Exclusive selection: The top 20 music shops of Fairview Shores

Great staff experience- Surprised by the diverse selection especially of great quality used equipment. Honestly a much better overall experience compared to Guitar Center.

Very friendly and competent staff. A fun atmosphere.

Thank you Charlie!!

Not friendly or attentive workers.

I best describe my experience as a Sam Ash, ‘Tale of 2 Cities’.

As a reptired healthcare administrator and disabled US Marine who uses music as physical and mental health therapy, I give Sam Ash an overall score of 4 stars. The Lee Rd store definitely is about customer service. The E. Colonial store behave like a bunch of rude, used car salesmen.

Mike manages the E. Colonial store but is too busy to deal directly with the customer. While negotiating the sale of a discontinued amp M Caylor came back with someone claiming to be Nick, Ops Mgr. Nick was neither jolly, nor saintly. Instead of greeting me, he went to the amp. He didn’t smile, shake hands or show any respect. He was rude and stormed off.

Conversely, Lee Rd is about customer service and building lasting customer relationships. I purchased a new Fender fretless bass at Lee Rd that had been on display. After a couple of issues, I returned the bass and it was replaced with a brand new Fender bass fresh out of the box and conditioned on the spot by Joe.

From henceforth, if Lee Rd doesn’t have it or can’t get it, I’ll shop Amazon or Guitar City.

Customer service not very good. I had to wait too long.

This was my first time coming into Sam Ash. The service was poor, I walked around for 10 minutes looking for someone to help me and no one was available. The store is not fairly priced and I will probably never visit again.

Went in today to buy a Roland drum kit. Didn’t talk to a single employee the whole time. No one greeted us and no one was there when we walked out the door. There was initially an employee in the drums department, but when we walked in the drum room, he disappeared behind the employees only door and never came back out. Waited around 15 minutes or so in the drums department looking at various things, and no one ever showed up. Selection of drum pedals and hi-hat stands was abysmal. The cymbal room only has a fraction of the cymbals it used to have compared to when I first started drumming about 12 years ago. The price tags for the electronic drum kits did not correspond to the demo kits in front of them. Place felt relatively empty and like it’s not going to be around much longer. I thought I was doing the right thing by supporting local business, but ultimately left empty-handed and will order from Amazon.

Como dicen en Colombia… musica adelantada nunca suena. El pasado viernes 7 de Abril mi amigo “COMPRO Y PAGO EN EFECTIVO700 dólares por un instrumento. Y nos HICIERON LA PROMESA de que el instrumento llegaría entre ayer y hoy NO HA LLEGANDO NADA…y aquí estoy en la tienda haciendo la fila para hablar con el administrador Y TODOS LOS EMPLEADOS PASAN POR MI LADO Y PRETENDEN QUE NO EXISTO…. QUE SOY INVISIBLE.
Estoy muy disgustado porque ellos ME PROMETIERON algo que no cumplieron y siguen pretendiendo que no ven. YA SABEN USTEDES con esta gente no se PUEDE HACER NEGOCIO

By appointment only – but one of the only real music shops in Orlando. A boutique that specializes in old, unique, and strange guitars and amps. Well worth the visit if you find yourself in Orlando for a week or more and need to buy a guitar to play.

Cool shop. Nice selection of guitars. Owner was very knowledgeable and helpful.

Great place, I bought my Gibson here, they know what they are doing!! Thanks!

The staff is really nice, but the store is the size of a walk in closet. They had some pretty cool used guitars, and a few amps, but this place is nothing in comparison to Jimmy’s Vintage Music. I couldn’t get over how small the place was. The “vintage” part seems a little lofty as well.. I’d say “used” more than “vintage”. Really cool guys who work there though.

Usually I don’t talk bad about business partners but this time I feel like I have to, sorry about that!

I spend over 1,000$ at this store and still don’t even know the name of the person I communicated with!
It honestly was the worst buying experience I’ve ever been through.

First of all, I tried to negotiate on the price (cause this is what you usually do) but there was noooo way to lower the price, not even the tiniest bit…
Well, that’s not the reason for the bad review but it’s definitely part of the whole bad buying experience. I agreed to buy the guitar anyways for the listed price, everything okay so far.

Then the troubles started to take over. The seller told me that if I want to pay by Credit Card they would only ship to my credit card’s address, although this means they would have to ship the guitar to Germany. Never heard something like this before…So I had the trouble of finding a different way to pay. The seller didn’t even seem to be interested in finding a different solution for me, I had to figure things out on my own.

Well, I found a way and the shipping worked well BUT I asked for a receipt, cause I will need that for import documentation to Germany. And guess what, the receipt never got to me.

After asking for a digital receipt via mail, this store seriously asked me what a receipt looks like and offered me a screenshot of the PayPal transaction…..

Guys, I don’t know what kind of sketchy business is going on here, but the customer is definitely not king in this place!

Sorry, but this is not how you treat customers who spend more than 1,000$ at your store….

I’m just glad the guitar arrived….

