Where to find the best music shops in Montbau? Top-13 options

Throughout the years I have purchased guitars,and Equitment,. We miss Leo. He was the music teacher at Lewis S Mills High School in the 70’s. To ?. I graduated in 72. Great music shop. Get just about anything musical.

Keith was very open and helpful during his purchase of my son’s used drum set. He explained everything clearly and followed through on his statements. Courteous and respectful throughout, he helped make the transaction pleasant. I would definitely return to his shop.

Knowledgeable people

The staff are so nice here. I take guitar lessons weekly with Anthony. Great place to learn to play an instrument and buy one as well.

Wow such help staff. The employee by the name of Pete was very knowledgeable and assisted me with my questions pertaining to all things guitars. I highly recommend this place!!

Very helpful customer service and good guitar teacher

They don’t seem to have the music inventory that they once had but the guy who helped me was super affable and helpful.

Small space but with limited music supply stores in the area it’s good to see places like this still up

I had a dispute regarding an instrument repair. The tech did a great job with the repair, but there was a miscommunication with the store concerning the scope of work to be performed. Jed Weeks at corporate resolved the issue with speed and grace.

The in-store representatives are great and nice. But I am very much disappointed with the customer service representative and the supervisors. All of them showed rude behavior. I signed up for 10 months contract and during Covid situation there was delay in returning the instrument to the store at the end of contract period. But Music and Arts still charged me for 2 months on higher cost. Way above my 10 months contract. When I called the customer service, they were very rude and not showing any flexibility and care for customers. I wanted to do business with them for the next school year. But with these behaviors I will NEVER do business with them. I could not find anything lower than 1 star rating…

All they need is customers’ money… No care for customers… even in this COVID situations…

This is the best location for spec/maintenance in Connecticut Ma and RI I have worked with these guys for years and I’m always blown away by their service and customer support.

Very helpful

The guitars in this shop are amazing; all of them make me sound like a guitar hero. The staff is friendly, knowledgable and more than happy to help.

Had a guitar cable when I needed it.

Thé Owners are lousy business

No prices listed

Not many mandolins

I took a pedal building class, that was both fun and educational. Instructor was fantastic, and EXTREMELY patient with me. I learned a ton, and came home with an incredible sounding Tubescreamer that I built myself. Can’t recommend this experience enough.

Great place to hangout at and try different instruments. I really enjoyed the vibe and customer service!

Had my guitar set up awesome job!

Interesting store with some interesting gear. They don’t seem to carry Fender or Gibson. They had a stomp box manufacturing class going on when I visited.

As one reviewer already stated. They have a terrible return policy especially with online purchases. Good store as long as you know you’re going to keep the item but who really knows, its musical gear, its hard to tell if your going to dig it or not until you play it with your rig. Returning a pedal (or probably anything) is just not worth it due the return fees. 2 stars because I received it pretty quickly but definitely wasn’t packed that well. Without a doubt this will be my last purchase from this store. There’s plenty of other great stores to choose from that won’t bend you over on return fees. **Edit for response to the owner** Yes you do clearly state your return fees online. “Small restocking fee” is a bit of an understatement…your restocking fee is 10%. If I pay $250 for a guitar pedal. Right off the bat you’re keeping $25 of my return. I couldn’t imagine purchasing a guitar online through your store.

Purchased a guitar for 750, now walking out with 637. Unfortunately I was not told about a very unfair and sneaky return exchange policy until I had asked after already completing the purchase. Also could not see clearly a visible sign inside that states anything about a return policy. When I asked where the sign was upon trying to return this guitar he pointed to have a corner and I still did not see the sign. I do believe that a return policy sign should be at the register for full disclosure. The law does state you are entitled to a full refund if you are not told about the refund policy during the time of the transaction, which I was not informed of that. Limited selection and unfortunately subject to a very steep restocking fee or store credit, if you are a serious musician make sure you know this first as you know that buying instruments is quite expensive and it is hard to want to get locked into something that you do not truly love.

Great Place.Awesome Teachers

Professional and high quality service from a multi-generation family owned business. Scott and his staff truly care about your progress as a musician. Their music teachers are highly educated and patient. I wouldn’t go anywhere else for my family’s music needs.

