I've come here a good amount over the years, never with any bad experiences, per se. The selection is top-tier, and you can spend a ton of time wandering around and playing random guitars. They are helpful with any questions, and there's no sense of gatekeeping: you can be a beginner, to say the least, and you don't feel rushed out or disregarded. Still, the customer service isn't always as attentive. I recently stopped here for guitar repairs. It didn't seem busy, but there was a long line, and after waiting for about 15 minutes, I learned that the guitar repair person wasn't in and wouldn't be for a few days. This is not the craziest occurrence ever, but it seems odd that a large-scale chain doesn't have at least one person doing repairs at a given moment. read more

I came in with some strong opinions about what I wanted in a kit. Ryan McF was a great collaborator in finalizing decisions and helping me get together a solid set for me and my son that met my budget. Amazing value-added service! Thank you, Ryan! read more

Not a musician, not a guitar player either. We were in need of a special cable for an event tomorrow, and we couldn't find it locally anywhere in Chicago or the 'burbs. Guitar Center to the rescue! Yeah I had a minor panic attack when they had no record of the order, but they found it (my name was misspelled). Also, my company credit card didn't work but no worries. I have the cable in my possession so crisis averted. read more

Guitar Center - Musical Instruments & Teachers Near Me - Highland Park, Illinois

Went in to sell some used gear. I understand that it may not be the priority vs actual sales, but the guy who helped me was busy with another customer. I said, cool no problem. I'll wait. I proceeded to wait over an hr with no communication from any staff as I just sat in the store. They either need to add staff, or work on their customer service. A simple, "sorry it's taking so long" would've done wonders. This location needs a lot of work. read more

I spoke with Aaron about a new bass guitar I was interested in. I also had a trade in as part of the deal. Aaron was very helpful and worked me out a very fair deal. I was very happy with the transaction and entire process. I will be back!! Yes they were busy but patience is a virtue! Well worth the wait!! read more

Guitar Center made my son's first guitar-buying experience truly special! George was incredible to work with--he took the time to explain the different guitar options and gave great advice that helped us make the best choice. He was patient, knowledgeable, and never pressured us to rush a decision. Thanks to his expertise, my son walked out with the perfect guitar. If you're looking for friendly, professional service with a personal touch, ask for George at Guitar Center. read more

Guitar Center - George and my 11 year old son, Lucas - Musical Instruments & Teachers Near Me - Highland Park, Illinois

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They will RIP YOU OFF buying or selling. Also, low on staff and wait is longer than expected. I do not recommend this store.

I'm an audio professional, fixing a clients PA system. Against all hope I went to this GC on a Sunday looking for parts. Manager on duty was VERY HELPFUL indeed, and I was able to service my account in time for the second half. 10/10! read more

Shout out to George again. Set me up with an awesome used fender strat at a great deal. Honestly just a great dude to talk about guitars with. Very genuine and knows everything there is to know about guitars. The other guys that work at this gc as just as nice i just have known George for a while now. Thanks man. read more

Guitar Center - Thanks again George, for helping me pick the perfect guitars for me. - Musical Instruments & Teachers Near Me - Highland Park, Illinois

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Guitars are guitars. The person to go to for great service and creative service solutions is Ryan. Go in and ask for Ryan for either guitar chooses or Pro audio (I hear he is a master at Pro Audio). He is great at product choice and service. read more

Guitar tech needs a different career path. New guitar player here, came in to get strings changed and had a few basic questions and he was obviously annoyed to do his job, said things that got at him thinking I should be changing the strings myself instead of wasting his time. Not the guy for the job, never seen him smile or not sound so dull. Cheer up and quit complaining about doing your job read more

While I can't speak regarding a purchase, I want to rave, Rave, RAVE about their guitar tech Mike. This guy is nice, knowledgeable, non-condescending and seems to love what he does. Prices for set ups and what not at GC are steep, but I will pay those prices as long as GC HP keeps Mike around. Every guitar I've taken for setups/re-string plays sweet as can be. Thanks Mike! read more

Poor customer service. I called and asked to have something put on hold for me (for a special occasion) and when I get to the store they were on the shelves (not behind the counter) and some of them were sold. The same guy (Tony) who answered the phone and waited on me in the store didn't seem to care which was even more frustrating. read more

