff used guitars,definitely not like other places I’ve been to.its like going to a used junk tag sale.very unprofessional.go to George’s music,or the music shop in torrington where you can expect quality workmanship and honesty.

Horrible attitude over priced gear

Absolutely horrible customer service

I’ve been utilizing Westbury music for rentals or over 10 years. They are knowledgeable, helpful and friendly. They are no more costly than any other instrument rental company around. They have always been there to suggest options for my children and their interests.

Honest people work here and they do a good job repairing or maintaining gear. Inexpensive as well.

Amazing service! I went in with my acoustic guitar to get restrung after I tried it myself and failed. They were able to find out what was wrong with the guitar and fix it and get it re strung very quickly and very inexpensive!

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!

Staff is very friendly and knowledgable.

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

We have had nothing but an amazing experience with Greenwich Music. We have used their services for: purchasing music and various instruments, repair and maintenance of instruments, restringing and providing years of wonderful flute lessons with Andrew. His teaching took my daughter’s flute playing to several years above her grade level. Joe, the owner, treats everyone as family and even hosts music recitals for the kids in the store. If he doesn’t have something in the store, he quickly locates it and takes care of your request. As a regular customer
for about a decade, I highly recommend them.

A great store!

Amazing shop to work with. Ordered an Epiphone from Greenwich, not the most expensive instrument. FedEx had issues with delivery. Despite this not being a high ticket item, Joe worked with me for over a week to make sure I was taken care of and the guitar was delivered. Great experience, great communication, and a great shop.

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.

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…

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.

I have been doing business with Bethel Music for over 30 years and would use no one else. Bruce, the owner, and lead repairman has integrity, honesty and skill. He is fair and compassionate to young musicians and knowledgeable enough to service the needs of seasoned professional Musicians.

Staff is excellent! Highly recommend!!

This place is great! It is well run with a staff that cares about delivering a great customer experience. I’m very impressed!

Instrument rentals are great for their prices

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

Good info from employees

Nice music store in Monroe, we bought a cute ukulele here!

The older guy really helped me with my guitar! He was so nice!

Awesome staff and great deals! No surprise they have 5 stars!!!

Scheduled a guitar lesson here, spent $45, arrived on time, the teacher I was assigned to never showed up. At least they were nice enough to give me my money back the next day.

Rude. Terrible service. man had no knowlege of his products and prices were too high

I just went to this store with my violin wanting the sound post set and to re-hair my bow. When I walked in there were two ladies at the counter. As I opened my case asking the the lady in the white turtle neck with straight brown hair if they re-hair bows? She snapped that they didn’t. The nice girl next to her chimed in as said out loud “She re-hairs bows?” Then the other lady gave a look and said I would need to buy a new one! She then picked up my violin and started to point out things about my only violin that were not good enough for her to re-set my sound post! I then asked “How much to just re-set the sound post?” She refused me service and said “Good Luck!” AVOID THIS PLACE IF YOU CAN! I think I didn’t fit the “type” they prefer to give services to?

Came in with a strange on instrument, and they were very helpful

Very happy with the level of customer service provided by Don and Joe at Musical Expressions. They were both instrumental in getting my daughter started. Equipment, instructors comfort and ease of what to do and next all very very helpful. The customers who stop in during my daughter lessons seem to be “ part of the family “ all encouraging and friendly. If your in need of a music shop or considering learning a new instrument, definitely worth a visit.

Very good

Very nice small music shop. I went to purchase a drum throne and received excellent customer service. I believe the gentleman’s name is Scott? He was very pleasant. I will definitely shop there again.

I’ve been doing business with Scott at the music shop for years, he knows about the needs of musicians and great on any repairs or just info on your current instrument. Will hopefully be doing many more years here.

My kids have been going to The Music Shop for 8 years and their experience has been flawless. The ownership and instructors are very professional. The instructors personalize each lesson to keep the kids engaged in wanting to learn and practice on their own. There is no other place to go, stop here.

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.

Knowledgeable & helpful staff (Jordan W.)

Great space. The employees were helpful and cheerful for the entire appointment. They all are enthusiastic about their jobs, and it really makes the experience a positive one. 10/10 would recommend.

