It’s the best music center I’ve ever been. The staffs here are amazing. You’ll get everything you need for a music class here.
Great dealer who was very responsive and packaged the guitar appropriately for the travel across the country in hot weather. I was excited and relieved that my very expensive Ibanez J custom shown up with a neck that didn’t resemble the letter “s” great people who care about their customers
Very Helpful Staff, bought a DJ controller, and left with great advise from the staff.
1. Excellent and professional staff (Mr. Chang and Mr. Lee)
I ordered the digital piano here. The staff is knowledgeable and professional. They are normally very busy, so maybe sometimes you will finds them “rude”. But they arrange everything for you and care for your needs. If you pay cash, the price will be cheaper than the Amazon price or listed price.
2. Guitar & Ukulele lesson.
I took four Ukulele lesson here. The teacher is Adam, he is guitar genius and could draft new songs based on your interest.
3. Pay attention to the front desk
The only drawback is the front desk. I paid my tuition and scheduled the lessons a week before. But when I went to the class, they told me I did not schedule any class and could not find my records:( They finally re-schedule the class for me. Just FYI, please call before you go and make sure the front desk schedule everything accurately. There are other comments regarding the front desk attitude and service, maybe the business owner could train them how to deal with the customers.
To sum up, if you are looking for professional music lessons or services, here is right place. Be caution to the forgetful reception girls:)
Used them for repair for violin bow. Had some issues with the repair but most importantly they made good and left me better off than when I first went over there. Will definitely use for repair work again.
The People Who Work there are very rude and obnoxious I am not happy with there service at all.
The salesman was an old Chinese man. He is ill-bred and dishonest. This is my first visit to this store, and also my last visit to this store. I will not step into this store anymore!
First time I’ve ever been here. One of the coolest music stores I’ve ever been to. It was so easy to see the entire layout everything was very easy locate. The owner was awesome everyone working there was awesome. And it seemed to have the most incredible prices. Very very stoked. I love it
Went to Jim’s music because my microphone wasn’t turns out to be I just needed a new cable, thanks to Alex for that one
Jim’s has great deals and a knowledgable staff. I have been a satisfied customer for many years !
Nice selection of guitars, helpful service. Welcome change from guitar center
I’m conflicted with writing this review but i feel like i need to put it out there. This review is only for the consignment of my guitar they sold. I brought the guitar in July and they sold it in September so turnaround time was pretty good and the front desk staff were really knowledgeable. He said the split was 70/30 so they would get 30% of the sale, I’m ok with that since they are finding the buyer.
They did an inspection and were really thorough with the quality (near mint condition). He looked up the guitar online and said the retail is $250 so if they sold it I would get $175. Great, the math checks out so we both signed the contract stating i would get $175.
Well they sold it in September and I went to pick up my check and turns out they sold it for $300, which means it was no longer 70/30 split. I get it they can increase the price after the contract is signed, but isn’t that a bit shady on two fronts? Told the consigner it retails for a lower price they actually sold it for and also sold a used guitar to someone above market price? Anyway, this is something I would shrugg off if it was like Guitar Center but since it’s a local shop this really rubbed me the wrong way.
Lessons learned, when putting items into consignment don’t put down a hard cash number into the contract, put down a percentage of what they sell it for.
Nice people but not the most swift customer service.
Employees are rude, unhelpful and one of them called my friend a “retard” for stringing his guitar incorrectly. I would go to Guitar Center every time over this place if there was one by my house, but unfortunately this is the closest music store around.
First impressions are everything. Walked in, two employees looked over and did not greet me let alone acknowledge my existence. Walked around in the guitar section for 10 minutes without anyone to ask me if I needed help. Employees were talking to each other about TV as I browsed around. My intentions were to purchase a guitar, and they lost a sale and a customer. I am never coming back!
Very disappointed in the customer service today. Went into buy a guitar for my son and strings for my Flamenco guitar. Short haired guy behind the counter was rude and dismissive. Probably having a bad day, but shouldn’t take it out on customers. I walked out without buying anything and went to a different music shop to buy the guitar for my son.
