As far as know, this is the only store which sells professional grade brass intruments in the silicon valley. I tried several cornets and bought a Getzen Eterna here. I have been quite satisfied with both the intruments and thestore.
Steve Boughman went out of his way to degrade and mistreat me. The man was incredibly rude and condescending when he tried to sell me a saxophone in poor condition. Worst experience I have ever had in a music store. Disappointed and ashamed as a local musician that these are the types of repair people we have to deal with. Take your business ANYWHERE else.
This place is good if you have a high end musical instrument. I went in to repair my sons trumpet and they basically told me that they wouldn’t service it because it wasn’t a high end thousand dollar instrument. Too bad, I was actually looking to buy him a new intermediate trumpet for his birthday here in the next few months but they will not be getting my business.
5. West Valley Music
Address: 300 W El Camino Real, Mountain View, CA 94040 , Portola Valley , California , United States
It’s a small music store with limited items, but the staff will be helpful with any problem you have.
Very helpful staff. Went above and beyond to help my son for his first year in school band.
Took my flute collection in for a possible tune up. Was told that all but one of the flutes were unplayable. Guess my looks or money weren’t what they accepted there. Took my ‘non playable’ flutes, and commenced to use them to busk, there in downtown Mtn View. Odd that they were declared unplayable, yet I was playing at least one of them not 30 minutes later. Care to explain West Valley Music staff ?
6. Gryphon Stringed Instruments
Address: 211 Lambert Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94306 , Portola Valley , California , United States
I got two Steve Vai PIA guitars worked on very recently. Both were overdue for some TLC maintenance and adjustments to the setup and action. Additionally, the volume pots had a minor issue with a dead zone that sort of jumped from 0 to 2 which made volume swells more difficult.
Brian and company knocked all these out of the park! These guitars have never felt better in my hands, nor have they sounded better. The subtle adjustments to the pickup height made a HUGE difference in the tone which was very pleasing to my ears. And the volume pot issue is GONE!! Volume swells and playing on the quietest volume levels are now both possible again!!
Thank you so much to Gryphon Stringed Instruments, and to Brian and the team for the amazing work you guys did on my beautiful ladies! They both thank you for it and are singing like never before!
I purchased a relatively inexpensive guitar, an original Fretllght from Gyrphon some time ago. The guitar was properly packaged, shipped overnight, all accessories were present and the set up perfect. They exhibited the same care and consideration as if it were a remarkably expensive vintage instrument. I would recommend them without hesitation.
Never been there but, totally agree with the owner. We have a lot of crazy people in the world, music is the one thing that brings people together. Stop being a hater.
Very helpful associates!!
Great customer service and good selection of guitars, accessories and other instruments.
Good guitar repair.
had a women yell at me when i walked in wearing a MAGA hat was a worker
Nicely done Parkey way to bully an old retired American! Behavior like this would and will never happen in Russia!
Great selection! Courteous and helpful staff had knowledge for every member of your band. Guitar EXPERTS. Great place for the beginner who is dabbling or the professional who needs a fast and accurate set-up. Every accessory you could ever want and PEDALS PEDALS PEDALS!!!
Looking for a new toy to add to your collection? Looking for a new instrument you’ve never played before but always wanted to try? GELB is the place!!!
I was looking for a box to ship a guitar and this store had them available to purchase, where the other stores I had called in the area did not. Other than that this place had a cool atmosphere and a large store packed with instruments and equipment. I would definitely shop here for future instrument needs!
Very knowledgeable and helpful staff kind and courteous all around excellent experience
Good
Great customer service. Big instrument selection.
Helpful staff. Nice selection of guitars.
I’d love to support local music stores, but this one is overpriced and has a stringent return policy. I came in looking for cables, and after googling my speakers the staff sold me the wrong type of cables. Will not be going back.
Walked in and was asked to remove my backpack and place it behind the counter which was kind of stupid and rude. I was actually go ing to go and buy a couple of things easily worth over $400 but for that stupid policy they have, they just lost a valuable customer. Tell me, what am I going to steal? Fit a whole guitar or drum set in my backpack.
As someone who has been going to Gelb since I was a teenager all I have to say is “Please make it go away”.
