Top-20 of music shops in Orís

Our 13 year old son has been taking private saxophone lessons at ” The Music Shop” for over 4 years, starting with Leo Liddle. Keith Wilson, a very talented musician took over as his teacher and we love his dedication and perseverance to help expand our son’s musical knowledge with the sax, while also making it fun. The expansion of his new location makes the updated atmosphere a wonderful learning environment, and also has great on site repair service.

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.

My Mom has not played her violin for well over 45 years.She and my daughter visited The Music Shop for the first time today and were very pleasantly surprised at the warm welcome and down home kindness that were shown to them. The owner helped her string her violin and now she can pursue her hobby once again. She told me, “It made my day and gave me back the gift of music to fill an empty spot I have had for a long, long time!”

I stopped in to play some of the nicer acoustics on my journey to buying a better guitar to age with. I also brought my Taylor, which needed a slight adjustment. My guitar and I were both treated with the utmost care and respect. The gentleman even made a point to wash his hands before touching my guitar and left me to peacefully play some of the superb and rather expensive instruments in the shop while he adjusted my Taylor’s neck. If I were ready to spring on a purchase, I would feel 100% at ease to shop here and make an afternoon of playing everything until I was confident in my choice. Superb shop, superb service, superb care for the customer. 5 stars. Once I’ve tried some of the other guitars I need to cross of my list, I will come back here for a Collings or Martin if those guitars win the next spot in my studio.

if you play guitar and enjoy finer instruments you got to stop in…. the best selection of quality acoustic guitars and a few electrics too for those who like to plug in. They will also match Sweetwater as well. So if you need a new instrument stop in and support a local shop.Very knowledgeable staff as well.

I purchased an Eastman E10D acoustic here. Jad them install a K&K pickup as well. Great service, great folks, great shop!

Had a guitar cable when I needed it.

Thé Owners are lousy business

Not many mandolins

No prices listed

My son takes lessons here. They are the best.

Guys are knowledgeable, friendly and well-informed. Have made a few major purchases here and am always satisfied!

Very Helpful

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.

Meh

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.

My daughter’s piano teacher in East Hampton recommended this store for the purchase of a piano. Thank you Gil for your help selecting one of your pianos. We purchased our piano several days before Christmas as a gift for my daughter. As it can be challenging to find delivery at the holidays, the store owner went out of his way to deliver the piano personally on Christmas Eve. The piano sounds wonderful and my daughter was thrilled. Thanks for the excellent service, wonderful piano, and beautiful music that now fills my home.

Gil is a super friendly guy! My son really enjoys guitar lessons with him!

I didn’t come to purchase any thing but the employees were more than happy to show me their selection and teach me about the purpose of the parts on the guitars/bass.

Very knowledgeable and friendly.

My daughter is signed up for lessons and her teacher is great (I hear the others are as well). Just try not to deal with the guy that owns it.

I tried to return my daughter’s Viola due to the school no longer providing classes. It was a total nightmare to get an answer in regards to my credit. They are very irresponsible and I am very disappointed by the lack of care towards my return which was even misplaced! Mom and dad are not helpful at all and he should really look at keeping them home, they make things worse!

Arrived at 10:00am (they open at 10am, but not today). I waited and they finally arrived. All I needed was guitar strings, but they had none. What a waste of time.

Good service fair rates.

Originally purchased an alvarez mf60ceom. Great guitar but I was looking for a different tone and feel. Upgraded the next day to this Larrivee om40. Great value from this guitar. This brand is their high end competitor to the likes of Taylor and Martin. Ken was super helpful and the exchange was hassle free. Couldn’t be happier with my purchase.

Great local place. Go to them for all my guitar needs.

Ordered a guitar on Reverb and Ken always answered the phone and was very helpful throughout the process. I ordered a Larrivee OM-40 and it was listed as brand new but definitely had a dent and 2 scratches which was disappointing but overall a good experience with the process.

The guitar however has a terrible extreme buzzing noice, especially when playing on the first 7 frets of the 4th, 5th, and 6th strings…even when playing a single note and strum lightly…a terrible buzz. I can’t seem to figure out where it is coming from. I will have to take to a luthier which is unfortunate given that it is a brand new guitar. He did say he sanded the saddle down before shipping to lower the action, suspicious that is the problem.

Update: Took it into a luthier. The saddle had been sanded down, action too low, poor job with the setup. Had to build me a new saddle. New strings, and adjusted trust rod as well. Buzzing gone. Sounds and plays like a dream!

When I can I prefer to spend my money at mom -n- pop businesses and A Sound Choice is a great guitar shop. Knowledgeable and they have a great selection of music making products. The corporate guitar stores don’t always hire staff that even know what a treble clef is so my advice is spend your money here.