4. Everjoy Music
Address: 2660 Walnut Ave Suite H, Tustin, CA 92780 , Orange County , California , United States
Found Everjoy on Google and Yelp, and I’m so glad to find this gem in OC. Patrick at Everjoy is extremely patient, knowledgeable, honest, and helpful. I brought our son in to upgrade his violin and Patrick patiently helped our son pick out a violin and bow that best complement him. Buying a new instrument can be a difficult process, but Patrick made it easy. Highly recommend Everjoy!
Very easy, clean and professional. The owner is helpful and makes it easy.
Thank you, Patrick, for the beautiful work you did on my violin. It looks like new and sounds great. We are so fortunate to have someone with your knowledge and skill in our local community.
5. Irvine School of Music
Address: 15415 Jeffrey Rd # 202, Irvine, CA 92618 , Orange County , California , United States
My son has tried several music schools in the past, and also he has private tutors experiences, and the fact is all do not work out well until he attended ISM. He loves it and the teachers are professional and patient. We are happy that my son can finally find this place that he can enjoy the most.
My kids have been with ISM for 4 years now. We love the teachers and all the helpful staffs. It has been a great experience. Thank you!
Top notch school for musicians of all ages!!
My son started with ISM back in 2015 and is now on his RCM level 8 Piano. The teachers that he has had during the course of his studies and currently have now have been superb and helped him shape his musicality. For those parents who are looking for a good music school for their children I recommend enrolling them to ISM.
Not good experience. They need to improve the management and communication.
We had wonderful guitar classes for my son. Teacher was awesome.
The two girls I nanny were taking violin and piano lessons, respectively. I signed them up for regular weekly lessons, the same day and time every week, to fit in with our other schedules. After two weeks they called and told me they had changed the lesson times to Monday and Fridays at 8pm. Without any consultation, just changed them. This didn’t work and when I called to reschedule it was like pulling teeth! Finally we just decided to finish out the month of lessons that had been payed for, and not schedule any further lessons here. At our last lesson the instructor was a no-show and we had to reschedule for another day. At the makeup lesson the instructor was a no-show AGAIN and we had to wait half an hour for them to show up.
If you’re fine with a casual disregard for scheduling or employee responsibly, go ahead and take lessons. I’m sure others have had perfectly fine experiences with the music school, as is evident by the positive reviews. However, I am beyond frustrated with my experience.
I would not recommend it. Bad quality of education. The teachers change all the time (during one year my daughter was getting a new teacher
approximately every two months and had to start over). It is not worth the price.
I was here 10/16 for their Kids Music Day event and I had made consultation for at least a month in advance and the lady was rude. She asked my 7 year old daughter what her name was and she responded in which the lady didn’t even look at the list and said sorry you’re not on the list and when I said are you sure because I have a confirmation and she said you can talk to him to another guy which he was kind enough to say you can have a seat and wait for anyone who doesn’t show up for their time and then you can go. Not being racist or anything but the way the lady responded was not appreciated she look like Chinese and we are Hispanics, probably thought I was there for the free music lesson in which I was ready to sign up my daughter to play the piano but decided not to because she got discourage. These people know nothing about customer service. Anyways, I might not be the only person who can pay for classes because they have more students but you just lost a very long last customer here. You should re-train certain people on their customer service skills, especially since you work around kids. So disgusted with this schools first impression.
6. Music House | Melody’s School Music
Address: 600 Roosevelt, Irvine, CA 92620 , Orange County , California , United States
I love this place. I am a brand new guitar player at middle age and I had a TON of questions. The staff at other places were somewhat less than willing to spend time helping me learn new things and often gave me a derisive response. At Laguna Hills Music you can have a conversation with a patient expert and not a series of one word answers.
The staff at Laguna Hills Music is amazing. They have spent a lot of time with me, helping me get started on the right path. I decided to start lessons based on the kindness and honest effort to help me by the staff (Namely John). I am so happy I did… 2 months into my lessons and I am a lifer for this place. My instructor is patient and has a ton of useful tidbits to share. My lessons feel tailored to me and the prices of both lessons and instruments are extremely reasonable.