Walked in this place on 3/27 with the money I got from my tax return. The guy working the sales floor did not greet me. I ask him a question about a Breedlove guitar and he said he did not know if it included the pickup or not. He could not give me an answer as to the price of the guitar. I had $3400 bucks cash just burning a hole in my pocket and I was out to buy a nice guitar. Then I saw a nice Martin D-35 on the wall. He handed it to me and within 5 minutes I fell in love with the instrument. I ask him a simple question about the Martin and he completely ignored me. He was working on his laptop and had no time for customers. I purchase several high end guitars a year and I will NEVER go in this shiyhole again. Nor will I recommend them to anyone. I I were you I’d avoid this place.

Here is the owners unbelievable response:

Hi James. I’m finding it hard to believe a word of your review. There is no possible way you asked if our Breedlove had a pickup in it. None. Nor would my employee fail to answer two questions about a Martin that he just handed you. Feel free to call me, if for no other reason than to verify that you were even at the right store. Eric

Here is my response:

So you think your best response is to call me a liar. All this does is piss me off more. I can promise you every word of that review is true except for the fact that it was a Martin D-28 and not a D-35. You would have been much wiser to try and contact me in a professional way as apposed to being accusatory. Seeing that you find it except able to call me a liar I would like to point out that your sir are a complete and utter moron.

Below is another response by the owner of this business. First of all I need to say that every word I wrote in my review is absolutely TRUE. I made up nothing. I would have no motivation to do so. I am not a competitor of his and prior to walking to Blackbird I knew nothing about them. Just look at this guys response to a legitimate customer complaint. You need to ask yourself after reading this guys response “Is this a person I want to do business with”? “Is this a music store that I would want to deal with if I had a problem with an item I bought from them”. This owner is totally unprofessional and IMHO does not deserve to be in business.

I appreciate all who continue to support the movement

My wife really wanted me to learn to play the guitar and heard about these guys from some place she takes our kids to play. I found them to be very flexible with scheduling and payment arrangements and very customer service oriented.

The staff is super friendly, knowledgeable and accommodating, and there’s a great supply of cables, amps, and equipment for us to use. The awesome community that’s resulted from this place is not just an added bonus, but a signal to their involvement in the music scene and their cultivation of something way cooler than just rooms for rehearsing.

I highly recommend TR Music and Voice Lessons! My daughter, Ava has been taking voice lessons there with Ms. Miller. She has done a job in nurturing Avas singing style and providing her with a solid musical foundation.

While she was practicing, we talked with Chris and were totally impressed by his business and how he creates excitement for kids who want to learn an instrument! Thanks Chris! Thanks Off the Wall!

Thanks to my drum instructor, my experience learning the drums has been fantastic. Their strategy incorporates metal and pop music. Both their studio setup and their online lessons are excellent.

Got a great deal on electronic drums

Always helpful staff. Like being able to try out instruments.

Best place ever and so fun!

Muy buen sitio , buena atencion

Knowledgeable and friendly staff. Luthier charged $85 for a set up on a Squier Jazzmaster and did a pretty mediocre job. I had to ask him to finish peeling plastic, nothing was polished, frets were gritty, and neck is bowed causing nasty buzz around the neck/body join.

I’d buy a guitar there again for sure, but I’d never pay to have it set up again.

Took a little bit to get help, but the guy helped me pick out a guitar for my 4 year old, and he loves it.

So I called tonight to see if I could get some help with getting my Snare drum tuned for a Sunday and the sales rep working the front desk tonight around 730pm said at first that he didn’t know if he had anyone in the store tonight that can help time a drum but if I could come in they can try and get it tuned.. he went in to say that we are kinda of busy! So I responded “wait” so you’re busy or you don’t have anyone there to help time the drum? And he said I don’t know! So it seems that he’s the one to tune it but I’m not important enough for his help…I asked him to see if there’s anyone to assist me and he got right back on the phone to tell me no, this is poor service that’s all I have, Good day!

This store is horrible. I had a guitar amp stolen from me during a burglary. I got information that it was pawned at this location. I went onto their website and sure enough, there it was. I contacted the store, they verified that it was in their store and not sold. I explained the situation and asked that he hold it through the weekend until the detective working on my case could get in touch with him and make arrangements to get it back. After putting me on hold for awhile, he said that he did put it on hold (took my name, number, etc).

Monday morning I contacted the detective who ultimately made contact with the store…. guess what? They all of a sudden sold it, online. (funny, they took it offline when I asked them to hold it).

After speaking with the detective I learned that this store has rather shady practices when it comes to pawned items… They are supposed to hold the item for 30 days before releasing it to sale (they only wait 15). They also put the description of my amp into the system wrong, which made it hard for the detective to find.

So now I sit here looking at the cabinet that has no head, and the parts the burglar forgot to take (the pedal board, back cover, etc), unable to use it because this store wanted to be shady about returning merchandise to their rightful owners…. I was even going to pay for it just to get it back, but, it had to be documented through law enforcement because the individual is being charged.