Very convenient

The owners are great. Gail and her husband john know everything when I comes to the axe ( guitar ). If your just looking or buy ing please go there leave the big stores alone. Much much better service than and chain store.

What a gem !
The energy was wonderful!
And good prices

Gail Bruno one of the best caring shop keepers in the area.

Refreshing to see fair prices and a happy experience every time

we Buy, Sell or repair guitars , and any musical instruments always a delightful experience

Great Job Guys

CC

Knowledgeable staff, in addition to guitars, keyboards, etc… They have school instrument rentals

Nice staff

Absolute joke of a store.

Sent my guitar (Fender Jazzmaster) for connection electric issue. After roughly a week and a half guitar was done just for it to have the same issue. What a disappointment

Call before visiting the store. They say they’re open at 12:30 but don’t show up for hours after the fact. I get it, they’re a small operation, but wasting your local customer’s time doesn’t breed repeat customers. I needed to be in the store three times. All three times, my time was wasted because the store wasn’t open during their own published times of operation. Just rent your kid’s instrument from somewhere else.

Joe was very friendly and had a wide selection

My kids have been taking lessons at Greenwich music for 6 years, they admire their
music teachers because they are current and make learning fun. They really don’t like
to miss their sessions.
The staff is so helpful with scheduling to parents busy schedules and they
are always knowledgable and fairly priced on all the instruments they sell.
We have always had a positive experience at Greenwich Music.

A great store!

We were kindly helped in the store, but we were buying a guitar for our son and we don’t live in the US. We were having problems with internet so we couldn’t research correctly at the moment, but they assured that the amp could be used in 220 current. We arrived home and we connected the amp and it didn’t work. So the amp was burned. Apart from that the price was a bit higher than the same thing in other stores, it’s not nice to pay 50 dollars more, but that is just business and anyone can charge what they want. It was our fault that we didn’t do a good research before buying. But the very kind person that assured us that it would work because he used to be an electrician, and it only needed a basic adapter, was totally wrong and now we are home and we lost an amp, so we paid extra for the set and it didn’t work. You were very kind indeed, but please if you are not sure about something, don’t sell it. Because we lost money and we can’t go back because we don’t live there.

It’s a nice place! It’s a bit small but otherwise it’s nice.

Rudest customer service I have ever encountered. The man I spoke to on the phone yelled and hung up on me. When my daughter went in person to drop off the instrument for repair at the agreed upon time, he remained upset and kicked my daughter out of the store. Strongly encourage anyone looking to have their instruments fixed to look elsewhere. Disappointing experience to say the least.

Terrible customer service. Called and said I would be by in 10 minutes for an emergency repair. Guy was nice on the phone. When I arrived 5 minutes early they had closed up and locked. Super helpful…

Their hours aren’t very convenient and I was having a guitar strung and I dropped it off and I didn’t get a call before the store closed and then they were closed the next day Sunday so I didn’t get my guitar until Monday and that was extremely inconvenient. They also have a very small selection of basses.Update, they aren’t even open a couple hours on the 4th of July so I won’t get my guitar till Tuesday I am very upset with this store.

Great service, Matt and Jim and the rest of the crew there are wonderful.

Great service – they fixed my instrument while I waited, gave clear instructions on follow up care, and I was all set for my gig that night.

I’ve been a patron of the Middlesex Music Academy for over a decade. This is the place. THIS, is the place. If you’re looking for a tutor, repair or an expert opinion/guidance about music, THIS, is the place. You are not going to get the same care or interaction elsewhere; THIS, is the place.

For instances, their “repair guy” Joe Stereo, is the best. I have trusted him with my most beloved gear and he has treated my gear as if it were his own. He is aces. He’s always gone above beyond the call of duty in every conceivable way. Joe has worked on more than a dozen of my
instruments and I have never been dissatisfied in anyway.

Matt, the store proprietor, is a seasoned musician. He and his dedicated staff are generous with their knowledge and willing to work with anyone on any budget or otherwise to achieve their goals. I can’t say enough about this homegrown and beautiful establishment.

The bottom line, if you’re looking for a music store where you can build a lasting and worthwhile relationship with, then look no further than the Middlesex Music Academy. THIS, is the place.

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 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).

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.

My son and daughter both took lessons here. They have outstanding teachers. They also sell and rent instruments

I have been going to JC Music for many years and will continue to go there for my musical needs.I find that I am able to find and buy whatever I need at reasonable prices and quality.The staff is friendly and knowledgeable and my experiences there are always enjoyable.Thanks guys ,You rock!

My family has rehomed a few instruments and musical accessories through JC Music. The employees were so kind explaining the consignment program and taking the time to get us the best value according to the market. Everything proceeded smoothly and we will definitely continue visiting!

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.

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

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.