I appreciate Laguna Hills music for their part in this new endeavor I have taken on.
Great place for music lessons and to buy an instrument!
Laguna Hills Music rules!! This place is awesome!! Everyone here is really super nice and has great senses of humor. I like how there are 2 bathrooms in this place and there are plenty of cool instruments you can check out. Prices are great and service is fantastic. I highly recommend going here. 🙂
8. Guitar Center
Address: 20 City Blvd W Suite 907D, Orange, CA 92868 , Orange County , California , United States
When I came, it was a little under staffed, but the service I did get was quick, easy, and superb!
Está muy bien. Muchos instrumentos musicales
Nice place
Great place for last minute shopping.
Not many music stores left.
They have a great selection of guitars (electric and acoustic) and other good quality instruments as well as plenty of accessories. The only down side is that there’s never enough employees going around for assistance but it is a big location so its understandable.
Staff not helpful. Drive to FVGC. Worth it. Guy in accessories was helpful tho in buying a Boss Loop.
Very Rude
Really bad, guy name Steve that was attending the line arrive at the same time as me just to say the store is close with out the courtesy, my church its buying more then 100,000.00 on equipment, this os a big disappointment
9. WePlay Music
Address: 5321 University Dr Suite H, Irvine, CA 92612 , Orange County , California , United States
My 4-year old is in the Intro Piano group class and loves it. She looks forward to going to class and seeing her friends every week. The facility is very clean, accommodating and everyone is very helpful.
My 6th year old daughter and husband love this place and we are so happy with Mr. Andy! He is awesome and a talented piano teacher! We are so happy to be a part of We Play Muisc!
Such a great neat music school. Teachers here are professional and patient. The whole atmosphere is very uplifting. Love this school. Already recommended it to friends and they all love it!
10. Yamaha Music Center
Address: 4620 Barranca Pkwy Suite 4620, Irvine, CA 92604 , Orange County , California , United States
This music studio is very disorganized and doesn’t run their business properly.
The school is very disorganized and wasted 30 minutes of my time. They told us to wait for previous class to finish, and after we waited for 30 minutes, they let someone else go to the class. I came back early from office and this behavior is totally unacceptable. We are not returning to this place after this horrible experience.
I was trying to see if my kids are interested in music so I took them to yamaha music center. they were nice before they sign you up but after they get all the fees they show their true color.the place is grimmy and the management terrible. I’m not happy and I’ll be looking or a new place.
Mr. Okkyum is the best for your needs on violins! We purchased ours a year ago for my son and we are so happy with everything from service to quality! He is kind and trustworthy! Can’t wait to get a custom violin hand made by this legend! Super friendly and the best around! Lucky to have you in Irvine! Thank you!
Mr. Kim came highly recommended by one of my colleagues and now I see why. I had a heavily damaged varnish spot on my instrument and he fixed it beautifully. Throughout the process he communicated well, was respectful, and priced affordably. Definitely recommend!
This clean, organized, easy to find shop is full of various string instruments hanging in varying stages of creation to completed inventory displayed for purchase. Thankfully, parking is ample in the Irvine Spectrum area business complex, so I showed up at my pre-arranged appointment on time.
Mr. Kim greeted me right away. He is affable, knowledgable, diplomatic, efficient, honest. He looks youthful. Later, I realized he keeps good energy in his demeanor & eyes because he lives love for his craft.
I brought in a basic beginner 3/4 violin not touched in 40 years. Mr. Kim helped me inventory the entire ownership process–first in weighing to decide keeping it versus donating it & purchase a newly made original Okkyum Kim violin ready to be handled. Then, discussing the reconstruction, excavation, improvement efforts required. Finally, sentimentality won and I found myself committing to my violin investment project. The roughly treated wooden instrument needed mucho refurbishing; a new bridge & strings, replacement bow. Mr. Kim’s technical, specialized abilities revived the dusty forlorn into a buffed, tuned fiddle ready for carrying sound in only a week’s time, & his shop is busy, the business pace is controlled by setting appointments.
