Staff is friendly and helpful Good selection and prices Definitely my go-to place for…read moreinstruments and service

Gave me great advice and saved me money. I updated a guitar amplifier simulation on my computer and…read moregot a message I didn't understand about "buffered pedals" and "impedance matching." They explained to me what that meant and why it wasn't a big deal for my situation. They could have sold me a bunch of stuff, but instead they were honest. Solid 5 stars.

I got my Fender Princeton Reverb 65 Reissue repaired by Trevor at Arcane Amplification. I am very…read morepleased with what I got! The amp, about 15 years old, started sounding a little funky. So I decided get it serviced. It came back sounding so much better - clear chimie highs and beefy lows. Trevor replace many old shabby parts with higher quality parts. It may possibly sound better than a new one. The only negative is that it took 3 months for the repair. But that is only because he is in such high demands and it speaks for his quality work. If you need you amp fixed tomorrow, you may have to go elsewhere.

TLDR This place barely answers the phone. They are totally unresponsive. They don't keep their…read moreword, and they don't call back. I can't comprehend how there aren't more bad reviews, considering a friend of mine who works at a local guitar shop told me I should have avoided this place like the plague, and that I'm not alone in my experience. I've really tried not to get to this point that I have to trash this business, but its been three months since I dropped off my amp, and I still haven't gotten a straight answer on whether it can even be fixed. I dropped off a Fender Rumble 200 with a bad pre-amp circuit board with them in December on a Sunday, after he made me wait outside for 10 minutes in the cold. Inside the shop was a haphazard mess, resembling what you might imagine seeing on an episode of hoarders, but for guitar amps. My interaction with the repair guy was pretty awkward. I'm awkward too so its whatever. He told me he had a spare circuit board from a Fender Rumble 500 in stock that would fit my amp, and that it would take him just a few hours labor to run a trace and swap out the board. For some reason, I interpreted that as I would pick up the amp later that day. When I hadn't heard from them near closing time, I called. Later I would learn it was shocking he answered on the first try. He told me he hadn't even looked at the amp yet, but he would get to it next week. Next week rolled past and no call. I waited patiently for another week, and then called them several times, and most of the time he never answered. I left voice mails but they were never returned. When I did get him on the phone, he mumbled something about being totally swamped, but he would look at the amp and call me back tomorrow. He never did. Fast forward two months, I call him, he answers, and to my surprise he has some news. The trace on the amp showed one of the other boards needed to be replaced too, but the repair would probably be more expensive that I was willing to spend. Otherwise, he probably had one of those boards in stock too, but he'll need to do further testing, if I was really committed to fix it. I informed him I only paid $100 for the amp, and that I am willing to put several hundred more into the repair, considering a new Fender Rumble 200 costs around $600. He told me he would look further into it and get back to me. Its now March, and I haven't heard anything. Periodically when I happen to remember I even own the amp, I call and they don't answer. So, I give up. I only wanted this extra bass amp for my band mate who has been coming over to my tiny office to jam for the past three months, while our drummer was on an overseas trip. Our drummer returned, and we're back in the studio with our big boy amps. I have no need for a practice amp anymore. Arcane Amplifiers, if you're reading this, go ahead and keep my amp. Its my understanding that its incredibly difficult to find replacement parts for a Fender Rumble, and most repair places won't even consider fixing them. Maybe the parts of my amp might help some other poor soul who gets duped into buying a broken one like I did. I'll just consider it a lesson learned, and in return for your services, I'm leaving you this review. Have a nice day.

Full disclosure- I am not a musician and I don't know anything about drums so I can't comment on…read morethe quality of the selection or the knowledge of the staff in that regard but popped in to get a new pair of concert ear buds before a show. The lovely human working that day was so kind and helpful. As someone who is making an effort to buy things at locally owned places instead of big box retailers, I appreciated that while they did not have a large selection they did have some variation and the $20 pair I bought was much cheaper than what you see online and they worked so well. So if you ever find yourself in Portland for a show and need a pair- Rhythm Traders has you covered.

I can't say enough great things about Rhythm Traders! I was helped by two different employees who…read moreenabled me to close deals on a used cymbal stand and used hardware case. Being a musician and writer, I'm always on a tight budget, so I appreciate their recommendations.