Es una tienda con muchos productos musicales y de una gran variedad de instrumentos la recomiendo

The staff is what makes this place great! Billy, the manager, is a class act who goes out of his way for his fellow musicians

Over priced, but they have the essentials.

The people there are very polite and friendly, you can ask questions and they let you try the instrument without annoying you trying to sell.

I was considering buying a guitar, bass and an interface. I was completely ignored by all employees while I was one of three customers in the store(a pair of young men who were clearly there to buy were also ignored). Not even a greeting or goodbye. Find a mom and pop, or even a pawn shop. Don’t support these miserable people. They have a terrible selection, high prices, they profile and are miserable people to be near. I could have bought but wanted nothing to do with them after finally procuring the ‘attention’ of someone for a fleeting moment. I won’t be back.

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.

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

Jon is not only a very knowledgeable and reasonably priced expert, but he is very responsive and always exceeds expectations with respect to getting repairs done. I just went to see him the other day to get a key fixed on my bassoon. Not only did he do it while I waited, but he also oiled it and basically did a full servicing on it because he saw it had not been done in a while! I would highly recommend going here for your instrument needs!

Took my early 2000s Buffet clarinet to John. He repadded it with Gortex pads and made several adjustments. Truly, it plays better than any clarinet I’ve had. I’m pretty excited to have my horn back. It’s like a new horn which has already been broken in. I’m so very happy.

Top notch repair facility! Will be returning!

I can’t say enough about this place, it really is much, much more than your average music shop.
Owners Sanna and Patrick are kind, thoughtful and very customer focused. I purchased a beautiful Maton guitar and an AER amplifier there and also had Patrick do some work on my old Guild acoustic, and my experiences were extremely positive. Patrick took time with me and really understood what my goals were musically, and all his advice and recommendations were very useful. Sanna was also great, and always got back to me very promptly with any questions or concerns I had along the way.
Blue Bus also has a dedicated team of teachers that I also highly recommend, available to teach people of all skill levels.
They also have an “open mic” evening which has been put on hold because of the pandemic, but I know they want to resume it when things get better (which can’t happen fast enough).
It has been a real pleasure to support this local business, the individualized customer focus from them makes it so worthwhile.
Highly recommend!!

I bought a Maton guitar from Blue Bus. Excellent service, excellent product. I am highly satisfied and will go back to them for my future purchases.

I bought a Maton Mini from Blue Bus – great service, price and product. Will definitely go back to them again!

Nice looking small shop with an interesting selection of off brand guitars. I always like when the smaller shops aren’t afraid to stock higher end gear. The selection of acoustic guitars especially. The pedal section could use some fleshing out.

Bought a Maton guitar ….. company doesn’t have a clue on how to set a guitar up….. I have purchased no less then 50 guitars been playing for 50 years…. this company shouldn’t be allowed to sell guitars much less Maton .

Needed one string for my son violin rental. The lady was trying to sell me on a pack of strings that I do not need.

Highly recommend for instrument repairs. Staff was knowledgeable and helpful. Got my sax playing like new again for a very reasonable price in 4 days. I will be back here.

Great service – they fixed my instrument while I waited, gave clear instructions on follow up care, and I was all set for my gig that night.

Great service, Matt and Jim and the rest of the crew there are wonderful.

The sales team made it possible for me to afford a piano for my son

I paid $80 for a setup on a guitar and got it back with the strings a mile off of the neck and the floyd rose studs so high out of the body I could park a car under it. The bridge pickup was raised until it was practically touching the strings and the neck pickup was lowered to below the pickup ring. The tech then told me that 10-52 strings don’t exist. They’re light top heavy bottom and aren’t even uncommon strings. Every time I go there they give bad advice and clearly don’t know what they’re talking about. My friend tried to buy a tubescreamer (basic overdrive) and they tried to sell him a phaser instead (completely different thing).

