I was hoping that I had found a great repair shop right in my neighborhood. I decided I would have…read moremy (43 year old) bass that I got as a wee teenager brought back to working order, which would include a new nut, new pickups, and fret work. I dropped it off and was told it would probably be a couple of weeks. After a little more than two weeks, Daniel called and said the frets needed to be replaced and couldn't be crowned. I asked if he could do stainless - he said yes and would have to order the fret wire because he was all out. I said ok. About three to four weeks later, I got an update that the lacquer on the neck was taking longer to cure than expected and it would be another week or two. I said no problem. A few weeks later, he said it was finished and to come get it. I went to pick it up and was absolutely shocked at the price. But, trusting that the work was done professionally, I went and got the cash and went to pick it up. Immediately I noticed that the pickups were loose and "falling" back into the pickup cavity. I pointed it out and he said "oh, I can just put some more foam under those" - he grabbed his tools and put the bass on the bench and very quickly removed the pickguard and then loosened the pickup mounting screws, stuffed foam under them, screwed them back in and put the guard on it and said "there ya go" (no adjusting the pickup heights for tone or anything). I didn't think much of it and I usually fine tune my own setups anyway, so I put the bass in the case and took it home. Not long after getting home, I noticed the finish on the fretboard was splotchy. I looked closer and the finish was terrible. Flaws in the lacquer, splotchy, uneven. I reached back out to Daniel with my concerns. At that point, he offered to touch it up for me. This was busy summer, so I couldn't get it back to him right away, but was able to connect about a month later to drop the bass off. At that time, he said it was no big deal and would likely be just a couple weeks. A little over a month went by and I hadn't heard from him, so I reached out with a text asking for status on the touch up. A few days went by and he responded: "just getting back in the shop after being out for a bit. Should have an update later this week". A week later, still no update. I reached out again for status update. Another week went by. Now, I was beginning to worry that something had happened to Daniel so I reached out to be sure he was okay. He responded that he was away on a ten day recording session, but would be back in the shop over the weekend. I was relieved he was okay and believed he would update status when he was back in the shop. But no update. No word. Nothing. Five days later I sent a text asking if he had a time-frame for the repair touch up. I got a nasty response. (these are his Exact words): "Mike, I've explained to you more than once that I am a single person with too much on my plate" - he NEVER once told me anything like this prior. He continued, "I'm trying my best to get all of the work I have done. Furthermore, my business hours are 11-5pm Monday thru Thursday, this is not a personal number. This a business line, I'm responding outside of work hours out of good faith". Still no update. No status report. No time estimate. Up until that day, I had only asked about status of the touch up (which he offered to do) twice in over two months. The rude response left me wondering why he had such animus toward me, since it was he who offered to fix his botched finish. I no longer felt comfortable leaving my instrument (of more than 40 years of ownership) with him and scheduled to pick up my bass. When I picked up the bass, all he could say was "sorry. I'm just one man. sorry." - No offer to actually fix his mistake. No offer for partial refund. Nothing. So I paid this guy just under $1,000 for the work and got a mediocre job that I will have to get fixed by another shop. The nut was cut too high, uneven, and needed to be recut. The fret job has uneven fret ends, at least one fret that is shorter than all the rest, and the last two frets are higher than any of the others, causing some buzz. Action was "set up" terribly. Do not trust this shop or Daniel. His word is useless and he rushes his work, leaving many mistakes. - A very unhappy customer.

Daniel's a pro, and set up a Stratocaster of mine years ago at a great rate. When I got a Jaguar…read morewith squealing, microphonic pickups, I messaged him and described the issue. He dealt with the same problem in the past on his own Jaguar, and recommended wax potting them to stop the pickups from vibrating. I had my guitar back in just a couple of days, and the pickups sound great! I'm able to get great feedback with high gain at a loud volume without issue. He also cleaned up the wiring in there and made it look beautiful. Highly recommend Daniel and Ballard Guitar Dock for all your guitar and amp repair needs!

This is my favorite violin shop. They are very friendly and accommodating and always make me feel…read moreat home. They have worked on my violins and I have always been satisfied. It's also wonderful that they have a female luthier, Jessica.. and the shop represents 4 generations of the family now, I think that's pretty incredible

We used this shop for a school violin rental and had a frustrating experience overall…read more Over the course of the rental, we ended up paying around $1,500 for an instrument with an approximate value of $800. I understand rentals can cost more over time, but there didn't seem to be a clear or meaningful path toward ownership, which made the value feel questionable in hindsight. The bigger issue came at return, when we were charged an additional $150 for a bridge replacement that had to be done for my son to play it after it broke during orchestra class upon normal use (confirmed by orchestra teacher). For a student instrument used by a child, this felt more like normal wear and tear than something that should result in a significant extra charge. Not to mention they didn't offer to give us the replacement bridge back but demanded we wait for the new one. Customer service also felt fairly rigid and not particularly accommodating, especially for families navigating school music programs. Overall, the experience felt expensive and lacking transparency. We went out of our way for this ship and sure wish we hadn't! I'm sure they are great for those that live in this world, but I would highly recommend other families look closely at rental terms and consider alternatives that are more straightforward and family-friendly.

Jack Lofton has been tuning and maintaining our pianos for 14 years to date. We got him on…read morereferral from the UW School of Music. He started with our George Steck spinet and continued when we acquired a 1920 Steinway model O. He can do it all, from a tune up to a full action rebuild if that's what you need and want. He's competent, professional, shows up on time when he says he will, and does a great job. If you own a piano that actually gets played, you owe it to yourself to have it tuned and serviced at least once a year, and Jack can take care of this for you.

