Premium music shops of Uptown: Our Top-20 selection

I’m confused every time I call it says the phone number is out of service yet nothing shows as the business is no longer operating?

Amazing place, staff was incredibly helpful, absolutely love the modular synth room

Guys at the front we’re very nice and helpful when we asked about what brand of strings to get.

Great layout and selection!

Lots of great amos and guitars. You just have to take your time looking thru everything.

There are better places to go in the area for musical instruments and accessories, but this place has everything you would expect from a guitar shop. Be aware of their hours as I have tried to stop by on the way to or from work to find that they were closed.

Pésimo. He ido a comprar una guitarra Seagull que estaba en la página web activa y no la tenían. Además la atención de los dependientes fue pésima por no decir que no era “atención” si no despachar a la gente, que por cierto no había gente.
It sucks

God I hate this place.

The owner ripped me off on gear when I was down on my luck..

I understand resale shops having to make a profit but this low class move will never be forgotten.

Becareful when you deal with them. They will burn you when your back is turned, and that’s a terrible feeling when you rip off musicians who don’t have money.

This shop charges ridiculous prices for gear and a lot of it isnt even serviced they are hoping the hipster musicians with mommy and daddys money can pay these stupid prices if you want to get ripped off go ahead!

Great little store for sheet music, lesson books, stringed instruments, and more.

An amazing place – a virtual cornucopia of opportunities for learning & sharing the joys of making music.

A cultural and historical landmark of Chicago’s many diverse and creative people.

Good selection of Martin guitars, sometimes sale pricing.

I love this place for seeing music and i know the people helping out today are volunteers but some of them were far from pleasant or helpful. Its ok not to know or for things not to go perfect but to take it out on the customers is just not a good idea.

Great place with VERY helpful, experienced music loving volunteers, and great talent! This is the third time I have seen Peter and Jeremy, the second time here. I sat with a friend and his friend upstairs in the upper balcony, which did still have good views and sound. Unfortunately, though, there is a metal ‘fence’ at each end of the balcony, and it should be a little wider, since it makes it harder to get to the seats, if you’re ‘well endowed’, as I am.

After being told I could have my 45 year old dulcimer restrung same day, I arrived, instrument in hand, to find out that it could only happen the following day. So again on day 2, I spent an hour on local Chicago transit – $10 – and returned to have the counter person tell me that they would not be able to do the work. He claimed he’d called me.
Turns out he called (leaving no message) minutes before I arrived at the store.
If you plan on doing anything more than buying an instrument, make sure you are dealing with an adult who has a grip on customer service.

Huge selection of guitars and basses with excellent service and repairs.

Great store, awesome support team. Strongly recommend them especially if you need any help making decisions about online purchases.

If you’re looking a place full of music and where you can test what you plan to buy here is your place. Great place even only for visit.

Update:
CME did contact me and reimburse me the cost of a professional set up, so I am changing my review. I do want to mention, however, that I had reached out to them about the bass before I left this review and whatever agent I communicated with then ignored my concerns. It was after leaving a poor review here on Google Maps that they reached out to me to address the problem. They also asked me what picks and strings I like and sent some, although it was weird that the strings were not what I requested but guitar strings. But heck it’s a freebie and I do play guitar so it works out.

Purchased a new bass from the CME website. Tons of fret buzz, truss rod was way too tight. Ironically, CME includes a little checklist in the gig bag pocket where the employee dutifully placed a checkmark near relevant items such as “No string buzz”, clearly not actually checked in this case. Checking the truss rod should be the first part of the setup. I have purchased a lot of music gear online, including two used guitars recently from private sellers on Reverb which were in excellent condition. Never have I had an instrument arrive in such poor condition as this brand new bass from CME. I am getting the feeling that CME’s online sales is really just a shipping warehouse, whereas I thought buying from what is supposedly a real music store meant the instrument would get at least a basic check and set up. Their “Professional Quality Certification” checklist, which states “For over 25 years, Chicago Music Exchange has backed all of the gear we sell with our own certification process,” is just marketing BS. If you don’t know how to do your own setups, avoid! Maybe this is why I couldn’t find this bass (Sire V7 Vintage 5string in Ash) with any other sellers in the US. Shipping was fast enough and packing was adequate. Bass seems ok otherwise.