My husband has been playing guitar for years and gone through many instruments (buying selling and trading) He used to go to the Guitar Center in Chicago (Halsted Ave) but has recently switched out to the burbs. Night and day experiences. The city store has 3 categories of employees: The Newbie: who can offer no knowledge suggestions and has to ask their manager about literally everything. The Rocker: a pretentious cooler than sh*t attitude who is just killing time between gigs until his band "makes it". and, The Salesman: the kind of person who would do equally well at the gap, target, or Best Buy very pushy and commission driven with little love for music. You will find zero of these personality types in the Highland Park location. What you will find is laid back, friendly, knowledgeable, music loving, employees who are always able to work a deal to get you sounding your best!!! Highly recommended. read more

About average for a Guitar Center. Friendly. Prices higher than expected. Each of their stores has a slightly different personality. This one seemed a bit more dull.... but friendly nonetheless. I suppose there's someone that will by the refrigerator disguised as a Marshall amp. Lots of Fender. Made me yawn, actually. It's almost like a CVS, where very little changes. Fortunately, they had what I needed at a reasonable price. Maybe I need coffee. Or maybe they need coffee. Not sure which one. read more

I was just in the store shopping for a guitar and the manager, Luke, was being extremely rude to someone in the store. He told him that if he wasn't planning to buy anything, he could leave and then spent the next five minutes in the center of the store laughing with the other employees about the guy's mental issues and saying the guy was always coming around and saying things to people and that he was bad for business. I was in the acoustic room with him and he didn't bother me at all. The manager's words, on the other hand, left a bad taste in my mouth. Don't talk about customers in front of other customers. That seems like it'd be Rule #1 for any employee, but especially a manager. My rating overall is higher only because of an amazing employee named Nick. He was extremely knowledgeable about the acoustic guitars, didn't pressure me at all, and even went through the effort of pulling a guitar from the back and tuning it up for me so I could compare it against another. He never participated in the drama with the manager and did what great employees do, looked for people to help and earnestly helped them. In short, I'm thinking maybe Nick and Luke should be trading places. read more

The workers here suck! I'm literally just walking out and not ONE employee spoke or asked if we needed help. We were in the room trying to test out the program "Machine" on the pc they have set up, it was slower than slow and we had a problem trying to get it to run. At this point we go to the counter where the recording equipment is kept, a heavy set guy walks over there looks at my husband and I and ask a Spanish couple if they needed help they said no he proceeded to walk away. We then go inside the room with the keyboards, he walk by and still not ask if we needed any help. We've been shopping at this location for years, and the customer service has went down tremendously! At this point I will rather spend more money and time going to Sam Ash or ordering from someone else. read more

We purchased a new digital piano yesterday from guitar center highland park. We called and spoke to Nick on Monday, they did not have the model we were looking for so Nick said he was going to do some research and get back to us. He called us Wednesday with a very comparable model and he put it aside for us. When we went to pick it up he was so helpful. He loaded it into our car and gave us an overview of the setup and features. Thank you so much Nick. I will be buying a guitar from you soon!!! read more

Guitar Center - All set up thanks nick! - Musical Instruments & Teachers Near Me - Highland Park, Illinois

Garbage! Terrible customer service - rude, condescending, obnoxious on two occasions. And never received call back or email back from the first agent - just left me hanging. Purchased a brand new keyboard and received a used, banged up, scratched up one - they said I should have known bc it says "in store pick up only". In no world does in store pick up mean used to me... Will never buy from Guitar center again. read more

Poor customer service from Operations Manager. Purchased a used Jackson Guitar off their online inventory, description said includes Hardshell case. When I received guitar it had No Case! Called and spoke to manager and he said they don't have it. Didn't offer to replace with a new case or new gig bag. Not even a sorry. Don't buy from here!! read more

found a bass guitar online, mind you I have been looking for this guitar for a while. now it's a brand name bass at a great low price. listed In good condition. so I call the sales rep Ryan answered I ask about the bass that they have already listed as good condition, yes sir we have it. then went to speak with guitar tech "it needs a input jack installed". i then said " I'll take it as is I have everything already that I what to install into this bass. all American Parts, he said they have already ordered the part. (input jack). I call back a week later different sales rep answers. I ask about the bass. he then has to go ask the guitar tech. Now it needs tuning machines and the electronics haven't been tested. OK. one week ago it was good, then checked out again and part ordered (Input jack). I call back now two weeks later and spoke with Ryan again. the parts ( tuners and potentiometers ) haven't came in but when they do the tech will call you. took down my number. So now 6 or 7 weeks still no call back. I so I call back Ryan again answers, I ask again about the bass. Let me go ask the guitar tech. once again this time the neck is broken. now what. I clearly see only two things here. The bass in question was on someone else had there eyes on. Or you really need to hire a guitar tech that clearly knows how to inspect guitars. So as I can no longer trust the sales or service side of gc Shady at best. Thanks read more

