Exclusive selection: The top 15 music shops of Durham

Very friendly,nice merchandise, somethings were expensive,some were well priced. Definitely recommend a stop to shop

Touch of Country is an amazing store with the most beautiful decor and furniture. The countryside paintings are my favorite!!! The owner goes above and beyond with customer service, helps with custom orders and has a great eye for the pieces she stocks in her store. Visit Touch of Country, you won’t be disappointed!!!

What a cute place!! The staff/owner was very welcoming, said hello to every customer, and offered help if needed. The store displays and themed areas are done really well. The Amish furniture area is spacious, and the pieces are beautiful & appropriately priced.

Refer to me now… bedbugs and furniture bad bad!!!! SMELL COTTON IN MY SLEEP HONEY!!!!

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.

I had a great experience at JC Music approximately 1 month ago. I purchased an acoustic guitar for a very good price , which I am extremely pleased with. The salesman was quite helpful, and took alot of time with me explaining many of different things and answering all my questions.
In addition, I mentioned I had a mini-acoustic guitar which I hardly ever played, and he told me about their Consignment program. Well, fast forward…they just sent me a check for 60% of the sales price they were able to sell it for.
I will always shop at JC Music as they are honest, friendly, have a nice selection of instruments, music, etc…. I would also consider taking lessons if I get the time.

JC Music is a great place for any musician to be! The staff is friendly, astute, and always ready to help. They have a wide selection of sheet music and quality instruments. The instructors are truly erudite and patient. I know because I take piano and percussion lessons there. My teachers are Brian Chrznowski and Paul Kamenitsky. I couldn’t be happier with my choice of instructors or music store! JC himself is a knowledgeable person. He knows a lot about music and is an outstanding conductor at the Augusta Curtis Concert Band to which I belong. JC Music is the unparalleled music studio!

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

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.

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

Been going to this store for over 20 years. Great service, friendly staff and they do the best repairs around. Scott is very knowledgeable and always takes the extra time to help you out. Prices are great as well. There’s a reason they are still around in a time of superstores and online shopping.

Brought in a trumpet with a stick mouth piece. They were very nice and were able to remove the mouth piece quickly. Great customer service!

Used to go to guitar center all the time till one day the worker wasn’t there, gave a chance over here and wasn’t disappointed! Gave me help on my Billie joe Armstrong replica by installing a new neck and saddles and I have to say this has to be the best set up I’ve ever played, I feel like I’m playing a custom shop on a squier! Such great help, friendly faces and now my go to for setups and help! Have a custom Strat there being worked on and I can’t tell you how tired there gonna get of me bringing in guitar after guitar to get setup in my collection one comes back to me and I give them another the same visit haha, thank you Scott, Jackson and Tyler!! Feels like a family and not business and that’s the best type!

– Michael

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.

I purchased an Eastman E10D acoustic here. Jad them install a K&K pickup as well. Great service, great folks, great shop!

I had one of the most positive guitar store experiences anywhere at Acoustic Music.

I called ahead specifying the guitars I was interested in checking out, arrived with them all ready to go in a dedicated room to play them in. No straining to hear the guitar over other players, no need to feel self-conscious, nobody hovering over me. Huge thanks to Ian for being super helpful, friendly and making it a great experience!

Great staff! Walked out with the best guitar I’ve ever played (let alone owned)

Had a guitar cable when I needed it.

Thé Owners are lousy business

Not many mandolins

No prices listed

Brought an old ‘66 Fender in and they took 40 years off it over the weekend. My jaw is still on the ground in amazement.

Great place to learn how to play, excellent repair shop, and good prices on gear. Can’t ask for a better independently owned music shop.

I had a last-minute emergency repair needed for my flute right before a performance, and the staff at Middlesex Music Academy were all so kind and helpful. They fixed my flute in record time, and walked me through the whole process with the highest of professionalism. Thank you so much!

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

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.

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 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).

We’ve been going to the Music Center for years, and the owners are consistently great people. They also have incredibly trained and talented teachers.

The staff is helpful and friendly. So different to the place near by.

What an amazing place. My daughter takes voice lessons with Lia, who knows how to connect with her students and keep them engaged and interested in learning. Owners Mark and Mary will quickly make you feel at home in this family-oriented environment. We just completed our first Music Fest, which was a wonderful experience. Not like your typical recitals; very laid back, informal atmosphere which focuses on the children and their talent. We left with such a feeling of pride at seeing our daughter perform and witnessing first hand her growth in such a short period of time. We are very excited about continuing our journey with Music Center of North Haven and look forward to what’s to come!

Great place to get music!!

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

Great instructors. Great atmosphere.

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.