Mr. Kim’s personality & brand vibrates quality & sincerity. He is a treasure trove of knowledge & a cool conversationalist. Ask him all of your questions! Meeting him was a pleasure & having done business with him was a lucky break. This guy is trustworthy. I can’t wait to outgrow my refurbished violin so I can buy a new one Okkyum Kim has personally handcrafted.
Not a big selection. Still very nicely presented though, and the man was very nice and accommodating.
14. JRR Shop
Address: 10925 Kalama River Ave Suite E, Fountain Valley, CA 92708 , Orange County , California , United States
Super friendly/accomodating. Got my first guitar set up here, came back a few months later for a loose pickup and they fixed it for free (I was too scared to take off the pick guard myself)
JJR Shop has been around for years. I originally found them through eBay. Since I live local to the company HQ I decided to give them my business and found them to have the best prices and excellent service.
The folks at JRR are awesome. I dropped by their warehouse to pick up a new synth. Unfortunately, there was a manufacture defect, but jrr were quick and very responsive. Gave me a new one without giving me any hassle. Also they have a pretty interesting catalog and the best prices for what i was looking for.
JRR Shop is a fraud. They misrepresent themselves and will tell you anything to make a sale. THEY WILL NOT backup their word on what they’ve said in the selling process. They continue to lie when challenged. They’ve scammed over $160 from me over a SONAR product which they said could be upgraded. Fact is it can’t be upgraded from the SONAR product that was and is installed and registered on my machine. DON’T DO BUSINESS with these people. They need to be out riding their bikes as depicted in their write-up about how JRR Music Shop was born. That’s BS for sure. I have a PayPal claim against these scam artists right now. Also, I’m in the process of complaining to the Internet Crime Complain center. They must be stopped. Truly, this is a case of BUYER BEWARE. Don’t trust these people …
… Well, good news is they just refunded my money. Perhaps they are well intentioned but lack the experience in good selling and customer service practices. Certainly, they need to improve.
Avoid online shopping with this store. I’ve purchased from them twice and both times there was a significant issue. Once the shipping took forever and they were not communicative and the other time, a product that was listed as ‘new’ was clearly used, with the packaging all bent up and messed around and a dent on the screen and all! No apology, no offer to make it right, etc.
I purchased an item from this company 2 months ago. I never received the product. All their directions to download did not work. After weeks I received a phone call from a tech guy who had no idea how to fix the issue and told me he would resolve it. I never heard from anyone again. I requested my money back several times and never got any response whatsoever. I paid my hard earned money and got nothing. They totally ripped me off!! Don’t do business with these people.
Never shipped what I ordered for a year. Refused to process a refund and only offered a gift card. Had to file a claim with my credit card company.
15. Guitar Collector
Address: 940 W Chapman Ave #102, Orange, CA 92868 , Orange County , California , United States
Took a stole through on our way home from work. Talked to Dustin a bit and checked out the rad collection of axe’s. Great shop and a ton of good stuff! Way better than anything else in Orange. Eff guitar center check this spot out.
Great selection of guitars. Knowledgeable service will definitely come back to buy more guitars md amps. Good experience.
Jerry knows guitars and is honest, both qualities that are rare in this industry. If you want someone to kiss your ass for a sale, look elsewhere.
VERY PROUD OF HIS STUFF
The worst costumer service experience i’ve ever had, I went with my 11 year old son looking for a guitar, but the person was very rude and unprofessional. We felt so unwelcome here. Definitely will make sure to not come back!
No fun to be lied to, several times. Dude apparently thought I was stupid. I’m not one to prove myself, but considering that I have over 20 years experience dealing in vintage guitars, am a professional musician, a published writer (about vintage guitars) AND have toured the world as a guitar tech was more than enough to spot the incredibly lame attempts at downright fraud in this store. Good luck with that kind of business model. The vintage guitar world is dying, and to alienate a customer that actually spends $ and is under the age of 50 is just fu*%king laughable. My first time ever writing an online review of a store. This experience was so bad that it had to be shared.