My 17-year-old son has been playing on a Squier Bullet Stratocaster and a Jasmine S35 Natural Acoustic Guitar for the past 8 years and decided it was time to upgrade. We came to trade in a few musical instruments/equipment and to test out new guitars. Upon our arrival, Jovany approached us to assist with trade-ins, listened to what my son was looking for, and provided him with various options within his budget and goals. My son spent about two hours testing out Fenders and Epiphone guitars. He then debated between an Epiphone Les Paul Traditional Pro IV Limited-Edition Electric Guitar and Epiphone Les Paul Standard 60s Quilt Top Limited-Edition Electric Guitar. George at the guitar department was extremely knowledgeable, patient, and helpful with my son deciding. He was not forceful and allowed my son to take all the time he needed. My son ended up getting the Standard 60s Quilt Top Limited-Edition. George also recommended the Blackstar ID Core 10 V3 10W Guitar Amp and assisted in strap adjustments and cleaning. My son was incredibly happy. I want to thank Jovany and George for going above and beyond and taking the time to explain anything we had questions about. The store was busy, but my son and I appreciate your efforts in assisting us. We will definitely be back! read more

went in to just buy some strings. stood at the counter for 5 mins. No one attended me. Workers just walking by... tried getting their attention but nothing... pulled out my phone bought my strings off of Sweetwater. read more

Good store. Don't count on being greeted as you walk in the door, a "Can Someone Help Me Is Required." Other than that, a knowledgeable and helpful staff. Great hours and a wonderful variety. Special Thanks to "Nick," "Mike,", and "Jason." "Andrew Welch" is a stand-out customer-service individual. One star for need to find help. read more

The manager at highland GC, Javony is a horrible guy. I found a like new "used" item in their inventory, he gave every excuse in the world why he couldn't sell it to me... an associate at the store (and associate of mine) later told me javony bought the item for himself . read more

If you are a guitar junkie, then this is your Mecca. The selection here is awesome for electric guitars - both high end and reasonable. The acoustic selection is also a plus here. I wish that the "folk" selection was a little better... There were only three banjos here and they were pretty well hidden in the acoustic room. How am I supposed to release the inner Banjo player in me? Now, I understand that this is not Kentucky, but come on, be a little more help to those asking questions. The three star designation is not at all due to the ambience, selection, and prices AT ALL!! Those factors were well above average! The mediocre rating is only due to the attitude of the employees helping me on separate occasions. I frequent this place quite a bit and usually with any electric guitar questions, I get great help. Once I began asking about banjos - the North Shore grundge attitude revealed itself. I would still recommend this place for anything for the music lover as they have a ton of choices - just not too much for the folk music enthusiast... read more

Horrible service with guitar technician. We buy all of our instruments and accessories from this location. Looking for a new place to go.

This Guitar Center is ok for the most part. The customer service here is outstanding. The workers here know what they are talking about and they do not bother you every second. The repair guy there is very intelligent and can fix anything for your instrument. The prices are very high though. I had my pickups changed here and it costed $75 which is extremely expensive but I had to do it. The selection of guitars here is ok. Some quality guitars but it is mostly cheap guitars from Epiphone or Squire. Barely any other brands unless its used. Great selection of pedals. Every amp here is pretty much solid state or model. It is hard to find new tube amps here. read more

I have to state that it was VERY unprofessional of Tim the store manager to make the mistake of his clearance tags. After we paid we notice they didn't include everything, Tim explained that it was the reason why the price was so low ($175), that everything included would be another $24. It only included the guitar and amp, it DIDN'T include gigbag, tuner, picks, strap, or online lessons as it stated. As a manager you gotta understand that you made the mistake of mislabelling the tag. I've worked two years of customer service it's why I chose not to make a big deal of it in the store. I'm only giving this place 3 stars because the associate who's name is Nick was actually being cooperative, thank you Nick. read more

Guitar Center - Musical Instruments & Teachers Near Me - Highland Park, Illinois

Compliments to Andy at Guitar Center Highland Park IL professional audio department. He was of great assistance handling a warranty return and replacement on an audio mixer as well as the purchase of a powered amplifier-speaker. read more