There are really cool four string guitars and ukuleles, all of which can be plugged in to your…read morefavorite amp. Sweet. They are made from cigar boxes, and one was made from a lunch box. Very cool. Playing them without plugging them in makes them very quiet. So you can play them in places where they might not appreciate you plugging it in and turning it up, like maybe your apartment at 2 AM. My only thing is that there are as yet no Tenor Ukuleles. (insert sad face here) I would definitely buy one if there were, but then again I may just get impatient and buy a concert scale uke. There are 6 string versions of the guitar too, but he didn't have any at the market.

The guy selling the guitars has poor customer service skills. Very sarcastic. I would not buy…read moreanything from him.

Guitar lessons with Dan were my weekly retreat from a hectic workweek. Dan is super patient with…read moreyou every step of the way. Somehow he manages to urge you to practice (something I have trouble with) without being naggy or making you feel guilty. He listens to your concerns and musical tastes and incorporates them into each lesson. He lets you pick the genre and even songs that you'd like to play. His classical training means that you get experience in sight reading music and musical theory. I'm a bit of weird bird that I like blues and punk rock. He taught me the basics in both so I can have a great time just jamming out with him or with some of my talented friends. Overall, if you're looking to invest some money in lessons, Dan is the place to go.

Dan is great. Young guy, super fun and super talented. He explains things very clearly and never…read moregets frustrated. I'd gladly recommend him to anyone out there looking to learn how to play from the ground up. I've been taking weekly lessons now with Dan for about 3 months and can already see some real results. Pat

It had been about 5 years since I last played my clarinet and I decided I wanted to start up again…read more My instrument needed an overhaul repair, BADLY. After doing some research online, I found Granlund Woodwind Repair. The owner, Scott Granlund, had a lot of recommendations from professional musicians in Seattle, so I decided his business seemed reputable enough for me to give him a shot. The shop is a bit confusing to find. It's a single room workshop located behind Clever Bottle in Belltown, and I mean literally. You actually have to enter the bar and walk through a door in the back to get to the place. The shop itself, though cluttered wall to wall with instruments, parts, and tools, is charming. Scott immediately plopped my instrument on a table and appraised the work needing to be done. He wrote up an estimate, told me it would take about a month and a half to completed everything, and I was in and out in about 10 minutes. Now I ran into problems when it came to the estimated time of completion. Though Scott had told me 6 weeks, 6 weeks turned into 8, which turned into 10. I was getting a bit frantic, but after several sessions of phone tag and some tense emails, we arranged a time for pick up. Overall, I was pretty happy with the repairs. His quality and craftsmanship were very good and I could definitely feel the difference when I started to play. It's a shame it took so long to have everything done, however. I would have given him 5 stars if it wasn't for that fact.

Mr. Granlund is pleasant enough to converse with but I could not get him to work on my instrument…read morein a timely fashion. It was in his possession for a few months. I ended up retrieving it and having the work done elsewhere. Perhaps the turn around is faster for professional musicians.

I have been working with Bob for the better part of this year and I cannot recommend him highly…read moreenough. This is my second teacher and second year of lessons. I have made appreciable progress and am enjoying both my playing and my knowledge of music under his instruction. He is patient, funny, very knowledgeable and showed keen interest in teaching me what I wanted to know. I wish I was staying in Seattle to work with him in his studio in Ballard.

The Gold Standard in Customer Service…read more This is a phrase I rarely use. I reserve it for the precious few businesses that place my needs and interest first in the way they work with me. Both times I bought digital pianos from Prosser, they responded to all my concerns and then delivered and set up my new pianos for free. The first piano I bought still works perfectly after 5 years and I play my weekly piano lessons on it in my piano teacher's studio. The 2nd piano had a malfunction after 2+ years, 1 key stopped working. Kawai, the mfr., made mistakes in processing the replacement parts order, causing unnecessary delay. Then, they sent new parts causing the problem to escalate...now 2 keys don't work. The repairman is a cracker jack with 30 years' experience in his niche, so we know it's bad parts, nothing else. No one ever expected this from a mfr. that has been top rated for years. Prosser could have left me on my own to deal with the issue, and other dealers would have, but Prosser stood by me fully. They gathered the facts and pressed Kawai to special handle my case. They also gave me a loaner piano so I don't lose practice time due to all the delays in getting my piano back to working correctly. They got Kawai to commit to call me to apologize, which as of this writing has not yet happened. Prosser will be my supplier for life. When I called their General Manager to thank him, he explained in simple words their operating philosophy. They are not going to let a customer have a bad experience, period. I, for my part, can never trust Kawai again. I'm not even sure that when my piano is back to me working, that it won't have some other problem in the near future. So when I need my next piano, I'm back to Roland, purchased from Prosser. Both pianos are engineered brilliantly. But my Roland piano never broke down!!! Are you new to buying a piano? Prosser will work with you to make it a pleasure. Not to worry, go ahead with it when you're ready.

Highly recommend coming here for piano shopping. I'm a complete beginner and wanted to purchase an…read moreentry level digital piano. Rich was super helpful in introducing different kinds of piano at different price ranges. I eventually decided on a Roland digital piano and am extremely pleased at the whole experience. The delivery (extra $100) was smooth, and Rich installed the piano as well. Definitely would come back when I decide to upgrade one day! They also offer one-on-one piano lessons. You can have 10% off per class for the first year if you purchase a piano from them.