James Hingston is a wonderful luthier and guitar techincian. Recently I gave him a custom made…read moreEdenhaus , Chambered, Set-neck Strat style HSS wiring with Seymour Duncan pickups. This guitar also has an awesome Wilkinson Trem, Planet Waves tuners on a Birdseye Maple Neck with a Pau Ferro fretboard. It needed routing, fretboard work and wiring to get it to a wonderful playing condition. James came through as always with excellent, excellent work. This sounds and plays like a dream!

I brought in my tired 70's guitar that was incredibly difficult for me to play. The action was too…read morehigh, the neck was starting to bend and my strings were probably as old as I am. James was friendly and has an affinity for older foreign guitars which made me feel like I was leaving her in good hands. I didn't have much hope for this decrepit, soulless noisemaker, but he brought it back to life and gave this bird a new song. He even replaced it's crappy plastic nut with a fauncy new one, made from bone, at no extra charge! James treated my guitar with love and made this Blue Bird sing again.

I brought in a couple of guitars, one for a setup and pickup swap and one for a SS refret. Very…read morehappy with how both turned out! My 80's Charvel plays better than I could've hoped for. I can't recommend PFW enough, I definitely got my moneys worth

I've had a half dozen guitars rewired and set up by Sam and Roy at Portland Fret Works - Teles,…read more335s, Martins. I'll be bringing in a Taylor this week. There are no better guitar techs in Portland. I'll be a customer for life. - Mike Rodrigues, Portland

Very nice people. I brought in two instruments to get an estimate to get them serviced. They were…read morevery helpful. They have technicians on-site on Tuesday-Thursday and those are the only days you can get an estimate for service.

Came in just to have a flute checked out. I had purchased it unseen off eBay and wanted to see…read morewhere it stood and what needed to be done. They told me what (more or less) I already knew about the instrument and then walked me through the options for repairing it using them. I chose that. They told me two to five days and it was barely two. The repairs were great and the service was awesome! The older gentleman is also a wealth of not only musical and instrumental knowledge but also the history around so many things that you can only get by being in the field for a long period of time.

Mike has single-handedly kept my guitars in shape for over a decade…read more I wouldn't consider letting anyone else touch them. We've all had our bad experiences with instrument repair, not many things can be so frustrating and demoralizing, which is why I've stuck with Mike and followed him through his many stops. He takes extra care to make sure I'm happy with the work, from explaining what I'll need upfront, to minor tweaks to suit my needs before the guitar leaves the shop. He even helped me figure out a few songs my cement fingers were having trouble with. I am fully confident in recommending Sound Service to you.

I met Mike when he bought a piece of gear off of me and he informed me that he also does tech work…read more I was immediately interested, not only because Mike is a super nice guy, but after having lived in SF for some time, I had become disenchanted with most of the guitar techs in the city. In my experience most charge an arm and a leg for routine work, and don't have much time on their hands to interact with their customers. After doing some inquiry into Mike's reputation (which was stellar) I decided to give him a call about refretting what was probably my most prized guitar. We spoke for almost an hour in person going back and forth about my options and his recommendations. Ultimately, his recommendation is what I decided to go with. I could not be happier with both Mike's work and his advice. My guitar has never played better and his refret job was superb. In addition his prices were fair and reasonable. Mike is a stand-up guy, excellent tech, and I wouldn't hesitate to call him for any work in the future.

I wanted to share my experience with Ryan Lynn, a master luthier whose meticulous fretwork is…read moreexceptional. I haven't encountered his level of skill anywhere else on the West Coast. He truly stands out in two key areas​ important to me: First, he can seamlessly replace a single worn fret, making the repair virtually undetectable. Second, he is adept at installing a new set of frets and perfectly feathering the edges into existing binding nibs (a distinctive feature on some Gibson guitars). This makes it ​h​ard to tell that the frets were ever replaced. He is simply ahead of the competition.

This was my first time with Eastside and was very happy with the service that I received. I had…read moredone some research and knew it was worth the couple week lead time for professional work. I had my single cut electric set up, frets dressed and a new bone nut cut for it. Jacob was the tech who did my work and it turned out tremendously! Just the right action and the nut is amazing, adding to the already great sustain. I'm definitely going back and will spread the word to fellow players. **I'm adding to this review the following day after not being able to put my guitar down since picking it up yesterday!! EVERY note rings true all up and down the neck and the guitar plays effortlessly!! What a great job by Jacob. Thanks so much!