They are weird and judgmental and I just wanted a guitar pic cause I had an ancient instrument for Japan and I felt like they really didn't wanna help me. They just took my money and made me feel uncomfortable with a person of color. read more

I have been to this store more times than I can count. They always exceed my expectations. I play in a band, and we perform at least every two weeks. My primary Fender Jazzmaster guitar had a short in the volume knob and caused me several problems at our gig this past weekend. I took the Guitar there Monday and Michael (the owner) said he could fix it locally. I was hoping to get it within a week. He repaired it in one day. Most importantly, he only charged me $68.00 and this included installing new strings which I provided. This is a great business, and you just can not do better! read more

I bought a great guitar from Michael back when the store was in Newport News, and Authentic Guitars has been a tremendous help over the years ever since. It's wonderful to see them in Williamsburg. David is also an outstanding professional, and recently helped with a classic Fender string replacement, as well as outsourcing some neck repairs to a local luthier. It sounds so much better! Thank you guys so much! I love their consignment selection, as there's always something interesting about. The acoustic room is comfortable and pricing on everything in the store seems really reasonable. They also do music lessons. Check them out! read more

Fun place to stop and look around. Pretty neat selection of instruments and accessories.

Amazing guitar store, bought a squier humbucker stratocaster and a ibanez electric acoustic and both are amazing guitars. I was greeted at the door and they made sure that I was satisfied with my purchases before i bought the guitars and i got a amp too and it is absolutely great. Nice people and that young girl working did a really great job, she should get a promoted and a raise. read more

David helped me pick out my 1st "real" guitar. He knows how to make it a pleasant experience without any salesman tactics or gimmicks!

These guys are great! They have worked on straightening the neck on my 1963, Fender Jazzmaster, at a very reasonable price. I just took my Gibson Les Paul in to try and lower the action. David worked on it and could not lower the action without doing Fret work. I decided to live with it. More importantly he did not charge me since he could not fix it. When does that happen in this world? read more

I have taken lessons and purchased guitars, cases, strings as well as violin/fiddle supplies here. The quality of the instructors for guitar, violin and fiddle are extraordinary. These folks really care and they care to teach you. The owner, Michael, is knowledgeable, a great guitar player, and puts the best in his shop and that includes quality minded instructors. I've bought 2 guitars here and many supplies including my fiddle supplies. I spend a lot of time here - I'm 65 and take 2 classes - and I've also taken group guitar lessons and an Ensemble lesson. First rate! read more

I came in with absolutely no idea how to fix my guitar and was guided through how to fix the problem by a very catering staff. Will definitely be back. Great environment, beautiful guitars and equipment. read more

I got a ukulele from Authentic Guitars. The whole experience from the moment I walked into the store to selecting the right uke and getting some instruction from one of the salespersons was excellent. This is a friendly, neighborhood business with a very knowledgeable staff who are generous with their time and interested in helping you to find exactly what you are looking for. Their prices are also very reasonable. My uke cost the same as advertised online at Amazon. read more

Great guitar store for service and sales! The owner, Michael, has tuned up and done minor repairs on my 1971 Gibson SG and has restrung my Strat and Gibson ES-137. Expert service at very reasonable prices. I've also purchased a used Córdoba nylon string guitar from Authentic Guitars. Nice instrument at a fair price. I'd highly recommend this guitar store for its friendly, helpful, competent service and reasonable pricing. read more

Great customer service, competitive prices, and knowledgeable staff! Can do any repair and goes out of their way to help musicians of all kinds. They teach lessons right out of the store with a variety of teacher and styles available for a decent rate. Much better than any other music store in the area or online, and its good to know people who are musicians themselves and know what they are doing are handling my instrument. read more

My son and I went in shopping for a 12 string. We just started looking a few weeks ago and want to check out various models, and what the local stores have. Went into Authentic Guitars for first time today. Smallish store with somewhat limited inventory, but a decent selection and reasonable prices (that's why they get 2 stars). But it ends there. This is not a "user friendly" store. The owner followed us around the store watching us. When my son asked if he could play an older model Martin 12 string (about $1,500), the store owner said "are you planning on taking it out today?", then he said "could I show you something more in your price range?" How insulting! We had not even discussed price ranges - for some reason he just assumed we looked like we couldn't afford it. In any case, he certainly did not want us handling guitars. After I asked him "what do you think my price range is?" he finally let my 16 year old son play the Martin. Afterwards he followed and watched us in the store. He insisted on taking down every guitar and personally handing them to us - he did not trust us to even take a guitar off the rack! Even for the less expensive guitars - $300 models. He had to hand each one to us. It was obvious he didn't want us handling the guitars. And had some predetermined notion we cannot afford a $1500 guitar (we can, my son has a fairly extensive guitar collection, just not a 12 string). So dear store owner, if you read this I hope you take note that you lost me, my son, and all our musician friends as customers. read more

Not much stock to choose from. That wouldn't be a killer in and of itself but when I asked the owner about prices for Martin's LX Black (an all HPL guitar) and then asked if I could get the LX Koa which he had in stock for the same price (another all HPL guitar) he informed me the black version was cheaper because it hid the lesser quality top grain. Hello ... these are high-pressure-laminate instruments ... both of them ... there's no wood involved other than the internal bracing. The "Koa" is just a printed design. Strange that Martin's website lists the same MSRP for both. Ignorance or dishonesty? I don't know but I won't be back! read more