Great service and extremely helpful place for guitar players
The owner is such a nice guy. Jody runs a great shop with some nice instruments with a ton of affordable options
I take voice lessons with Luana. She makes it so much fun. Never thought I could sing before working with her.
I’ve been doing business at this great store since they were on Main Street in Watsonville. Shame on you Watsonville for letting this business move to Aptos. Wide selection of all musical instruments, as well as sheet music and musical accessories. Good friendly store. Parking can be limited at times, but not always.
Guy was very helpful even though the store was closing in 5 minutes; he guided me though some drum questions and I didn’t feel rushed for one second.
Very competent. Your instruments are safe in their hands, but like many of the music shops around here they aren’t super responsive. If you can get in when they’re open they’re great.
Unfriendly customer service. wouldn’t let me try a amplifier, and told me if that if I had the $1500 then he would let me try it. I have never experienced this at any guitar store. I have shopped here in the past and it has always been a mediocre experience. the man who works behind the counter always has a mopey attitude and their products are usually priced over normal retail. Spend your money somewhere else (Sylvan Music, Midtown Guitar Company).
This guy is a bigger Eddie Van Halen fan than I could EVER hope to be — and the fact he has my dream guitar is incredible!! He’s got everything Van Halen, ESPECIALLY if you want to know more about Eddie Van Halen!
Johnny beane is a good show and awesome person. Lucky to have met you. Rock on!
3 Stars in this constellation….you..me..
Eddie…
6. Union Grove Music
Address: 1574 Soquel Dr ste g, Santa Cruz, CA 95065 , La Selva Beach , California , United States
I love this place. The guitar repairs are superb and nobody knows vintage instruments like these guys.
They’re really nice and knowledgeable. Got a mic stand for my Theremini and they throw in an adapter for nothing! Definitely will do my future purchases here, it’s local and it’s better than online shopping in every sense.
Very knowledgeable staff. The prices are a little higher than other stores around for the same item, but they also have more higher end items. Almost exclusively guitars, very little of any other instrument.
Staff is always friendly. Wish there was a little more selection.
The kids loved it!
I really tried to give this place a chance. When I ask for help, the staff gives me the distinct feeling that I am wasting their time. The selection is not good, and quite frankly I did not feel welcomed any of the times I have gone there.
Came in with a fat wad of cash to by a new guitar and the older woman that is always there walked up to me and said, “If you aren’t going to buy anything you shouldn’t be in here.” My guess is she assumed that, based on my appearance, I was just another 20 something about to play all the guitars and leave. This is was not the first, but it was the last time I received bad service there as I have never returned.
I’m an older woman who plays electric guitar. Have purchased top-line new guitars there and sold some equipment there, and they did the job. But I have never been comfortable there. The boss is angry, curt and dismissive and the staff doesn’t seem relaxed or happy. There are unwritten rules about how long you can stay, what you can touch etc. Not for me any more.
This is my favorite guitar/music store in the whole wide world!
An absolute treasure of a music shop.
Got the strings and sheet music I needed. Mike and other staff are the best. You will not find a better selection of the best acoustic guitars in the world. Keep playing!
Its a good place to get strings… Cost a little much for me
Workers were very helpful
I rented a trombone here, it was a really nice name brand and worked very well. I never had to bring it in to repair, and over all an okay rental price. There was great customer service and I suggest going here.
overpriced instruments and bad service!
I took my violin here for some repairs and was told that it would take about 2 weeks for the service. I agreed and waited an extra month, given the COVID issue. I did not receive a call so I called to check if it was ready. The owner who does the repair said that he hasn’t even gotten to my violin because he was working on other instruments. I asked why he did not call me to let me know of the delay. His response was, “If I had to call all the people to let them know, it would take the whole day!” and “Do you have a concert tomorrow that you need it?” This is just not acceptable and RUDE. The proper things to do was simply apologize and find a way to remedy your inability to complete the service you agreed to. I work in customer service and giving off excuses is the lamest and unprofessional thing to do. Sylvan made an agreement on an agreed upon time for the service to be done, and they did not fulfill that agreement. The fact that you don’t honor nor bother to call to update your customers, IS NOT RIGHT! The least you can do is apologize which you did not even bother to do.
The worst customer service!! take your business somewhere else. I went there today they were rude, I waited and went over few guitars couple of times to buy one. Everyone ignored me and told me to be careful with the guitars! I played guitar for 10 years.. this is the worst guitar shop I ever been to!
Reply to owner’s response:
Sure! a customer with a toddler in store will rebuff help or assistance?
