Elverta: Overview of the top 12 music shops

Really friendly staff who go above and beyond to take care of you! Always the go-to place for any music needs or repairs!!

Knowledgeable friendly

Friendly staff let us take our time. Lots of selection and good prices. Lots of fun

Skip’s is a cool place to chill at. The service is good staff is grate.

Skip’s is the glue that has held the Sacramento music scene together for decades. They have a smaller inventory than Guitar Center, but if you’re looking for lessons, rentals, music programs, or knowledgeable staff, or if you just want to try the instruments without someone standing over you, this is still the place to go.

They didn’t charge me for restringing.

It saddens me to write this review.

As a retail store i have never had a problem tho i have not tried to return something to them.

As far as tech services go it’s an absolute joke.
Do not have them service your equipment.

Whats a guitar shop good for that can’t set up a Floyd rose guitar?
Absolutely nothing.
First time in came back un tunable and not even set up the locking nuts where not even tightened, fret buzz, whammy bar loose.

Brought it back said they could give me half the money back. I told Oscar to plug it in and play it, and charge me what he felt was right he refused.”That would have been the right thing to do” and explained his straw boss ness and how he didn’t have authority to give me more money back. Rather than loose 64 bucks for just having strings half assdly put on and given no other options. i decide to give them a chance to remedy it. Also no apology for wasting my time and insulting me w the poor quality and absolute lack of Q.C.

get it back again not tuned and mostly set up intonations in the ball park the guitar tech gets a snark $10 tuner from the guitar tech room? to check my intonation. The techs are using a $10 dollar tuner not a rack tuner or even a decent tuner.

I’d be happier if i had just flushed 128 bucks down the toilet.
Again zero apology for wasting my time and trying to give me back my guitar w/o finishing the work.

I wish i had read the reviews before bringing it in. i thought they where a reputable shop. If i hadn’t tried to have them repair something i could still shop there and like them.

First off, there are some very knowledgeable sales staff here. The lutheir does great work as well. The amp tech leaves something to be desired. I buy lots of guitars and amplifiers. I don’t like wasting money, I do my best at doing my homework before I purchase. I called and talked to the amp tech who first tells me he tries when I asked him if he was the tech. I tried to have a simple conversation about tube amp reliability issues. I wasn’t asking him to bash a company, just simply make some suggestions on some amps that he does not have to repair all the time. I also wanted to know if pcb’s are worth it repair wise or handwired. All I got was attitude and him pushing me to the sales department. You claim you are for local musicians, if we can not have a honest discussion before I once again blow another 1000 dollars or more for another amp, what’s the point in me coming to skips music for my needs? My money is accepted everywhere. I have many options. I like to support American businesses and local shops. This is the second time this business has waisted my time. I definitely did not deserve attitude. Since there is a lack of professionalism, I will not be back.

One star for my experience with Mike. Made me feel like I was inconveniencing him by asking simple questions. He was condescending when I asked about a guitar repair. He was also very dismissive. Thankfully the manager on duty Erik was amazing as well as the two gentleman at the front desk. Because of them I will be coming back to the store on a day when Mike is NOT working. 5/5 for those gentlemen. 0/5 for Mike.

Super helpful associates. Very relaxed, no pressure shopping experience!

It has amazing staff and a really great selection of guitars amp and alot more the staff are really helpful and can help find your sound

Friendly and helpful staff, got my guitar fixed while I walked and shopped around for used equipment.
They have at least a hundred Used Guitars on the wall. I purchased an amp for $139 that was originally 300. Awesome store.

good selection
dont really like the remodel
staff is kinda helpful. good prices

Ya no es lo mismo que antes muy pocos productos

Love the place. I just wish the staff was a bit more interested in helping customers.

Very disappointed with the shipping time.
I ordered a product that I needed by September 2nd, on August 25th. It took them ELEVEN whole days to simply create a SHIPPING LABEL, not to mention the actual transit time once the carrier picked up the item.
I called them multiple times throughout the ordeal, stating that I needed the item by September 2nd, and they kept insisting that I would get it on time.
Then the following Wednesday, after I noticed that they still hadn’t shipped it out, I called to once again ask them what’s going on, to which they replied, “oh don’t worry we’ll go ahead and ship it overnight service”.
Then Friday came, the day I NEEDED the item, and the shipment didn’t arrive.
The following week, I received a notification with a tracking number that said they had JUST created a shipping label, which meant they never made it when they said they would.
Why wait 12 days to ship the order?
Why tell me that I would get it on time if they aren’t even sure themselves?
Why tell me they’d ship it overnight for me, and not do it when they said they would?
If you need gear and you have a deadline approaching, I would not recommend getting it shipped from this Guitar Center store in particular. They will not care at all to make sure you get your gear at a reasonable time. I say this location in particular because another Guitar Center store shipped my products out promptly without issues.
You’ll probably be way safer getting it from other retailers, such as Sweetwater, a business I’ve never had an issue with and highly recommend.