This place is overpriced and nothing close to top tier boutique or collector vintage grade like you should expect. These guys are new here from Arizona with expectations to pull fast ones on people with money here in Orange County please do your own research. There experience and expertise is minimal they are all talk and give nothing for your instrument in cash or trade. Low attention to detail and low grade educational background in this industry with pathetic information on there instruments and nonsense story’s backing them. The gear they have is not clean or setup and dialed in and the owner is a rude no it all ego maniac that thinks his store and what he has is the best period. Won’t last.
16. Constellation Musical Instruments
Address: 3701 W McFadden Ave, Santa Ana, CA 92704 , Orange County , California , United States
en la vompra de mi bajo quinto se me hace muy buena tienda en ámbito musical precios razonables y personal calificado en reparación de instrumentos el servicio es bueno..y honesto creo yo. como disen por ahi so far so good. hehe. personalmente se las rrcomiendo ami me queda kejos pero igual seguire visitandolos u ordenando por on line saludos colegas musicos
Buena selección de instrumentos musicales y excelente atención de los muchachos
im relly happy, this guys have a very good prices , exellent customer service
The place is awesome and has a wide selection to choose from but service was a bit of a problem.
It only went bad when I asked for a guitar if it was still available , I asked them through social media and I never got a response back. Better just to go in person but it sucks because you’ll probably not find what you want and could’ve been easily dealt through message :/
Im sorry and im not a cheap person but i asked for a 2 tone accordion they have hohner anacleto for more than $7000 that about 2500 more than the hohner store its self.
Was okay went to get pack of string for guitar one of the employees helped me put on one of the strings but I believe when he opened the pack he left the B string in the shop instead of the pack and know that my B string snapped I can’t replace love the service though
I came to this place because a close friend recommended it. I was also in a bit of a rush to restring my acoustic guitar because I needed it by 3pm and I did not want to wait 2+ hours at Guitar Center. So I left my guitar for a couple hours, and bought a set of strings that the guy recommended. Turns out when I came back I notice some scratches on my guitar. I should have just gone to Guitar Center and waited for a bit more because I knew that would never happen there. Also I was really disappointed with the quality of the strings. My previous strings gave a much richer and clearer sound. The whole thing costed me like $32 when I could have gone to Guitar Center and had my TAYLOR polished (without any scratches), restringed, and tuned for $19.99!! I would not recommend this place if you want new strings. I also called them and left them my name and number but they did not even call back. I was considering in buying some gear here but was disappointed on their poor customer and way they take care of your instruments.
17. Guitar Center
Address: 23811 El Toro Rd A, Lake Forest, CA 92630 , Orange County , California , United States
It’s guitar center…the sell guitars
I was looking for 4 items and they didn’t have anything I needed.
I wish they had a more varied selection in the drum room, but they have deals, good amount of items in stock, and a friendly and attentive staff. Probably the best Guitar Center in Orange County.
Always new personnel…Lots of damaged merchandise, poor stock on hand/same stuff in the same spots months later…weak, compared to the selection in other stores like Fountain Valley. Many acoustics are locked up? They’re in a room? That’s enough security/they’d have to walk through the store, past the cash register to steal it!!? Very slow at cash register, mega slow. Guitar tech is good but about 3 week turnaround. Sadly, this is what we get in South OC. I’ve left many times and found what I’m looking for at the FV store.
They’ve had that Coal Chamber poster in their window for close to 15 years now. Do people still even listen to them? Anyway, this place is just as terrible as any other Guitar Center. Same TSA-styled checkpoint when you enter and exit. Same boneheaded staff. Same Rock N’ Roll Wal-Mart vibe too. On a brighter note their selection of tacky Flying V guitars is exceptional so if you happen to be looking for an axe with a goblin painted on it you’re in luck.
Horrible staff, never return to this personal store, Guitar Center is the worst customer service
Customer service while trying to purchase items here is absolutely horrible. Plan on standing around for at least 20-30 minutes waiting for someone to help in any department.