Great service. Got there right before the closing time. The owner was extremely patient.

This is an amazing store with a fantastic service. I walked in looking for a new Sax and Mark and Lisa made it happen. They were super friendly, answered all my questions, and made my shopping experience a fantastic one. Thanks! I strongly recommend this place!

Great customer service! Went in to have my daughter’s viola string replaced and Lisa was amazing. So much great information about instruments, lessons, repairs, rentals. She really took the time to make sure the instrument was working great before I left. Definitely will be back soon for all of our instrument needs. Thanks again!

Bobby is a wonderful person. He acts a guide not business man.

He give you best advise taking your interest in mind not his.

Awesome little shop. My favorite bass hadn’t had a proper set up in 14 years. I dropped it off with Bobby and he worked his magic on it. It plays better than it did when I first bought it. Definitely my go-to place for instrument repairs now.

Bobby and staff are awesome! Took my PRS in for a fret job. The guitar is phenomenal! I used to frequent his father’s shop in White Plains when I was a kid. Great to have these guys local! Thanks Bobby!

Everyone was insanely helpful from who I spoke to on the phone for customer support, to the guy that helped me out when I came to pick up the amp in store. Giuliano’s Music takes care of its customers. Will definitely be returning for anything else I need in the future.

Good service, very nice staff and management!

I went needing a pack of guitar strings to find out that they were closed. Their hours online say 12-4 on Saturday. Their door said the same. Lights off no one answered the phone. The time I went you ask? 3:25. EDIT:I have since gone back and they have been very nice and kind. Which has let me to update my rating.

Mark your awesome thank u

Our five grandchildren have been part of the wonderful musical experience at The Music Center of North Haven. It is a life changing program for us and a chance for them to grow individually and as a group as they play together. Their teachers are incredible, very talented, patient and professional. It is an investment in our youth which is very much needed. They can learn responsibility, a sense of accomplishment in achieving goals, positivity, accountability, confidence, commitment, work ethic, creativity, morale, overall uplifting and safe experience. They perform in concerts and in front of other audiences, which enhances self esteem. They also perform for friends and family and enjoy doing it. Everyone should check out the variety of musical programs offered at the center. Owners Mark and Mary are great, as is the entire staff. Just a little note from the Miller Family.

Can’t say enough good things about “The Musical Forest Cafe” !!! The food, service & atmosphere are all outstanding. I’m so happy to have such a great cafe right here in North Haven. I most certainly will be returning till I try everything on the menu.
Sincerely, Jan Milo

First experience here, but guy greeted me immediately and helped me pick out a capo. Nice feature to have a cafe inside.

Great place to get music!!

Great place. Definitely stop in.

UPDATE: To clarify, the small bag of “trash” was a small bag of shirts and pants that were out grown and not trash which the owner stated several times and now denies. He also forgets that I was sitting there in my car for several minutes trying to figure out what the poorly sprayed wording actually stated or if it was just covering up something and i even took out the clothes in the bag and showed it to him but he didn’t care and continued to argue with me. Again, I had donated to this location before it was deemed abandoned and was accused repeatedly to get my trash out of there. I did go down the street and donated the clothes to Goodwill. The issue I have is how the owner handled the situation and the accusations that were thrown at me even when confronted with the proof that they were wrong and I was clearly trying to donate a small amount of clothes and left when asked. Move this very prominent former donation bin to the back our your lot or put a proper sign up, chain close the handle or just politely tell someone its closed.

This music center used to have a clothing donation bin out front which I have donated to many times before. It has since been painted over with illegible spray paint saying bin closed. I was standing by the bin trying to figure out what the writing said and employee came out and screamed at me to take my trash somewhere else and was extremely rude shouting at me like I was doing something illegal. He told me to bring my trash to Goodwill. Would never bring my kids here for their music needs with staff like this.

Guitar tech could not look at my guitar because he busy making egg sandwiches.

This is a review for the musical forest cafe. I wish I could have enjoyed the food at this place, but this business is a mess. I came here a month ago on a Tuesday and they were closed out of the blue, so they granted me a 10% discount coupon for my trouble. I decided to give this place a try once again today so I called in advanced, but no one picked up the phone. I then googled their hours and noticed it said they opened at noon (I tried calling at 11:00 a.m.) but that they were opened today. To be completely sure about that, I checked their facebook page that stated, in fact, that they were open. When I arrived to the restaurant the owner greated me and stated that they have been closing on Fridays for the past 9 months and that I should have checked their facebook page prior to coming in here (REALLY?!). After explaining to him that I DID checked facebook he apologized and said he will change the facebook hours for his restaurant and offered to give me another discount coupon. I didn’t even bothered to take the coupon and left very disappointed by the lack of reliability and professionalism of this place and won’t ever be coming back. Places like this just reinforced my belief that going out of business is a conscious effort and wouldn’t be surprised if this happened to this cafe in the near future.