Very slow. No customer service had a weight and hour and a 1/2 to get anything

All the amps were broken on the floor, spent 30 mins couldn’t get one to work. Tried to buy somethings couldn’t find anyone so I could pay.

They helped me to become a wonderful musician.

Has amazing lessons from really nice and good teachers. Also sells a variety of instruments

Dalton was extremely helpful and knowledgeable, and guided us well about our child’s trumpet. In general, we love the reasonable instrument rental cost and quality of the instruments.
Will recommend the store to others.

Friendly staff and very helpful.

I rented a used violin for my son from the shop. They said the price was $199. The rental was $35 per month. after two months if you want to own the violin then they said they would deduct the rental amount from the original price. But when we want to buy the used violin they said the price is $299 which is hell more than a new violin. So would recommend not to rent or buy anything from this store.

Excellent brass instruction

Lessons, instrument repair, sheet music! What more could you ask for?

Great store!!! Very helpful staff.

They are always helpful and gracious. I’m a guitar player, and for all the basics–strings, picks, capo, tuners–they’re the place.

Very good

Nice place. Came for info on integrating my digital piano

I was looking for advice on a item and maybe I wasn’t clear enough. But I felt rushed to make my decision.

Never shopping with Klines ever again! I live 3 hours away so I wanted to make sure Klines had 2 of the same pickups, so I called first and they said yes. I spent the gas, hours of driving only to learn they had one and he tried to sell me a more expensive pickup for the second. I told them I was not willing to pay the higher rate and instead of adjustable their cost they told me to go elsewhere… I did and from now on, I always will.

I do not recommend this place for music instrument repairs. The woodwind and brass repair person may have 20 years of experience, they unfortunately have 0 years of experience in customer service. To them, answering a customer’s questions for 5 minutes, is “a waste of their precious time” that could be spent making money on other repairs. No matter how skilled one may be, this does not excuse rude manners.

They were super friendly and helped us one on one. They let us test any instrument and gave us info and history on each one. We own a few ukes and this was the best time selection in the area. We highly recommend the strum shop!

The staff here are always very friendly and helpful!

Love this place. Super friendly and helpful staff.

Friendly, knowledgeable, helpful. Street parking is iffy. Rear parking and entrance is unmarked.

Cool

Had all manner of steering instruments, plus. Also they give music lessons for drums, violin, ukulele, plus more.

I originally came in to get a new nut cut for my Gibson SG. The repair took longer and cost more than originally advertised, and the repair man left several issues that I had to fix myself (buzzing on A and low E, new tuning problems due to roughness of nut slots, high action, used strings other than the ones I’d left for him and specifically asked for him to use). Fortunately, however, when I brought this up with the shop, out of the $50 that I was charged, I was refunded $40 labor cost. (Still on the hook for $10 though).

EDIT: The manager for the Strum Shop started hassling me over text message after I posted this review. LOL.

They lost my instrument and won’t return my calls. I brought an instrument in for repairs, they gave to their vendor, I talked with the vendor and he said it would be done in two weeks. After a month with no word I started calling, and they have ignored all messages I’ve left.

Went in and there was a class going on with 20+ people crammed into a tiny space, not one of them wearing a mask. Only one other person in the entire store had one on, none of the staff. Fully 1/3rd of Sac Co. is completely unvaccinated. I’m immune compromised [along with some 7,000,000 other American citizens] & disabled. The ABSOLUTE BARE MINIMUM of decency and community protection is apparently an outrageous expectation. They also had some absurd overpricing. I vastly prefer non-corporate local stores, but they can F right off if they’re not going to do even the simplest, most pitifully minor actions to do their part in not further spreading a wildly uncontrolled global pandemic that has killed nearly a million U.S. humans, and is far from over. Still averaging a quarter million cases a day, and over 2,000 deaths [more than any time since last winter, still]. They don’t even REQUEST that people wear some kind of face covering. Reprehensible madness, and unless this changes I will not support or recommend them to my musician friends. Please be better, nobody should be forced to exclude themselves from society JUST because of laziness or ignorance and non-measures that throw disabled folks under the bus.

Very knowledgeable staff that enjoy their work and truly like serving people. I came in for just a guitar pic and I am always so impressed with a great music store. Keep it up Nicholson’s!

Good store with polite staff.

