Where to find the best music shops in Noank? Top-20 options

As a person with much computer knowledge but lacking in the audio department, the team at 1428 has been EXCEPTIONAL with advising and consulting me in the right direction.

Many places will happily let you overspend for something you do not need and I am finding that to be the opposite here.

I’ve been in automotive sales since 2003 and can be very troublesome as a client, I am handled very well here.

Nobody has more attention to detail, and delivers such flawless results as Bill. I did all of my own luthiere work for many years before meeting bill and now I won’t let anybody but him touch my stringed instruments.

Excellent work fair prices. The end.

The owner is a scam artist. I would be very cautious about letting him work on any equipment that you have put money into.

Ron is a rare gem. I know very little about music and guitars. Even though I only make tiny purchase,strings,pics, etc He treats me the same as any other customer with respect and personal interest.

Bought my first guitar here! Thanks Ron. Now I jam for the Lamb

We had great help at Ron’s guitars we will most definitely be going back

Superb experience, Eric and team went above and beyond. The knowledge and innovation coming out of Upton Bass is impressive and industry leading. I bought a wonderful 1937 King Montone bass with an carved lion head scroll and made friends in the process. When you visit, make sure to ask about the suitcase bass!!

Postings are informative and inspirational.

I recently sold an old Wilfer Bass on consignment through Upton Bass and I must say they made the process very easy and painless and got my bass sold for a fair price in a timely manner. All the staff were very helpful and Gary, the owner took the time to enclose a personal note with the check. Considering my bass was right at the bottom of the market these guys serve, I thought that was a real classy touch. I felt I was as important to him as any customer. If I ever buy a bass again, I will certainly visit Upton Bass first. Highly recommended.

I purchased a ply bass that had issues out the door. The geometries where all wrong (e.g., the neck was too thin and was not pitched to the back of the bass) and it had a buzz coming from the fingerboard and bridge setup. They were unable to resolve the buzzing sound and I took it it to a local luthier to have the problem resolved. I ended up donating the bass our school district and purchasing a Shen.
Also do not purchase bows from Upton. I purchased a $2000+ bow made by J.R. Silva, Brazil, which developed a splinter just above the frog within 6 months and Upton would not warrant the bow. I now have a $2000+ paperweight.

Update, 10/28/2023:
… as to your reply, yes, I initially thought this was a great bass until I started using it for rehearsals and the buzzing appeared. I thought it was something I was doing or even due to the new bow. I drove 4 hours one way to your location to have your staff address the buzzing issue and they shaved a high spot on the fingerboard near first position and the buzzing did not appear while I was there. When I returned home and started using the bass again for rehearsals the buzzing reappeared. I wasn’t about to drive an other 8 hours to give your staff a second chance at addressing this. Instead, I took it to a local luthier who fixed the buzzing through a combination of reshaping both the fingerboard and bridge (the bridge was set up for jazz, even though I had told your staff that I play mostly orchestral music). While working on my bass, the luthier pointed out the other issues that I mentioned in my review. I am not a luthier, so I would not have necessarily recognized these issues except that through pro-longed use I might have developed muscular issues.

It also wasn’t until your staff responded last week that they could not help me with the issues with my bow that I decided to post this. I don’t like to post negative comments, but I wanted to warn other potential customers of my experience. Your staff could not even help with how I might get in touch with Mr. Silva. If you sell someone’s product, I would think you would have some form of contact information. I spent a lot of money on this bow ($2000+) and NO I DID NOT CAUSE THIS SPLINTER TO APPEAR. I do not appreciate you implying so by your comment. Had your staff handled things differently, I would not have posted this review.

You, as an owner, could have handled this differently as well. You *could* have contacted me by phone about this, instead of responding to my review in the manner that you did, and I might have considered removing this review. You could have even contacted me directly before I posted this review, as several days had lapsed between my speaking with your staff and my posting this review. At this point, based on the content of your reply, I will not remove this review.

Lots of vinyl at very fair prices. Dan, the owner is friendly, accommodating and really knowledgeable about many genres of music. It’s worth the trip just to say hello to him!

Went in today and had a great experience with the owner! He was so kind and very appreciative of our business! Will be going back!

This store has a fantastic selection of records. Mostly rock, jazz and funk/soul/blues but Dan the owner is very accommodating. He also offers a guarantee on records that are priced and in plastic sleeves (pretty much all sorted records). Since starting record collecting a few years ago, I can now really appreciate the quality of used records sold at this store. Highly recommended.

Awesome place, really nice owner, great selection

Great shop great service.
I like dan don’t have a lot of mainstream music.
The quality of the vinyl is very high and the prices competitive.

While they offer an impressive variety of vinyls, their CD selection is lacking. Parking is difficult but not impossible. Overall a reasonably priced store.