Awsum guitars and friendly staff!

Friendly staff

Took my guitar in for a new set of pickups to be installed. When I took my guitar home I found that it was missing several screws from the back plate and one missing screw for the pickup selector. The back plate was all cracked and after a week the bridge pickup stopped working. When I took a look at the inside I could see it was a terrible soldering job that I had to fix. I am greatly disappointed in the poor workmanship and will never take any of my guitars here again.

A big company with a bad attitude, they own reverb too and these guys just puff there little chest and try and boss everyone around online as well as sell guitars for way more than they are worth. The place is full of stiff cats who think they are better than you. This is like the Guitar Center of Used gear. Awesome gear but bad service and respect. STAY AWAY

I will not likely return

unparalleled as a recording studio. This spot has the best, most caring and most tech-savvy staff in the entire city. Chief Engineer Rob Ruccia does a fantastic job with any and all projects he works on.

Great professional experience.

The facility had notch equipment and the engineer Rob Ruccia was masterful yet humble and easy to work with. Very knowledgeable and helpful. Had valuable constructive criticism but also immediate solutions. The best engineer I have worked with to date. The final product far exceeded my already high expectations.

Bought the Cigna ST must be 10 years ago or so. Love the quality and feels “right” For the money you cannot go wrong. Bought mine at a guitar show in Arlington Tx and after stopping at their booth, it ruined me with the other vendors. I kept going back to them. They are awesome to chat with. You want a quality guitar you cannot go wrong.

Great gear, awesome staff

Very friendly knowledgeable staff and lots of vinyl and audio equipment for sale

I have worked with Brian Lickel for the past few years and Music Direct for several years. In that time, Brian has provided me with superb advice and service for multiple purchases ranging from a high-end Mark Levinson integrated amp, Revel speakers, a Shunyata power distributor, a Hana phono cartridge, various cables, headphones and other accessories. Based on my experience, he has been honest, not pushy at all and has given me advice that has worked out great. He tells me when an item performs as well as more expensive alternatives and what works well with other components. In the few instances that I wasn’t satisfied with a piece of equipment, Music Direct took it back with no hassles. Finally, I have made some great buys from Music Direct, particularly with their sales and open box specials. While I still buy from a few trusted local hi fi retailers, I also put Music Direct right up there as a go to hi fi store which I trust, get great service and great buys. I enthusiastically recommend Brian Lickel and Music Direct.

New to the world of high fidelity, gents there are informative and use language even this moron can understand.

this review is for the physical store, I’m sure the online service is great.

The B&M store is an understandable compromise. It’s a warehouse that sets up a listening room in the back and room full of vinyl. great selection, and the whole catalogue of Mo-Fi masters.

so why 3 stars? because I think most everyone there hate people. You have to enter in through the office where no one acknowledes you no matter how confused you look, nor how long you stand there, Then when pointed to the warehouse door, more employees walk past you disinterested. Then when a sales guy came into the demo room (I was there to hear a particular pair of speakers), he acted like he was missing the finally of the bachelor and gave me very little consideration. It was to the point where I felt bad for asking for his help.

anyway, the vinyl room was great, and I think that if you go into it knowing that you will be talking to a bunch of seemingly disgruntled hipster millennials and other warehouse hermits, you won’t be as disappointed as I was. Long story short, I ended up buying the speakers from a different dealer because of that experience.

Love it

Poor customer service and poorly run business. They have a lot to learn regarding e-commerce order and inventory management. Ordered item, week later they tell me they can’t fulfill and to place a backorder in the HOPES it gets fulfilled in the future. Advise you to take your money elsewhere.

They called to verify order, that’s fine, but I was placed on an extended hold when I called back. Had to call again, man was rude and unfriendly, could not say when order would arrive, they are busy, so I cancelled the order. I’ve had nothing but great service from Crutchfield so
I’m never using Music Direct again.