I went to check out this place. It’s a little out of my way but worth the trip. The staff was very professional, polite, and no sales pressure. It was an absolute pleasure, what a store. I highly recommend shopping here.

Large selection of guitars

I’ve experienced a good customer service however all sales are final.

Good staff

I used to have my guitars worked on here; but I wouldn’t let them touch them now. Their luthiers literally talked me out of doing business with them ever again. They have a nice stock of instruments, so in that respect they are OK.

*Allegedly, and in my opinion only*

The staff is cool, and so is the person giving violin lessons. However, the owner is rude to paying customers and even to children.

The owner says you can try out guitars, but really, he will micromanage and demand you buy it if he decides you’ve “used his strings too much.” Why even bother letting people try out guitars if you’re going to make people take off jewelry and anything that could scratch the guitar, and then still find a way to act like they are an inconvenience for playing a guitar when you said they could play? Very bad ownership.

Don’t spend money here, especially on your kids. My kid was given permission to try out a guitar by the staff, and then the owner literally ripped the guitar from my kid’s hands, scolded him for using up too much string, demanded he pay for the guitar, and then kicked us out while our other kid was in a PAID violin lesson. Would give 0 stars, never coming back. By the way, we’ve spent enough money at your store previously to pay for that guitar, let alone the fact that we could’ve paid for it. Way to lose money for yourself And next time you want to disrespect someone’s kid, don’t. Sorry you can’t afford to replace $3 wholesale strings on guitars after customers try them out. Maybe just don’t let people try the guitars since you seemingly can’t mentally handle that. And before you try to lie, we were not disrespectful or damaging your property in ANY way. My kid is very respectful. We actually thought you were joking until you kicked us out. Praying for you.

Rude and unprofessional people.

This is how a shopping experience should be. Richard was patient, let me explore different models, answered my questions, let me play, and when I bought one the paperwork was done in a timely manner. The showroom is amazing, beautiful pianos in all shapes, sizes, and yes, price ranges. I spent two hours there and didn’t realize it until I left.

Ben (the owner) at the Piano Store is first rate! We were looking for a digital piano for our daughter who takes lessons. Ben took the time to explain the different options and features. He wasn’t pushy. He really knows pianos! We took a month to consider our options and in the end we returned to the Piano Store. Our whole family is blessed and excited about our new piano. It was a pleasure doing business with him and his family. Thank you!

Richard helped me find the perfect piano for my family. He was so patient, kind and helpful. This was my first time piano shopping and he answered my numerous questions. I looked at used and new pianos and decided on the perfect one for my household. It sounds and looks beautiful. It was delivered promptly and professionally. Thank you Richard for your help and for playing the pianos for us. Definitely had a great experience.

I’ve been looking for pianos for awhile and was satisfied with the selection here, but I felt like the person working there was a little pushy and rude which led to me wanting to leave. I’m not sure if I’d be comfortable coming here again.

Reply: My point is that my experience here was very uncomfortable. It was difficult to look for pianos in peace, yet I’d understand why you’d feel the need to be persistent with asking questions in an attempt to help out. My dad isn’t from the US and doesn’t exactly communicate well, so I became anxious when you told him, “People usually don’t just walk in” as he was taking a look around; this made me feel as if we were unwelcome. I tried to elaborate his vague response by telling you that we have indeed been looking for a piano for awhile; this was in no way defensive although I didn’t get the chance to fully explain myself since you quickly cut me off by saying, “Yeah, I know”. I willfully admit that what you said to my dad slightly irritated me, which is why I blatantly answered the question you asked me and continued to browse around the shop (considering the reason we visited was to look around, obviously). I just recently turned 18 (which you know since I answered when you asked) and would consider myself a sociable person, so the reason of me seeming “rude and standoff to the max” is only the outcome of feeling like our visit was bothersome for you. I was antsy the entire time and it was disappointing since I’ve been meaning to visit for awhile. And I understand that maybe you weren’t having the best day, but my review is an honest recap of my PERSONAL experience, and isn’t being said to bash your business. No one is “trampling” you Ben – I’d greatly appreciate it if you considered what I’m stating rather than argue.

Very rude walked into the store ready to spend upwards of $20000 on a piano the employees were very rude and didnt feel like answering questions and they would watch every move u made made me and my cousin very uncomfortable how am I supposed to spend lots of money on a piano when i can’t test it due to them being on the phone all the time them not having a back office where they can take phone calls is very unprofessional i was in there for about 10 minutes until i couldn’t take the constant questions them watching everywhere i go i would not recommend this place for anyone who wants piece and quiet to shop for a piano

No, he doesn’t buy pianos.