I never heard of this before ! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I mentioned that I was looking for a guitar to my son’s size (he is 5, not a toddler), he even spoke to you asking for assistance, you were rude! another customer walked in after me, you chose to help him instead.
By banging guitars, you mean putting them back to it’s place but happen to bump in the next guitar or wall?!
Take a look at previous customer reviews they complained about the same thing, if you don’t want us to touch many guitars in the store, you could help by showing suitable ones for purchase.
How can we support local business if they refuse to help us?
I didn’t storm out, I just felt unwelcomed as no one tried to help me, just yelling from behind the counter to be careful instead of assisting customers.
Owner’s response:
This person rebuffed our attempts for assistance then she and her toddler proceeded to carelessly mishandle instruments and bang them into each other. Several times! When we kindly asked that they be more careful, they stormed off as if we were making a completely unreasonable request. Oh well, I guess you can’t please all people all the time. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
10. Guitar Shop
Address: 926 Soquel Ave, Santa Cruz, CA 95062 , La Selva Beach , California , United States
Cant say enough good things. Steve is very much in demand but he’ll try to make time for you if your in the shop. He’s worked on several guitars for me and the work is always, I mean always above expectation.
83 Tele
74 SG
07 LP Standard
79 SL500
Always a pleasant surprise to pick up my guitar after a visit with Steve.
What can I say – I recently purchased a PRS Silver Sky that played great out of the box. Nonetheless I wanted to make sure it’s setup hadn’t been affected during shipping so I brought it on up to The Guitar Shop and wow! Didn’t think it could feel or play that much better but I was wrong. The team here knows their trade. They’ve earned a customer for life and I highly suggest to anyone who wants their guitar to get the setup it deserves to look no further.
Steve brought my Tokai CE 250 back from the dead……
New nut, new saddle, tuners, new strings….
Yes it DOES sound like a D28.
And a very fair price.
A great luthier……..do not go anywhere else !!!
Professional
Nice little place, a little slow on the customer service.
Quality merchandise, was surprised how low some of the prices were.
Recommended.
I had the feeling that this wasn’t a legitimate business. The guy knows his guitar strings and he didn’t rip me off or anything, but I won’t visit again.
Didn’t return phone, email/website inquiry from a week ago…nobody is that bitchen. At least return a message letting me know you’re to busy and cool to accept more business work…
David Morse is one of the leading violin makers in central California. My experience with him has been wonderful. David has shown me many of his master violins and his wisdom about violins is extensive. I am looking forward to owning one of his creations.
Very respectful gentleman.
I play Mariachi violin and my violin is one of David Morses’. I love my violin! Thank you David!
Craftsman extraordinaire
14. DrumDrTom
Address: 152 Santa Clara St, Watsonville, CA 95076 , La Selva Beach , California , United States
Great job, DrTom. My Bodhrain came back in superb condition—restored!
Very professional. Talented. And great work!!!
It has been an absolute pleasure dealing with The Drum Doctor. I wanted my rope-tuned African djembe converted to top tuning. The hardware Dr. Tom mounted is extremely sturdy and attractive, and the skin is just beautiful. The djembe’s sound is amazing and even better than when purchased new. I highly recommend The Drum Doctor for all repairs and hand drum sales.
15. Music Art Recording Studio (MARS STUDIO)
Address: Freedom Blvd, Aptos, CA 95003 , La Selva Beach , California , United States
Ken is a pleasure to work with and is very experienced at many different kinds of productions. I highly recommend MARS studio for your recording and audio editing needs.
Ken Capitanich has recorded so many great projects over the years, if you want it done right, give MARS a call.
State of the art local recording studio right her in Aptos.
Be Natural has been great for my son. He went to one of their summer camps when he was only 9 years old and has been a. band member ever since. The teachers are great and the bi-annual concert series is a highlight for our family!
I’ve been here 3 years and I LOVE IT!!!
I was a student at Be Natural for about four years and I have to say that I would not be the same person without it. Taking theory classes and being part of the real rock band program has expanded not only my knowledge of music but also my love for it. I’m so grateful to now be a teacher there and to continue to share this passion with everyone in the community. This school is AWESOME!
I’m not sure how this place gets so many 5 star reviews. I reached out for music lessons about a month ago. No one ever got back to me, so I followed up again and then finally when I got ahold of someone, it was impossible to get her to respond to me. I’ve had to follow up every single time and now no response. Glad I didn’t waste my money! Do yourself a favor and don’t waste your time.