I can’t actually give a star cause the shop wasn’t open. It was supposed to be open but they didn’t ( maybe something happened I don’t know)and neighbors say he comes in when he chooses . So I went to the telegraph in new london.

One morning my wife and I were walking around Mystic on our day off. We happened to stumble upon Mystic Disc which we have never been before. Being a huge Pink Floyd fan, we were searching for that selection. We actually found 6 records that I do not own. I was in such a great mood, finding these felt like I struck gold. Well Dan just opened the shop and we were the first customers in the store. So jokingly I walked up to the counter and said “Any discounts for a first time customer buying more than 5 records?” Clearly it was a joke as I was laughing and chuckling. Dan started getting defensive saying that he had a customer the other day that spent $239 (roughly) and another that spent a $100 and something. Then Dan gets very standoffish and begins a lecture explaining that if I ask for a discount and he says no, then I would think he’s an ***hole, but if he gives me a discount and there are other customers in the store, and they heard he gave me a discount, they would expect a discount as well. I then again told him that I was kidding and we don’t need a discount however, he made it apparent that he was going to because I asked. Dan made the experience for both my wife and I very uncomfortable. He also insinuated that we did not work in retail to understand his justification (there is around 25 years between my wife and I). First off, I would have to know someone well enough to know if they are worthy of the title ***hole. I don’t appreciate Dan making that kind of an assumption, being that he doesn’t know me. I also don’t appreciate that Dan pointed out other customers who have spent more money than what we were going to purchase. That made us feel belittled and not appreciated as a customer. This is not the customer experience I would provide to my customers and we most certainly don’t need to be taught the etiquette of being a customer. Unfortunately we will no longer return to Mystic Disc. We have other record stores that we can shop at that has a kinder atmosphere. It’s too bad it took this one/first experience to shop elsewhere.

Place opens at 11am, yet owner is barely ever there on time. Waited out in the cold and in nearby shops for around 30 minutes for nothing. Heard from locals that this happens a lot.

I ordered a vintage amp from Spindrift guitars. The amp unfortunately arrived dead. Spindrift was incredibly professional and helpful in getting the problem dealt with quickly and efficiently. It is now my favorite amp I’ve ever owned. Thank you Spindrift and a very special thank you to Whit. You all have earned a life long fan.

Bought an American Deluxe Fender Jazz bass and it was like new and sounds awesome! Description was spot on, I would highly recommend buying from Spindrift Guitars. The bass shipped fast and was on time. Corey was great to deal with!

I recently discovered Spindrift Guitars. Went there because they had three of my top wish-list guitars on their walls. Vince set me up to make my comparisons and when I chose a used, Epiphone ’59 Standard Aged Dark Burst guitar he let me compare it to a couple of Gibsons at two and three times the price. Really helped me decide. Went back a few days later and completed the deal. A great pleasure dealing with Vince and a great assortment of quality instruments. It’s my favorite guitar store within a 100 mile radius!
The guitar is proving to outdo my expectations!
Looking forward to returning and checking out guitars there in the future!

They really know their guitars.

An amazing shop, beautiful selection of instruments and very helpful folks.

Nice small ma and pa guitar shop

I brought in vintage Gibson Les Paul custom for a Re fret and they completely ruined it there was surface scratches ,chips in the fret board the frets were un even and buzzed. After 4 attempts bringing the guitar back to the store with the problems only half way fixed every time or even new problems I just cut my loses and brought my guitar to a real professional if you want it done right I do not recommend bringing your guitar here for major repairs

Awesome store. Good selection. Looking forward to my next visit.

Was exselent

Great service

Free demos on drumsets

Must be corporate thinking but if you go back a few years ago the had a good selection and quite a bit of used equipment. What happened.

I was surprised to find how reasonably their guitars were priced. Friendly helpful service too. I’m considering taking lessons from them

Can’t believe the nerve on some people. Kicked my friend out for playing stairway to heaven!!! The forbidden song is fake, THIS IS NOT WAYNES WORLD!

I don’t hate it I don’t know it

They kicked my friend out for no reason

Super friendly and knowledgeable staff, quick turnaround, beautiful piano. I don’t imagine I’ll be in a position to buy more than one piano in my lifetime, but if I were I’d definitely go back to Caruso’s!

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!

After 3 hours of piano shopping and driving, I didn’t have any high expectations for the last place, but wow… I was so very wrong. Immediately after walking in, I could tell that it was going to be the place, mostly because of the great selection! They had a huge selection of Steinways, and some Kawai, but they had an enormous amount of Yamaha U1s and U3s. It was hard to find a Yamaha I didn’t like! Finally, with some help from the owners, we decided on a U1, but the price still blew us away; it was considerably less than any other U1s we had found all day! The service was great, and with the huge selection, I just loved Caruso Piano Gallery.

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.

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 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.

I’m very pleased with the work Carl did on my old tenor. It was a quick turn around and my horn is playing better than it has in years!

Professional work and great service.