Terrible customer service. If your trying to get a refund it’s nearly impossible. Buyer beware. I bought a tube ,and the sent me the wrong one tried telling me it was the right one . Clearly it was not it had a different number on it. Still waiting for the refund. They keep lying to me every time I call

Very knowledgeable and skilled

Awesome place. Give these guys your money. Prompt and courteous service. Always there when you need them. Do it! Do it now!!!

I recently had a Leedy #641 marimba refurbished and tuned (July 2015). Couldn’t be happier! It’s now a beautiful instrument and I felt that it was in the hands of people who loved it too! Andy (Gilberto’s apprentice) was communicative throughout the process.

Ebo is an extremely talented musician, and a humble soul. He is a good listener and has a great ear for music!

Excellent music store with a great, helpful staff. I’d highly recommend them for instruments, accessories, sheet music, lessons, and more.

Flatts & Sharpe is an awesome store for musical instruments (both purchase & rental) & they have the best repair services on the northside, with a great teaching staff as well. Such a great gem in the Rogers Park/Edgewater/Evanston area.

I took in a new electric guitar for a setup as it had a few issues from the factory. Justin had it back to me in one day and now it feels amazing. The action is killer low now and plays like a pro quality instrument-very impressed with the quality of the work. Cost was super reasonable. Real asset to the area.

Friendly staff. Fun little old school music shop. Sheet music selection kinda light. Look forward to going back, though. They offer music lessons, too.

My daughter says her Violin instructor is very nice:)
It’s better to walk there, if you’re local; no parking 4 to 6pm….
There’s a pleasant, vintage vibe.

I bought a couple things and had a setup done here last year. Their selection isn’t great and I needed to re-do the setup after I got it home. It wasn’t *bad*, but nothing was really done. Also, one of my strings broke in the process and they only replaced that one string.

When I called to ask about it because it had a different tone than the rest, they assured me it was just because it was new and that they used the exact same strings. (The bass was also brand new so that didn’t make a lot of sense, but I also didn’t know much about strings at the time so I took their word for it.

I just took my strings off for the first time since then and noticed the string that was replaced had a different color end than it should. (My bass has a string-thru body so it wasn’t apparent before.)

I don’t know why they lied to me about it, but definitely not ever going to go back there or recommend the place to anyone. Sad.

Took my les paul in for a set-up, and it was no longer playable when they were finished. Would not recommend.

i couldn’t believe how nasty to me one of the women at this shop was. feel terrible for anyone that has to work around her cause wow! i would’ve come here again as well if not for her!

I’ve been collecting and buying music for over forty years (mainly vinyl LPs) and I’ve been to hundreds of music and record stores. Rattleback Records is one of the best I’ve been to. The store itself is very inviting and it’s easy to peruse the large bins filled with an excellent selection of LPs (they also have CDs, books, posters and accessories) of multiple genres.
The owner/manager Paul is a musical encyclopedia and can answer questions or make suggestions across various types of music. If Paul doesn’t know (a rare occurrence), he’ll find out for you. The prices here are very competitive and the selection is outstanding. You’ll find both new and used LPs here. I always find something on each visit (which is saying something as I have over 1200 vinyl LPs). If you are a seasoned collector like me, or just starting out, this is the place for you, as well as anyone in between.
If you love music, you’ve gotta get to this store.
Odds are you’ll go home with some new treasure.

Great selection, fair to really good pricing and a very friendly staff. My favorite Chicago record store!

Great neighborhood shop! Owner was helpful with a great mix of old and new stuff!

I had no idea how pleasant it would be to return to the days of flipping through bins of record albums. The store is very well organized and the staff is pleasant. I’ll be back.