I would give Middlesex Music Academy a 0 if I was able to. I called to inquire about a $150 charge when I haven‘t been confirmed by John the guitar teacher. I made a request to Matt that Tuesday was my preference but John was booked so he scheduled Thursday at 6pm. I received a text and email from John yesterday that he had a conflict for Thursday and offered Friday. I responded via text/email that would not work and inquired if this was temporary or permanent to which I did not receive a response. I let John know this may not be a good fit then. I called today to have the charge refunded and Jim proceeded to call me names, saying I was yelling & screaming over the phone and I was being rude. No need to go into the dramatics but Jim needs a lesson in manners, telling the truth and understanding that being a manager does not give him the authority to behave poorly. Never once did I raise my voice but did correct Jim several times throughout the conversation all because i asked for a refund. Extremely unprofessional and a bad look for Middlesex Music all around. I will be taking my business elsewhere. Inexcusable & theater worthy performance by Jim today folks!!!

I signed up for a piano lesson trial online. Their site is very confusing and it’s not clear if the lesson is in-person and online. I called them, left a message but they never called me back. In the day/time of the lesson, I called them 3 times because I was having problems to contact the teacher. The guy who works there, Jim, clearly doesn’t have any customer service skills. He was rude and unpleasant. He didn’t make any effort to help me, told me a was confused and nobody else had problems. I just canceled the future lessons there. It’s easier just hire a private piano teacher. Hopefully I will never have to deal with this guy again.

They help me every time I come in and they are so kind.

Customer Service. Period. Chris, Alex & staff are dedicated and attentive. Prefer this place to others because of personal feel/vibe. They are knowledgeable and not forceful. Great stuff here.

Quality store, professional staff, and especially helpful with younger students. Good programs for renting instruments, and they host lessons as well.

Yeah it’s good!

Limited retail space, but the staff is helpful and knowledgeable. Music lessons are offered on site.

I have condensed my original rant down to the following- we really like our children’s teachers- but the front desk needs saving

Unprofessional!!! I scheduled for 2 week straight for an hour due to the teacher not showing up and the second week they say no she is not on the Schedule and I need to reschedule. My daughter was already there and now has to wait for half an hour to do her regular 1/2 hour session.

When ever I place an order for a left handed Guitar it takes like 6 weeks for it to get to me horrible ordering process

Absolutely horrible service by the staff. Our son took lessons for two years and store failed to call when teacher couldn’t make it to lesson and even refused to acknowledge that his instrument had been returned when it was sitting in front of them. Sadly, these small shops are disappearing and so it is hard to walk away from one but the staff and management is really just that bad.

A refreshing ,fun atmosphere.
Mary and Mark are professional caring proprietors.
You won’t be disappointed.

Our five grandchildren have been part of the wonderful musical experience at The Music Center of North Haven. It is a life changing program for us and a chance for them to grow individually and as a group as they play together. Their teachers are incredible, very talented, patient and professional. It is an investment in our youth which is very much needed. They can learn responsibility, a sense of accomplishment in achieving goals, positivity, accountability, confidence, commitment, work ethic, creativity, morale, overall uplifting and safe experience. They perform in concerts and in front of other audiences, which enhances self esteem. They also perform for friends and family and enjoy doing it. Everyone should check out the variety of musical programs offered at the center. Owners Mark and Mary are great, as is the entire staff. Just a little note from the Miller Family.

I walked into the store on a mission to see if any ukulele sheet music was there, to give to a friend of mine. I walked out with a brand new LUNA acoustical guitar.
Jared (?) at the register gave me much advice. Part of the purchase was a sort of “tune up” given by the owner. The owner was not there on the day of purchase but gladly accommodated me a few days later. He tweaked the neck a little which gave the guitar some unbelievable action.
Nothing but great service at this place!

Super friendly and knowledgeable staff.

Great place. Definitely stop in.

First experience here, but guy greeted me immediately and helped me pick out a capo. Nice feature to have a cafe inside.

UPDATE: To clarify, the small bag of “trash” was a small bag of shirts and pants that were out grown and not trash which the owner stated several times and now denies. He also forgets that I was sitting there in my car for several minutes trying to figure out what the poorly sprayed wording actually stated or if it was just covering up something and i even took out the clothes in the bag and showed it to him but he didn’t care and continued to argue with me. Again, I had donated to this location before it was deemed abandoned and was accused repeatedly to get my trash out of there. I did go down the street and donated the clothes to Goodwill. The issue I have is how the owner handled the situation and the accusations that were thrown at me even when confronted with the proof that they were wrong and I was clearly trying to donate a small amount of clothes and left when asked. Move this very prominent former donation bin to the back our your lot or put a proper sign up, chain close the handle or just politely tell someone its closed.