So what did we learn? 1) This store is just as shady as the individuals who steal and pawn the items. 2) If you are a criminal, this is a great place to sell your stolen merchandise because they work to circumvent the law and returning property to their owners.

Waited 45 minutes for someone to come and talk to us considering there was nobody in the store period so they had something online and when I finally talked to somebody they said that the inventory was wrong and they didn’t have it and never even looked for it So don’t go to the store it’s garbage

We have truly enjoyed our experience thus far with lessons in your home! First off, you can’t beat the convenience of the instructor coming to you. That was a huge plus for us. The instructor, Krystelle, is wonderful! She is so enthusiastic and patient with our son. She makes the lessons FUN and ENGAGING. We wanted to make sure our 5 year old developed a love for piano. We didn’t want him to dread his lessons. My son looks forward to his lesson each week and gets excited to see Krystelle. I couldn’t ask for anything more. Would highly recommend!

My granddaughter started her piano lessons about a month and a half ago and she is doing amazing. Her instructor is Jeremy and he is such a wonderful guy. He’s patient and funny and really gets my granddaughter to engage.

Great company.. Ryan is our instructor and we love him. Highly recommended

My kids have been taking piano from Jay for two years. They love him. He’s very good at customizing the lesson to each child’s individual needs and pace. My son loves music theory and my daughter loves melodies.

I’ve had a few lessons with Elliott so far and they have been great. After spending a few months on my own with books and Youtube videos getting feedback from a knowledgable instructor has helped significantly. Elliott is strong on fundamentals which I really like as I’m not setting up any bad habits. Each lesson gives me something new, interesting, and challenging to work on for the week.

I’m so glad I chose private drum lessons with my instructor Mike. His customized lesson plans have helped me develop my skills in a way that feels natural and organic.

I had one bad experience or negative thought about any session. He listens to what I want to play and manages to teach the “boring” fundamentals around this keeping me interested at all times.

I placed an order on Amazon on 9/18/22 for 2 CD’s Eric Roberson (Lessons). I was told the CD’s would be delivered on 9/20/22. I needed the cd’s for a birthday gift, the party was 9/22/22 that was perfect. Amazon, delivered the package on 9/20/22 to the wrong address . Wednesday morning I googled where can I buy Eric Roberson cd Lessons and POWERED BY FLORIDA EMPIRE MUSIC popped up. I called, the young man told me, we don’t open until 10:00. I told him what I needed. H e said I can get it for me but he was closing early today and I was working until 2:00. He told me to text him the information and he would deliver the CD to me. He delivered the CD, everything was perfect. That’s excellent customer service, which is really hard to find. I’m a customer forever.

Today is the SECOND medical appointment that they did NOT show up, despite the transportation company being advised of the appointment well in advance. I have a condition that requires these doctor appointments. This is so wrong. And when I call the company, the phone goes straight to voicemail every time and the mailbox is full. I will specifically require a different company from now on. Do not trust them when being transported to any appointment. Today my appointment was at 12:15 p.m. No one showed up and they have no point of contacy.

Very knowledgeable staff and a willingness to make sure that you are successful at finding the right instrument, amp, or musical accessory. A musician’s paradise!

Excellent and timely repairs on my guitar. Rob replaced the electronics on my Epiphone archtop and I had it back in less than 2 days.
He explained what needed to be done and my guitar sounds as it did when I purchased it 10 years ago. I highly recommend this shop for quality repairs.

Nothing like experienced staff with knowledge and professional service ! I love this place

Friendly staff, nice selection but limited on classical instruments.

I really like going there. Isaiah from DJ, sound, and recording has helped me so much. I’ve become a better DJ because of him. The only thing I will say is that the peices are a little bit more than guitar center. But I like my overall experience when I go there.

Great store with a huge amount of various instruments from entry level to more experienced.

Whenever I go to a music store I always bring my own pick and my own tuner. When I was shopping for an acoustic guitar, I dropped by Guitar Center as well as this store. After looking around and noodlin’ a bit, when I was walking out I was accused of stealing my personal guitar tuner. I’ve had my snark tuner for over 4 years… so long that the model doesn’t even look anything similar to the ones made recently except the fact it’s a clip-on guitar tuner. The guy who stopped me had me wait until someone brought a new snark tuner in the box and he inspected the differences until his pea brain was able to determine that the item in my possession was in fact, mine.

Zero problems at Guitar Center. Sam Ash had a better deal on the acoustic I bought, and although Guitar Center was unable to match an online price, I bought the guitar new from Guitar Center anyway. I’ll never step foot in a Sam Trash music store again.

Tried to call to see if they had any used digital pianos. Guy wouldn’t look and kept saying I needed to come in and see. Lol. Seriously, he is right there and can’t tell me. That’s why I called in the first place. I was treated as if this was the only choice place for me to shop. Well it’s not. Guitar Center actually looked and told me. Guitar Center here I come.

Update your hours online, that’d be cool!

It was peaceful for me to record
And it was duck off …So I don’t have to worry about seeing anybody else. ..That what I need

What success is all about. ..