18. Tustin Music Center
Address: 13721 Newport Ave #9, Tustin, CA 92780 , Orange County , California , United States
Tustin Music Center has a strong community feel, excellent music teachers, and very reasonable prices. A great place for people to fall in love with music!
Tustin Music Center – a fantastic, hometown music school and store with a great group of staff and teachers. My son has greatly benefited from the excellent teaching and our whole family loves coming in and learning about the wide variety of instruments on display.
Very good stock, extreme polite and professional. Quality of instruments are best!
The owner (wife) is extremely rude. Came in to buy a shoulder rest for my daughters violin. Asked for a specific brand, told me that they do not carry it and said that brand sucked. Told me to buy a no name brand which was more expensive than a major brand. No thanks. Rather buy it from Amazon.
I asked about a rental and they said they would get it in for me in a week and call me about it. I called a 2nd time and they said they would call again. Yet again to my surprise they never returned that call.
Offer some quality low prices countryman mini microphones gentleman seem interested and told me he would call me the falling week…weeks have passed and I never heard anything from him to this day. Not really professional if you ask me.
19. QDString. Inc.
Address: 5400 Trabuco Rd Suite 120, Irvine, CA 92620 , Orange County , California , United States
I stopped by Newport Guitar and Music after working on a Yacht at Newport Harbor Slips, I live in San Diego, so I wanted to check out a new guitar store on my way home. I have been looking around for another electric guitar and have been doing a lot of research on low cost, yet high quality guitars, it is amazing that there are some low cost guitars that are good to very good quality. I walked into to the store and was greeted by Kim, the owner – he was giving a lesson – he said feel free to play any guitar, there are picks on the counter and plug into a amp and try any guitar. Well, that was all I needed 🙂 I saw two guitars both were Tagima, a Brazilian brand, while its a brand I hadn’t come across my research at the time for low cost but good to very good quality electric guitars. I tried both a Telecaster body style and a Stratocaster Style both played very well, amazingly well. I started with the Tele body style and was tuning it up, and Kim asked if I would like to use a tuner and he had some I could use, I explained I had an app on my phone, and I found that a really nice touch that he offered. I had a Fender Telecaster that was a reissue MIJ pink paisley, and had that since i was 16 I loved that guitar but had to sell it when I moved back to San Diego about 7 years ago, I had it for 30 years I picked the Tele body style. I played in a few bands did a bit of recording in SD and SF, toured a bit, when i was 16-21, I’m not a bad guitar player, I love playing very much. I’m now at a point where I’m really into some of the more technical aspects of playing through and through from amp selection, to effects and to how you ‘play’ the guitar it does matter, and the body types and on and on. The prices were exceptional and they both played extremely well, and sounded great! Kim is a great person and I really enjoyed his friendly, and warm welcome, and his approach. I played for about 30 minutes on the two guitars. Kim asked me how things were going a few times, in a very nice way, just to make sure I was ok. Great shop, great service, and I have a feeling I’ll be going back – I’m already in love with this guitar and saw a few other Tagima models when I did more research on them after I purchased it this evening. For me, there are those rare time when you just pick up a new guitar you haven’t played before and it feels good and plays well, you kinda of know it right away. This was the case for me with the Tele body Tagima I bought For guitar enthusiasts, there aren’t many re sellers/distributors of the Tagima brand guitars, I already highly recommend them, and Kim is a great person to buy them from. Thanks Kim! Great and awesome experience I really appreciate it. I love my guitar!
I’ve been taking guitar lessons here for over a year now with Kim and have only great things to say! Kim takes a first principles approach to teaching and knows exactly what’s needed to take me to the next level in my playing. If you need a teacher with in-depth experience, musical theory knowledge, Kim will help you manifest into the best guitarist you can be!
Most importantly, Kim is a warm and fun person to learn from – making my lessons with him a key highlight of the week.
I come out to California once a year to visit with family, and this is the second year I’ll be stopping by Newport Guitar to rent equipment for our reunions. The owner of the store is the nicest guy you’ll meet, and offers great customer service. As long as I keep coming out to the Golden state, I’ll be a happy patron of Newport Guitar.