This music center used to have a clothing donation bin out front which I have donated to many times before. It has since been painted over with illegible spray paint saying bin closed. I was standing by the bin trying to figure out what the writing said and employee came out and screamed at me to take my trash somewhere else and was extremely rude shouting at me like I was doing something illegal. He told me to bring my trash to Goodwill. Would never bring my kids here for their music needs with staff like this.

I came in for my introductory ukulele lesson. The place was a mess. The chair I was told to sit on had metal pieces sticking out the side. The AC was not on. The instructor informed me he had been playing uke for about 3 years. I was charged $50 and it was the biggest waste of money. I was highly disappointed.

Guitar tech could not look at my guitar because he busy making egg sandwiches.

Giuliano’s Music Store is truly a gift to this community.
From purchasing an instrument or having your prized guitar repaired or set up to perfection, Bobby has you covered with care and detail.

Always friendly and courteous. I have never had a bad experience and refer everyone to them!

Awesome little shop. My favorite bass hadn’t had a proper set up in 14 years. I dropped it off with Bobby and he worked his magic on it. It plays better than it did when I first bought it. Definitely my go-to place for instrument repairs now.

Good service, very nice staff and management!

I went needing a pack of guitar strings to find out that they were closed. Their hours online say 12-4 on Saturday. Their door said the same. Lights off no one answered the phone. The time I went you ask? 3:25. EDIT:I have since gone back and they have been very nice and kind. Which has let me to update my rating.

Everyone was insanely helpful from who I spoke to on the phone for customer support, to the guy that helped me out when I came to pick up the amp in store. Giuliano’s Music takes care of its customers. Will definitely be returning for anything else I need in the future.

I brought in a brand-new Jazzmaster to have it set up with some strap locks installed and a tiny spot in the finish buffed out. I dropped the guitar off at noon and Rick told me I’d get it back later that day. 2 hours later he calls and I picked it up on my way home. It’s set up excellently and I’m happy as heck to play this thing now. I would highly recommend the Guitar Hangar for general guitar needs, and of course their selection of guitars is fancy!

Awesome place with excellent and knowledgeable assistance from Rick. Have known him and bought and sold guitars through Rick for 20 years. Very highly recommended.

The salesperson there was incredible. He helped me look at guitars. Was incredibly knowledgeable and really encouraging. Highly recommend

Make sure that you buy your merchandise from inside the store !! Do not get it from EBAY because you will end up with trash..

Horrible service the owner ignored me when I asked to play

owner is arrogant. store is filthy. selection is limited. looks like the music section of a pawn shop.

I’m in a student rock band – fun!

My 10 year old daughter had been taking piano lessons previously with a very traditional teacher and was losing the fun I the music. We switched over to Amity Music and she is loving playing again. She has fun, working on a mix of classical and current music of stuff she hears on the radio. Her teacher even had her play piano while he accompanied her on drums so she could hear her music in context of a band. Great learning experience!

I’ve been taking guitar at Amity Music for four years and it’s a very cordial place. It’s much better than any other place i’ve ever gone to.

In general, I was very impressed with the quality of service that I received from this institution. I want to highlight the two instructors that I worked with, Marcus- piano instructor and Paul- guitar instructor. Thank you so much!

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+

People are passionate there ! I really enjoyed my time at this place ! Thanks again and I’ll be back soon for sure !

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Johnny’s is a gem. He has an incredibly deep collection of music and if you have the time to do a little digging, Johnny’s is the place to go.

Lots of albums CDs and things to look at ..

I was there for my first time today for Record Store Day and it was great! I found something unexpected.

Lot’s of new vinyl, but if you’re willing to dig you can find some absolute gems cheap. Found some OMD, Ultravox, Gary Numan, Visage, China Crisis and the first few Squeeze albums one afternoon. All were in great shape and around $5 an album, but I had to crawl around on the floor for an hour digging to find them as the were buried under a rack of tshirts.

Another time I found a bunch of classic rock all in good to very good condition for $3 to $5 each. Got home and one record was too warped to play, but it wasn’t worth going all the way back for a $5 record so I let it slide. Just make sure to check your vinyl before leaving. Partially my fault.