What was once a well known piece of the music community of the bay area has become totally useless.
What was once a family of musicians active in the local music scene is now the Kmart of music stores, disorganized…impersonal…just another guitar store.
A couple of weeks ago I went there to get a couple of packs of strings and they couldn’t find them???
Today I went in to see if they had a couple of guitar boxes to ship a guitar I was selling, in the past the response was sure how many do you need, today the response was “We sell them for $15”, if they had said 5$ sure but $15? what exactly am I paying for? your stellar customer service?
Since the change this place has steadily gone downhill, please just let it go, make it go away, or at least change the name so you aren’t tarnishing the name of what was once an institution of the bay area music scene.
9. Portola Valley Hardware & Feed
Address: 112 Portola Rd, Portola Valley, CA 94028 , Portola Valley , California , United States
Seems like a reputable invaluable hardware store in a utopic enclave environment. Not many stores around but a community.
PV Hardware is an exemplary business. Very friendly and knowledgeable staff. We are often amazed at the hard to find items that they somehow manage to keep in stock. The prices are fair and definitely appreciate the friendly and helpful environment compared to other building supply stores.
great little place powered by ACE hardware ,best place to get something in a hurry.
Live the convenience though pricey!
PV Hardware is the general store for Portola Valley. It has a bit of everything and is a reliable place for your hardware needs. The staff is friendly and the prices are good, especially for this town. It’s just a bit small and the selection can be a bit limited.
I had a rather terrifying experience at Portola Valley Hardware just before Christmas. In the process of shopping for green metal fence posts to bring a small tree to upright a very heavy leaf blower with a massive chain slid/dropped off the shelf just above where I was looking at the posts. I put my hands in front of my chest/face area to protect against the impact of this massive equipment. I heard a popping sound in my left ribs and pain in my right wrist in that moment. The friend who was with me had to help me slide it back onto the shelf atop a heap of other things. Spent the next month recovering from this accident. Though I told the clerk about it at the time, delivered a letter to the owner and called the store and spoke to staff three times I have never received a word of apology or offer to pay for my chiropractic, deep tissue and acupuncture care. I am shocked by this level of carelessness and lack of responsibility.
When I told a manager at another local hardware store of my experience, he agreed that the owner or manager should have contacted me immediately and made every effort to rectify the situation. I now shop at that hardware store in Palo Alto and always receive excellent customer service there. The owner at Portola Valley Hardware could learn a lot from them !
10. Sono Strings
Address: 171 E El Camino Real, Mountain View, CA 94040 , Portola Valley , California , United States
They were extremely helpful and friendly! They had so much to offer at the store and had a bunch of options to choose from. I had a peg that broke on my violin and quickly came in to see if I could get it fixed. Thankfully, they could and I even got to see some of their supplies, which is where I will be purchasing from now on. Highly recommend
They can rehair cello bow. They are very friendly and gentle. Especially Abraham gave me some great advices about cello strings. Thank you very much. I will come again when I have some troubles with my cello.
Very friendly staff who are very knowledgeable about string instruments. They will genuinely and patiently listen to what you want and guide you towards the right choice if you’re a novice like me. Jason seems to have deep and thorough understanding of all aspects in maintaining/repairing/best practices your instrument. Abraham is an expert player who made my cello sound a way I’ll probably never be able to and helped picked the right bow for me by playing my cello with over 10+ bows. I’ll be utilizing this store and associates for all future needs. Highly recommend you do as well
Bad quality violin!!!! We rented a 1/8 violin but wanted to cancel our 3-month contract the same day we rented due to violin quality issue (black paint all over my child’s fingers with strong chemical smells on the surface of the strings and the string board, never happened on her own violins we bought before).
But the Asian female staff there refused, we ended up paying over $90 without playing for a single day!! She was also angry that we have rented another violin from elsewhere without going to them first. But we are very disappointed with the quality and do not want to bother exchanging for another one. And she kept asking for my current address and also read aloud my address from my driver’s license as if to threaten me. Horrible experience!!
The female staff also refuse to give me information of the owner and insisted that she contact the owner directly and would not give me a call if the owner refused to give me back my deposit.
We returned our violin after three months but they refused to give the deposit back to us 🙁