Good, but no Igor

I pre-ordered a record online from rattleback and when it arrived the item was damaged with visible tears on the cover and inner sleeve. I emailed twice several weeks apart and even offered to send it back with no response.
EDIT: rattleback reached out quickly and was able to fix the situation! thanks for your help

I don’t mind the limited selection, after all, it’s all about finding that one record that you need. What I can’t stand are passive aggressive comments, meant to ridicule me in front of another coworker.
When asked if I wanted a bag, I said yes due to the rain. Retailer A said to retailer B, “it’s wrapped in plastic.”
Can we just maintain a little friendliness in front of customers…please.

i noticed a ton of bootlegs for sale with no markers indicating they were fake. they are also selling free promo posters for $40. buyers beware!

It was a pleasure and honor to host the Chicago Diamond Trio for our Official Grand Opening Ribbon Cutting! They were professional, timely and provided amazing music! We are still getting compliments about the music and experience! If you need live entertainment, they do not disappoint! Thank you Chicago Diamond Trio! I will be booking again.

Guitar plays perfectly, and their suggestions of wiring configuration turned out awesome. Fast turnaround time to boot. Love it, will come here from now on.

I went here twice. The service is great. I brought 2 amps here for service and was not disappointed. They took real good care of me and I’ll be sure to come back.

my friend was very really happy with his improved guitar thank you

I recently had this shop craft a new nut & saddle for my classical guitar. This, of course, included a re-string and general setup to get it playing again. The work was done beautifully and I am very impressed with the playability of my instrument since then.

My only complaint about the repair is very minor. For some reason they took off the tape markers I made on the side of the neck. I can’t imagine why they would remove them, but whatever.

The reason it’s a 4 star review is because I wasn’t impressed with the customer service I received when I picked up my instrument.

expensive and small place

Nice place

I do NOT recommend this place. I sent 2 Instruments to them . A classical guitar for a professional setup / fret/ action ect. & an American Stratocaster to be relic’d. I spent well over $1,000 & the Classical guitar come back unplayable. The frets were sanded at such a deep angle you cannot chord the first strings at the frist fret without them sliding off of the neck. The action come back higher than it was when it was sent out. The list goes on. Its hard to believe for this kind of money they claimed they did anything. The Classical Guitar is now unplayable.

The Fender Strat they claimed to have done a relic job… i get it… you take a chance on not liking what comes back… but this looks like it was run over with a lawn mower… not relicd or aged… i immediately took it apart & purchased another body.

Money has never been an issue when it comes to instruments & studio for me, but this is by far the most horrifying experience i have ever had with an organization who claims to take pride in their work. It took me several months to figure out how to respond. Google Review is the best easiest solution to let folks know.

The website may look professional & inviting.. but do yourself a favor ~

Look elsewhere ~!

Have some fret work done back in the year 2015, for some reason, the frets are protruding beyond the fretboard!?

Had fret work done on a new American Fender Strat… what ever they used to clamp on the neck left indentations up and down my rose wood fret board… on both sides. There are other “issues” but this I see every time I pick up my guitar. I would look else where.

Love this place! Employees there are so helpful and friendly and they have a recording studio and a great selection of ibstruments

An excellent muisc gear shop with awesome service! Check them out!!

Kody is sooo knowledgeable and sweet. Also don’t hurt to look at. He could sell a glass of water to a drowning man.

Staff is friendly. Nice little selection if you dig around. Unfortunately they are not consistent with purchasing used gear. But always good for a trade.

Great service

Cool little used gear shop. They did seem to have some new items, as my friend purchased an amplifier. The employee was nice and knowledgeable.

Bad setup.

This place was a rip off. Purchased their 1 month 30 min guitar lessons on Groupon which was $60. I found it weird how Evolution Music was no longer available on Groupon shortly after my sons first day. Went before my 7 yr old started school and Josh still charged me the whole $120 without checking my Groupon and said we could extend his lessons for 3 months instead and was guaranteed my money back ANY TIME. A little later I started facing some personal problems along with my pregnancy and also my son was starting school. The latest lesson I believe is at 3 pm which was cutting it close. I asked for my money back and the manager refused. It really wasn’t even worth it at all. It would’ve been better if it was more than one day a week for a 30 min guitar lesson.