They don’t accept $100 bills so one day I was waiting for a BTC transfer into my account and wanted to pay cash. All I had was a couple $100 bills and the total for my albums was $160. Had to go down to the bank on the corner, break them and come back. So be aware. Otherwise great music store! Just be ready to crawl around and dig if looking for older stuff.

Great selection. Johnny will always talk with you about anything you’re interested in.

This place; hands down, bar none has the best selection of concert posters I’ve ever seen in a retail store that I forgot to buy records.

They discriminate. Most rude behavior I’ve ever witnessed by a small business owner. I was absolutely thrilled to find a record store in my area and might have been a customer for years, but if you’re going to discriminate, perhaps a little less vitriol to the dad looking to buy his nephew a few old records for Christmas.

Excellent experience! Mr. Caruso treated us with exceptional care and went over and above with arranging for shipping! Absolutely love the Steinway B we purchased. Looking for another grand piano for a church near us that was hit by a tornado… Caruso’s is at the top of the list for my piano search.

Brittany at Caruso was excellent to work with. I bought a Yamaha U1 in Harbor Blue, it is absolutely gorgeous and sounds so smooth. I’d highly recommend Caruso for both quality and service.

After 3 hours of piano shopping and driving, I didn’t have any high expectations for the last place, but wow… I was so very wrong. Immediately after walking in, I could tell that it was going to be the place, mostly because of the great selection! They had a huge selection of Steinways, and some Kawai, but they had an enormous amount of Yamaha U1s and U3s. It was hard to find a Yamaha I didn’t like! Finally, with some help from the owners, we decided on a U1, but the price still blew us away; it was considerably less than any other U1s we had found all day! The service was great, and with the huge selection, I just loved Caruso Piano Gallery.

I went to their store and also called them multiple times showing interest in one of their pianos. Despite the fact I showed interest and called/messaged multiple times on a piano, that piano was sold to an online buyer. There was no follow-up or a courtesy call to let me know that the product I was eyeing was gone or was about to be sold.

Nevertheless, I think that they have a good variety and a great knowledge base on pianos. I wish they were a little bit more responsive and courteous as buying a piano is a big purchase and takes time and thought.

EDIT: After my initial review, Caruso Piano contacted me and let me know that they have not reached out to me due to not getting a piano that was comparable to what I was looking for. Which is understandable. I truly appreciate them reaching out to me. I have to write that I learned a whole lot about piano buying from them when I first went to their store. I wish them good luck and hope they continue to be successful as a local business.

UPDATE October 5 2018: Richard Caruso promptly called me the day after I posted the review below. He apologized again, and very willingly reimbursed me for my travel expenses. I feel this was the ethical and right thing to do, and am glad that he made things right with me.

Original review: I flew in from Chicago to try out a Steinway B I had on deposit. The staff knew of my travel plans, and were very hospitable and welcoming. The piano, however, was noticeably out of tune on my arrival. While more accomplished pianists might not have seen that as an issue, it completely stopped me from getting excited about the piano. No sale for them, no new Steinway for me.
They were apologetic and realized their mistake when I pointed this out, but were unable to get the piano tuned while I was there.
This is a shop with perhaps good intentions, but they completely dropped the ball in this instance. I’m writing this review because I don’t want this to happen to anyone else.

I purchased a used U1 3 years ago from Carusos.

Please be aware: these are GREY MARKET pianos. They were originally built and sold in the Asian market. You will have proof when you remove the knee board and see the holder for the lease agreement. And due to that fact, the wood of the pianos is dried to standards for Asia. Not the U.S. or Northeast U.S.

I do like the piano, BUT I and my piano technician are having a heck of a time keeping the damper pedal from squeaking BADLY.

I had the piano saver system installed almost immediately. It has helped the piano hold tune very well.

But because this instrument was not built to the specifications of an American instrument (or North America) it is expanding very badly from the humidity.

I have a dehumidifier in the room with the piano, no heat or doors or windows near it. And I have my technition here AGAIN trying to shave down the knee board to try and eliminate this terrible groan/squeek.

My opinion? Buy a piano through a local piano tuner/technition or through a referral from a tuner tech. If you are going to purchase one of these grey market instruments bring your tuner with you. Pay them for their time and have them tune the instrument you choose BEFORE you give Carusos your money.