Cannot saying anything negative about the Music Shop. I always recommend you to friends and family. My experience has been positive. Your staff is friendly and always helpful. My teacher amazing. I’ll miss my lessons but will stop in now an then when I need something. Sincerely, Claudia “

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.

My son has been taking drum lessons with Keith for a little over a year. He started with Keith when he turned 5. Keith is AweSome all around and an Amazing drummer and teacher. He is super patient with children, he does a great job at getting on their level to learn and have fun. My son LOVES this guy and always looks forward to his weekly lesson. Also, the staff is great. Helpful, resourceful, talented and pleasant. We will be coming here for years to come.

The people there are always very helpful

If you are looking for a great place for music lessons, instrument rentals or repairs check out JCMUSIC in Meriden. The staff there is amazing. They can answer all of your questions and trust me I have had a lot. Plus my kids love the teachers and the music director Sean is so patient and wonderful. Really I cant say enough good things about them

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.

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.

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.

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

George has always given me great prices and service. I noticed all of the negative review writers didn’t list their names.

Buying from the online shop was fast and easy. My fragile item was shipped quickly and packed well. The item was photographed and represented correctly.

I called to verify the item and spoke to the owner, George himself. He was very knowledgeable and down to earth, a good person. I hope to do business again.

Great help and knowledgable staff

Meh

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.

Nice shop

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.

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.

Fantastic customer service!

The employees are very friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful. A big shoutout to Rob for his help today.

The desk staff are welcoming, very nice, and patient.

My son meshes well with his piano teacher. She lets him play the kind of music he wants to play which I believe is important for helping to maintain interest and desire to play. His skill has improved greatly with her.

I whould l8ke to buy aking or yamaha euphonium

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!

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!!

I’m not sure how long this review will be, but I will say upfront that buying a guitar from DuBaldo Music was a great experience, from day one until I took delivery of my instrument, and beyond!

I ordered an Alvarez-Yairi Honduran series (FYM66HD) guitar from Pete at DuBaldo music in April 2021.

For those reading this review in the somewhat distant future, allow me to set the scene a bit:

There was a LOT going on in the world during this time. The COVID Pandemic was still raging, and supply chains were snarled at every turn.

Ports were closed, dock workers and truckers were striking or working limited hours under delayed timelines. Parts availability was questionable at best, etc.

VERY long story short: The guitar had to be hand built in Japan, then shipped to the west coast, then shipped to St.Louis, MO, then shipped to DuBaldo Music in CT before I could take delivery. All the while, considering the conditions of the world as described above.

Pete, Lisa and everyone else at DuBaldo music helped me along at every stage, kept me updated, empathized with and tolerated my frequent calls for updates, contacted the distributor in St. Louis on my behalf, and were generally very pleasant to work with over a period of just over one full year.

I will not pretend that I wasn’t itching to receive my guitar, or that the extended delay didn’t bother me. It was a maddening wait!

But I want to make it crystal clear:

DuBaldo music did their absolute best to get it to me as quickly as possible, considering the extremely challenging circumstances. I can’t say enough about their customer service. It was exceptional at every stage!

When I made my order over the phone, Pete answered all my questions and made sure I was comfortable with what I was ordering as far as the specs were concerned. We made a deal on a VERY good price, and the wait began.

I won’t bore with the details, but between Japan and Connecticut there were numerous significant delays. Mostly unavoidable and one or two caused by decisions that St.Louis Music made, and/or failed to communicate ahead of time.

Pete and Lisa worked through all of this for me deftly, and professionally.

I am not local to the store. I live in DC, about 6 hours away. When the guitar finally arrived, there were 3 in the order, and Pete and Lisa let me know that I could have my pick of the three. Instead of having Pete play them for me over the phone and choosing from pictures, I decided to drive up and try them out in person, and drive it home myself.

Lisa and Nick were more than accommodating, and I was made to feel very comfortable while taking my time to decide. All 3 guitars were incredible instruments and it was a tough decision. Nick provided periodic feedback and assistance as I tried them over a period of about 3 hours. I never felt rushed, bothered, or unimportant. They made sure I was attended to but was not hovered over.

They knew exactly how to help a musician pick an instrument, and it is clear that they wanted to make sure I was equipped to make the right choice, and leave satisfied.

On the way out, as they knew I was a visitor, they even provided local restaurant recommendations, since I had mentioned that I was making my best effort to eat at great places while I was on the road.