Great shop. We love it.

These guys were GREAT!!!!!!!
Bought a used LR Baggs Venue preamp, hoping it would get to me in time for a special gig a few days later. It arrived in time and worked FABULOUS!!!!!!!!
Gotta pat them on the back! Great service

Awesome they have a good selection of instruments loved it .

Cool place. Most things look to he in ok shape. A little high on prices for used gear but hey they have to make enough to stay open

Good used instruments if you know what you are looking for. If not, the staff is very helpful.

Solo guitarras usadas y caras

You know it was an awesome store when it first opened owners gotten greedy prices are too high now they’re marked up at least 30% more than what the normal prices used to be yep the owners got greedy I know he’s picking them squires up bulk dirt cheap and he’s selling them for about 50 away from full price and beware buyer beware all their used fenders are stamped they say used they stamped the head stocks with a metal stamp

2 times aI buy online
2 times I had to call and after telling me the guitar is being put in the back for shipping and telling me how nice the guitar looks they canceled my order so ether the employee decide to keep my guitar for him self or decide to big fat sell them to some one after he lie about getting it ready for shipping for me !
Im supper mad at this liars hope they go out of business!

I purchased a casio keyboard for my son birthday last month! The keyboard did not last a month! Very disappointed it stopped working! I went into the store to let them know what happened and all they can say is sorry! Don’t ever purchase anything from them..

Great place for music lessons, Cameron is teaching guitar and my daughter is turning into a rock star!

Great place for all your music needs. The owner even helped us out when we weren’t buying anything from them.

Great guys over there I’m a beginner and went in there looking for an affordable acoustic guitar they really helped me out not knowing to much abt guitars and helped me pick a good one still on the lower end price wise I will definitely be back and they are really nice and funny guys

Their music selection was a bit small but they had everything I needed at a very reasonable cost.

Did not have a kazoo

The line was crazy long and they were extremely under staffed.

Arnie serviced my ’89 Fender Stratocaster and the results were far more impressive than I imagined. He addressed the truss rod, nut, bridge, action, intonation, and fret buzz I had. My guitar plays better now than when I first purchased it 28 years ago. Arnie’s attention to detail and his care for my vintage equipment sets him apart from anyone in the Greater Sacramento area. He has my highest recommendation.

Class act. Knows what he’s doing, and is honest with customers about what can be done for their guitars (even when it’s bad news). Top notch luthier.

Arnie has been my “Go to” Luthier for coming up on 30 years. This guy treats you and your instruments right. I almost always have had a one week turnaround and the job has always been done right, as well as at surprisingly low rates. Always a joy to interact with him. Ask him to jam or show you any of his hand made ‘works of art’ instruments.

Service was very good employees were very nice Food was OK

Tried getting a hold of arnie for two weeks. Left multiple messages, sent texts. Nothing. Then when I finally got ahold of him, he quoted me 6 week turnaround just for a setup on my guitar. When I asked why it’d take so long, he snapped at me and told me to go somewhere else. It sounded like he was really busy and at his breaking point, but it was pretty unprofessional. I wasn’t being unreasonable or rude, just genuinely surprised at the turnaround time. It’s a shame because I hear he does great work

My daughter started with zero experience (and limited natural talent) and within 2 months with Peter, she’s playing a few songs on the guitar. Great with kids, excellent communication, and easy scheduling. Will definitely enroll my younger son. Highly recommended.

Justin is a wonderful instructor. My 9 year old son has been taking drum lessons from him and really enjoys working with Justin.

We love the MUSIC LAB. My son has been taking lessons here for many years with Cameron. He is such a great instructor! He has kept him growing, inspired and passionate about his instrument. With sports and school schedules, TML has always been flexible with our schedule and dream to work with.

Sad to see they are going out of business.

brien is the best tech ever…he set up three of my guitars and each one now has perfect touch and is so easy to play…thanks..bill ropple ,north highlands

Staff are very helpful and friendly. I bought a viola from online, but the school music teacher does not know how to tape it. (use tape to label the notes at neck) so I called around. A lady from Northridge Music spent 20 minutes to tape and tune my viola for free even I bought from somewhere else. I also called the store a couple of times, they always pick up the phone quickly and answer my questions.

This store is a small business, so they need use the spaces well. So with that, the score “very good” really means best in their situation.

Always been a great location with plenty of parking. Staff is always helpful and knowledgeable. I’ve come here for myself many times and now I visit for my kids. It’s a really great place to have around.

It’s OK. Not a huge selection of instruments and the lessons are pricy. I had high hopes for this place because there isn’t a great music store in the close area and this place is missing the opportunity to be great.