This is a review for the musical forest cafe. I wish I could have enjoyed the food at this place, but this business is a mess. I came here a month ago on a Tuesday and they were closed out of the blue, so they granted me a 10% discount coupon for my trouble. I decided to give this place a try once again today so I called in advanced, but no one picked up the phone. I then googled their hours and noticed it said they opened at noon (I tried calling at 11:00 a.m.) but that they were opened today. To be completely sure about that, I checked their facebook page that stated, in fact, that they were open. When I arrived to the restaurant the owner greated me and stated that they have been closing on Fridays for the past 9 months and that I should have checked their facebook page prior to coming in here (REALLY?!). After explaining to him that I DID checked facebook he apologized and said he will change the facebook hours for his restaurant and offered to give me another discount coupon. I didn’t even bothered to take the coupon and left very disappointed by the lack of reliability and professionalism of this place and won’t ever be coming back. Places like this just reinforced my belief that going out of business is a conscious effort and wouldn’t be surprised if this happened to this cafe in the near future.

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.

That was likely the most pleasant guitar buying experience I have ever had. I could not recommend patronizing this amazing store more. Thank you so much!!

Finally got to visit after doing some business over the phone 18 years ago with Pete. Great inventory, selection and people. One of the very best examples of why we need to support local businesses and how great a family can run them!

Fantastic service, fast shipping, and competitive pricing.

Great service

Love this place everyone is so friendly and so welcoming

Love it! Take my daughter to a nature based playgroup here. The teacher is amazing!

Professional.and relaxing!

An interesting place for rocks (Crystal’s, gems, and just plain interesting ones), a Salt Cave (a nice room to just sit in and enjoy the minerald) and several other naturopathy oriented small businesses. (I’m not into it so I can’t judge that side of things but I spent some time just appreciating the stones and bought a little pink gem in the shape of a heart fir my wife.)

What are the hours? Would love to stop in when you’re open.

Hello James louchen looking band together starting my own band made last add more songs looking music musicians each position play. Dums led ELC getdr keebord 3 Man two ladies like at one more bongls need your help changes this band songwriter add more purduers equipment management upgrade my dumset songwriter band manager back up singersEffects sounds E Yvet all call

Keith has has done maintenance on my flutes several times and at a reasonable cost. Now all my flutes play much better. He is a flute player himself and very personable. I’m grateful for him and the lovely music shop.

Super nice owner. Shared his knowledge about local music scene and programs. I am coming back!!!

We wanted the Roxy Pink PRS Silver Sky and George’s was the only store around that had it.

Pro audio at it’s finest. If you need gear or tech work for your gig, give George’s a call.

I had a good experience here. They let me try allot of the guitars out and didn’t make me feel uncomfortable. I’ve been rushed in other music shops, but they let me take my time here. I felt at ease. I Ended up buying a Ibanez. Would recommend coming for beginner guitars and more expensive guitars. They have a little bit of everything.

Meh

Nice shop

If you’re not looking to go too far to get musical instruments. Look no further. Expensive though. But if you don’t care about prices, go for it. Not much of a selection though.

This place is just awful. The owner is so rude to us that i will never go back. We rented an instrument from him because our normal music store didnt have the instrument and when the instrument broke he said it was our fault and that it wasnt covered and then bad mouthed our local music store.

After going to this place; I must say I will never go back there again. The owner is so rude and disrespectful. Its not even funny. The owner needs get off his anthropocentric state of mind.

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!

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!

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.

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+

Every time my daughter needs her violin tuned this is the place to go. Chris was very nice and we were in and out of there in no time. Great service!!

The store team has been great!

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.

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.

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.

I bought a Yamaha U3 from Caruso Pianos last year and was very happy with the whole process. They were very easy to communicate with from start to finish. The piano had to be shipped across the country so I appreciated it being shipped for free to a local rail hub even if I had to pay for local delivery from there. I will definitely take advantage of the lifetime trade-in when it comes time to upgrade!

I couldn’t have asked for a better experience.

What an incredible purchase experience! Huge shout out to Richard and the rest of the team at Caruso Piano Gallery.

Before I purchased, I called with many questions about this piano that Richard took time to answer immediately. He provided knowledge and opinions when asked.

Once the piano was purchased, it arrived at my doorstep in about half of the time we discussed on the phone! The team that delivered was quick, professional, and thorough.

There was one minor issue in the piano when it arrived (squeaky sustain). Richard personally/quickly took time to make a video explaining how to fix it. A little WD-40 does the trick!

5/5 stars no question!

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 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.

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.

my husband has been getting guitar lessons here for years, since they were in katonah. the owners and instructors are wonderful and the prices are very reasonable, particularly if you buy a package.

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

Just bought a Maton BB1200JH from this wonderful place. Old school customer service in the best way.

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.

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.

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 .