I was, and am still, very happy with the decision I made, and with the entire experience of buying from DuBaldo music.

I cannot recommend them highly enough!

My only disappointment was that after a year of talking to him several times a month on the phone, I didn’t get to meet Pete in person, since he was out sick the day I visited.

Hopefully he’s feeling better now, and if I’m ever back in CT, I’ll be sure to stop in and thank him personally!

Thanks again to Lisa, Nick, Pete, and everyone at DuBaldo for a trying, long lasting,, but ultimately completely satisfying experience! The guitar is utterly amazing and will be with me forever, as will the experience of shopping with you.

Great service

Very friendly fast and efficient service! I love shopping local

Very helpful.

Excellent Quality of both service and instruments.

Fast and friendly service

We rented a viola from Rayburn. The first viola wasn’t put together right (something to do with the bridge). after switching to another viola we realized the bow doesn’t quite fit with the viola.
we rented from the music store in the center and it was a great experience but pricier. though Rayburn isn’t cheap either
they will be replacing the viola once more, lets see how it goes this time…

In store service is good but can never call the Hartford Rayburn Music. Electronic voice prompts to dial 0 for an attendant but when do so it says “Your call cannot be transferred” been a customer for about 3 years. Never could get done anything over phone. Have to visit store for everything.

STAY AWAY from this company! I rented a cello early 2019. We returned the cello in Aug 2019 and are still getting billed for it! I’ve called and left messages since no one picks up the phone in the Milford office where I rented and returned the instrument. No call back and monthly payments for the cello are still getting charged off my bank card. Had to file a complaint with my bank to stop payments. Terrible terrible business practice!

I would highly recommend John Fitzpatrick for guitar lessons, he’s great! John is my daughter’s teacher. He does acoustic and electric.
She is always excited going to her lesson and John. He makes learning exciting and fun so she wants to practice everyday.
With the way John teaches her, I can see her progressing each lesson without struggling.
John is very nice, enthusiastic, and listens to what my daughter’s goals are. He plays acoustic, electric, and also does vocals.

They were very kind on the phone and in person. Let me play test a mouthpiece

I am not sure what went wrong with other people but I have had really great experiences. Chris is Professional, helpful and knowledgeable.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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 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.

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 are new to the area and we’re pleased to have found this music store just around the corner. The customer service by telephone and in person was excellent; I spoke to a Chris and a Ruben, both of whom were gracious and helpful.

I had my 40-year-old folk guitar re-strung and re-conditioned for $25! To boot, Ruben was kind enough to tune my guitar on my way out of the store.

It’s rare to find a Music store these days. It’s even more rare to find a store whose staff provide such professional customer service. Will definitely bring our other two guitars in for servicing.

Staff is always attentive and polite. Knowledgeable and helpful with any sort of question about an enormous range of instruments. Plus, my favorite, they aren’t just trying to sell you something ! Melanie M helped me and overall the experience was stellar! Thanks Melanie !

The sales staff is warm and friendly-very knowledgeable about their products and options. I will definitely be back!

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

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

Yeah it’s good!

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

Being a Deaf mother of hearing 9 years old child that has no knowledge in music, I asked if this is drumsticks is good for him. This man just gave me a cold look and said I don’t know it’s fine. He was rude. Definitely not a Deaf friendly store for those Deaf parents with hearing child who wants to join the band.

My child joined band program at her school in West Hartford. Using their online system, I placed an order for instrument rental and a book for the program. The date I placed my order, they charged my credit card.

However, they never delivered the instrument until I called and confirm the status. The book was never delivered with the instrument. A week later, I called them to confirm about the book. They told me that it was back ordered. Since the book was available in Amazon for next day delivery, I asked Music & Arts to cancel my book order.

After few weeks, I still did not have my credit back for the book. I called them to ask for the refund, and the customer service told me that I have to return the book (which was never delivered!) in order to get the refund and hang up on me. I used the chat function on their website to explain the situation. Here, the customer service told me that they would never charge the credit card unless the item is delivered, and conversation did not go anywhere. (Again, my credit card was charged on the date I placed order!) Not knowing what to do, I called the store in West Hartford, left my phone number with an employee so the manager can call me back. No one called me back. I sent polite email to the manager, and also emailed the customer service. No response from anyone.

I will NOT order anything from this business in the future.