Customer service top notch. Lots of employees around to assist. These guys rock. So my hubby is a musician, and for the holidays it was time for my sons to get their very first guitar and start learning a few chops. With this place right around the corner from us, it made total and complete sense to make this our first stop. I'm glad we did. I don't know anything about guitars really (I'm the singer in the family), but after this trip I sure did learn a lot! Of course my hubby did all the talking and negotiating and testing of the guitars, but I have to say these guys made the experience completely effortless - especially for a newbie like myself. I heard many guitars through many different amps, and everyone just backed off and let us do our thing. Not pushy at all. We have twins. One twin is destined to be a guitar player. The other twin wants to play drums, but in all honestly there is not an extra inch of space in their room for a drum kit. We ended up purchasing a super nice keyboard with drum sounds and a guitar. After we got it home, we both had this gut feeling that maybe we should get them each a guitar...twins are pretty competitive and we thought this way they could learn together. So, 30 minutes later we went back, returned the keyboard, got our cash back on the spot and checked out the amazing starter drums for when we can find room and got a second guitar off of Craigslist. Cute pearl blue for $400+. Truth? We made the best decision ever. And, because they were so helpful and didn't give us a hard time about the return, we'll be back for sure for the drums! Everyone...and I mean everyone was beyond helpful here. We were asked several times by many different people if we needed assistance. Thanks for being overstaffed and on the ball! read more

Just stopped into this location this weekend to view and purchase a keyboard we had in mind. Without the exact model available, but the brand and features memorized, I thought the associates might be able to help confirm which model would be best for my needs. I was ready to shell out the cold hard cash for the keyboard that day, but instead, I waited for 20 minutes while two guys in Pro Audio tended to other customers from BEHIND the counter and answered phones. One was completely oblivious to me (ignored me) waiting in line behind the other customers. The other kept repeating "Just shout out a question, I'm juggling multiple things here," in mid-sentence while talking with the customer in front of me. Never once did anyone haul themselves out from behind the counters to help me or the other customers. Ever heard of "excuse me for one moment, I'll be right back" or better yet, calling another associate or I don't know, maybe the guy right next to you, whose not doing anything, to help assist? All I wanted was a couple of questions answered to finalize my decision. Instead I had to go up to the front and grab another associate who was incredibly unknowledgeable about keyboards and admitted it to me, though he offered to "help" me. Just a couple of minutes of one on one assistance is generally the norm when you walk into a retail establishment and are prepared to spend hundreds of dollars. read more

We went to this store to buy a guitar to my husband. I must say, staff is very good, there's a particular guy who really helped us and listed to what we needed, and then suggested what's best for us. My hubby is very happy now with his new guitar, and this makes me happy too. read more

Guitar Center - Musical Instruments & Teachers Near Me - Highland Park, Illinois

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Terrible customer service. Went in looking to buy a drum machine and some pedals- left with nothing. Staff was very unhelpful, if they acknowledged you at all. read more

Nick was very helpful with finding a new guitar!! They are precautious and have hand sanitizer as soon as you come in

Great Guitar Center location. Not all are alike but their North Shore store features a great selection of guitars, basses, amps, drums, sound equipment and accessories. Plus, everyone at this store has been a real pleasure to deal with. I've been into grab accessories for my Gibson Les Paul and the staff has been extremely knowledgeable and helpful. And even if I'm only browsing at new gear I've come to expect a courteous "hi" or "try one out!" but nothing every pushy--just friendly! Highly recommended! read more

Kudos to Nick for going above and beyond! When I called to inquire about a specific guitar that turned out to be on back order, Nick made it a point of calling the manufacturer and then actually found one at a different location. He called that other location and ensured it would be saved for us. He was super attentive, and made everything go smoothly. We went back to his location last night, and again, friendly, super attentive and showed my daughter how to properly use an amp. We were grateful for his expertise and for taking the time to show my daughter what to do. read more

Nick was super helpful in helping me find the perfect Christmas Gift. Extremely knowledgeable and welcoming, thank you!

The people who work here are some of the nicest people I've ever met. Not only a lot of fun chatting with, but also very accommodating. It took me a while to pick out a guitar and they were very patient with me. They explained in great detail about the benefits of each guitar and even steered me away from a guitar used for shredding since I was looking for something a little more basic. This is hands down my favorite GC in the Chicagoland area. read more

I bought a used piece of equipment from them and had it shipped to my house. It arrived without the power supply that is needed to use it. Now I have to either pay to get a power supply for it or drive to my local Guitar Center to return it, both of which waste my time and money. I am very disappointed in this lack of customer service. read more