What a beautiful little shop with a knowledge owner. Great selection of unique brands.

Beautiful shop with a great staff. Fixed my Fender Rumble 200 fast and for a good price while another shop said it was "unfixable."

Great store, Great luthier! El Diablo has been my mainstay for all guitar and amp needs for the past 5+ years. I only bring my guitars to Alan when they need tune ups or extra love. He's knowledgeable, inexpensive, and always very quick. (Most repair shops ask to keep your guitar for 3-5 days. Alan has gotten me in and out for a repair in 15 mins!) The new shop is in a very cool space and a perfect location. His selection of guitars, amps, and pedals is very well curated. Including some pedals And guitars I've never seen anywhere else! Very cool shop, and now they have a great selection of vinyl too! A must check out shop if you're in the Twin Cities area. read more

I hate this place. Why give it 5 stars then? Well every time I come in, I ask something about tone or effects or amps. They tell me. I try it out. And end up buying the item. So I end up spending money every time I go in the store. As an FYI I have been a professional guitar player for over 25 years. This store helps me improve my sound every time I go in....I just wish it didn't cost money. read more

Brought a guitar in to have electronics upgraded and to get a setup. I gave a list of printed instructions for upgrades and setup. Received a call asking where to put a component and sent an email stating where to put it and called back to tell them where. After a few days I got the call saying it was done and ready to go. I went to the store and sat down with the guitar and immediately noticed that the electronics were not grounded, the pickups were at dramatic height differences causing incredible volume fluctuations when switching, there were several chips in the finish, the part I had told them where to put in two forms of communication was in the opposite place, and there were components that weren't screwed into the guitar and were falling out. I had to return a second time the next day to pick it up, and the electronics still weren't grounded, and now the guitar played terribly. To his credit he "fixed" the grounding issue and I now have a wire sticking out from underneath my bridge. On top of that I have two completely dead strings and the guitar frets out around the 9th fret. To avoid any further damage I paid (Got a discount for my troubles, subtracting one hour of labor, oh boy) and took my guitar out of there and will now have to pay someone competent to fix what he did. As a person that loves guitars, I'm begging you not to bring any instruments to this place for work. read more

Fool me twice. Shame on me. I've gotten a couple of setups at El Diablo. It's super convenient. I live in the neighborhood. The guitars end up playing great, but both times I've taken one there have been absolutely frustrating due to assumptions that their tech makes without calling their customer. I brought him a Telecaster that had an issue with the tail end strap button. I'd asked him to drill out the strap button and replace it with a new one. The next day I came back only to find he'd drilled an entirely new hole above the original strap button, leaving the original screw in the body. I could have done that myself! What frustrated me is he drilled an entirely new hole into my guitar's body without so much as a phone call. When I asked him to correct it, he left the new hole that he'd drilled in my body. How is this cool? Recently, I brought in a highly customized guitar hoping for just a setup. I've written nearly 2000 words about this design, https://aaronshekey.com/posts/cabronita-deluxe/ which included my desire to not have a string tree. I installed custom tuning pegs to mitigate the need for a string tree, leaving the headstock absolutely unadorned. When I came to retrieve the guitar from him, I found he'd installed a string tree without ASKING me. I ached when I learned he'd done this. I was mortified, absolutely embarrassed that took this guitar to him knowing he's done this to me before. Shame on me for bringing a guitar to him twice. Mentioning it in person wouldn't remove the second hole in a second guitar of mine that he's drilled. Getting my money back wouldn't have filled the hole and fixed the finish of the headstock that's ruined. I'll avoid taking my guitar to El Diablo again, regardless of how convenient their location is. Just mortified. Ugh. read more

My first experience with el Diablo was a phone call yesterday (7/25/17) after seeing that they had a pre-owned Strat I was interested in. Cody took the call, and thoroughly answered all my questions. He did turn the call over to Alan for some trade-in information. Alan answered all my questions, and again, I was very impressed. On the following day, I went there to road test the Strat. What a cool store; great selection of amps and guitars, and a quiet room to test them in. I bought the Strat, and was totally satisfied with the experience. Even though I was there for the Strat, I looked around the store a bit and I have to say that I found their pricing to be very reasonable! Thank You el Diablo! read more

I bring my guitars here to get set up. Timely, fairly priced and knowledgeable. Always a good experience. Thanks!

This place is just too cool. It's packed full of fantastic gear, and the amp room is what dreams are made of. Most of it is stuff you can't find elsewhere in the cities, and all of it is top-shelf quality. Alan is great, the type of person you wish ran every small shop like this. He's friendly, knowledgeable, and really wants to help you get the sound you're after. There's none of that pushy salesman vibe or condescending "if you have to ask, you can't afford it" snobbery here, just a genuinely welcoming and pleasant environment to try out all manner of fun and unique musical delights. Definitely the best experience I've had buying an instrument around town and a great local business I'm happy to support. read more

Have brought two guitars here to be set up and I could not be happier. Speedy service, reasonably priced and Allen is great at what he does. I trust him. In fact my second guitar I brought in he found a very small defect in the neck that was making a buzzing noise and since it was still within warranty I was able to get a full refund and order a new guitar. There are many other places closer to my house but I will continue to make the drive to come here and get quality service. read more

Super helpful, honest and experienced staff. They've always given me high quality advice/recommendations, and have been very willing to work with me when I want some labor done that's not exactly normal. They stand behind their work, remember me whenever I come in (even if it's been months!), are never pushy and have helped me get my guitars sounding the best they've ever sounded. I have had the most pleasant and helpful experiences in a music store there. read more

Gone to them countless times and they've always been extremely solid helping me with my audio projects. Thank you again.

Just recieved a set up, went above and beyond, removed corrosion and made it play like new. Good vibes all around, would come here any day over facing the angsty wrath of guitar center or twin town. Great people. read more