My son has been taking guitar lessons with Don. He has been introduced to many artists and looks forward to his lessons. We chose the Music Garage because we wanted our son to learn the basics and build a foundation for playing guitar.

All ways the best

Hi Donny

A little hard to find, but owner was very helpful in my search for a solid-woods Classical guitar. Looked at a very nice A/Yari. Has some nice guitars, but he is limited by space constraints. If the f-ups in Washington and the greedy sob’s on Wall St would all drop dead, this store would have a good chance of growing.

Had an excellent selection of strings. Plan on visiting again soon.

I got My sons cello at this store and the bridge was broken and the stand

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!

Fantastic service, fast shipping, and competitive pricing.

I’ve never been more comfortable trying out guitars in a shop. I drove over an hour to get here and the customer service made it completely worth it. They have an incredible selection of great sounding instruments and went out of their way to make sure I found the guitar I wanted. Highly recommend this place.

Great service

I am in awe every time I want to learn a new technique /song in any genre, and Pat either already knows it or can figure out an arrangement in no time flat! Any question I have about playing ( and I have a lot) Pat seems to have a clear and concise answer to. The only negative is he’s so busy I can’t make impromptu appointments at will lol..But Pat does work very hard to accommodate my and everyone’s crazy schedules . Doesn’t matter the genre Pat seems genuinely into getting you playing along with your favorite music. You can’t go wrong with the friendly , helpful , fun environment at Pat Russon music.

I have only been taking lessons for a few months, but I’ve learned a lot. Pat is great and makes learning guitar fun!

My daughter is very shy and introverted but the staff of Pat Russo Music brought her out of her shell quickly and the improvement in her singing voice was very clear. The teachers here are all VERY talented and VERY connected to what they do and who they do it for. I feel very fortunate to have found these guys. If you aren’t sure where to go for lessons, start here and make it easy on yourself!

Manager and Staff were excellent they were patient and helpful

We stopped in right before closing while walking to a restaurant, but the guy working was still super nice and offered to stay and told us to take our time. We’ll be back again, we were impressed

Customer Service. Period. Chris, Alex & staff are dedicated and attentive. Prefer this place to others because of personal feel/vibe. They are knowledgeable and not forceful. Great stuff here.

Yeah it’s good!

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.

JUST HIT BACKSPACE ON YOUR BROWSER AND PICK ANOTHER COMPANY. YOU’RE WELCOME.

Called your West Hartford CT store early today, after calling around to several other of your stores, to see if the had a certain string for my cello and if they could fix the one string today. Was told yes on both. My husband drove 25 min there to find out they did not have the string. Drove to the nearest store that had this string (which was an additional 15 min out from my house) and they had no one to help with the cello. My husband ended up purchasing the string. Had I talked to him I would have told him not to make the purchase. Now every place is closed so tomorrow I have to go to another store to get this string put on. We needed the cello for tomorrow so you guys were literally no help. I will be returning the string and doing my business elsewhere. I should have listened to the other bad reviews. First time customer turned into last time customer.

Go to the one in East Hartford much better . They only want to help when you make major purchases.

Imagine spending your life blowing air into a piece of metal. Unbelievable

Everyone is helpful.
They have rare vinyl records.

Small shop but has any parts you’d need are probably there and the staff were helpful.

Cool little music store with a certain old-school, pawn-shop vibe. Found a cool, used Kustom powered monitor/mixer and a short mic stand, useful items at a great discount. Enjoyable experience, since the staff was cool and helpful, letting me borrow a mic and cable to test my purchase before buying.

First, the employees were excellent; friendly and helpful. I was extremely disappointed in the store itself. This was basically a dark, messy pawn shop, not the store I was familiar with from years ago. My only reason to go back would be to pick through dusty items to find something I might be in search of, more of an adventure.

Was a dj for 30 years and bought and sold equipment all over Ct . I stopped in at lasalle music in east hartford it was a nightmare . Equipment from the seventies store a mess and the staff looked like a Grateful Dead fan with colored hair . So glad I moved on with my teaching at a high school

Sent me a different accordion with no straps and a case that should of been thrown out

Ordered lugs for my snare. They sent me receipts and invoices and never shipped my lugs. I called and emailed multiple times and never got a response back after leaving numerous messages. Been 2 months and I still don’t have my lugs and am out $60.

Caruso Piano Gallery is the best!!!!!!!!!!! Sold our piano quickly and at a great price. Very reputable, honest and professional people. Highly recommend.

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!

Really good experience working with them, I was a little scared ordering from the west coast without playing the instrument, but they were helpful in describing it and I’m super happy with it! Thanks a bunch 🙂

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 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.

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.