Found this gem in August 2021 when my 8-yo twins wanted to learn how to play violin and guitar. I…read moresit in classes with my kids during lessons and I'm super impressed on how patient the teachers are with beginners. At the end of 10 weeks lessons, my son is able to play Ode to Joy on guitar and my daughter plays 4 different pieces at the recital. I'm very happy with their progresses and will continue to sign them up for lessons. So very glad to find this place. The place is very clean and adhere to covid protocols. Staff and kids wear masks the whole time they're inside. Staff are friendly and approachable. They're responsive to email inquiries. Overall, I give Villa Musica a perfect score!

We have had the pleasure to have both our girls ages 10 and 12 at Villa Musica. Both girls attended…read moretheir show choir class and really enjoyed it. My youngest practiced piano and oldest guitar also a Villa Musica with their instructors and have been excelling in their music learning. We are very happy with their learning and the care they have received there so far :)

Took the time to help with a minor request. Very polite and helpful. Good place to check out.read more

I wanted to surprise my sister with her first guitar, and Jack at Mark's Guitar Exchange made the…read morewhole experience unforgettable. Walking into a guitar shop can feel a little intimidating when you don't know much about guitars, but Jack was so patient, kind, and knowledgeable. He made everything easy to understand and helped us find the perfect guitar. I highly recommend Jack and Mark's Guitar Exchange!

Today is 01/02/25, Thursday, the day after New Year's Day. It's 11:15am that I'm writing this…read morereview. I've been waiting for 15 mins for the store to open even though the hours say they open at 11:00 am. Their voicemail is full but the recording also says 11:00 am opening. Their website says open at 11:00 am. I'm not quite sure if everything says the store should be open but they aren't open. I purposefully came here to get my guitar strung with fresh strings. I wanted to support local stores specifically. The worker came in around 11:18 am. We all have hard days. I only dinged one star because truthfully it was only one worker for the whole store he was very very apologetic... He cleaned, oiled, and strung my guitar. He took his time and carefully did everything while also having to man the whole store by himself! He apologized profusely when he had to step away to help customers. I could be upset set, but it's the beginning of the year and we're all human. $12 for full restring (all 6 strings) you pay for the cost of the strings you want put on. I chose Elixir for my acoustic electric and those run around $20-ish bucks

It took some convincing (most of last school year), but my 5th grader "decided" to play an…read moreinstrument this year--the violin! Yay! Our school provided a list of required items, based on the instrument selected. They also listed local places where parents can go to rent or buy an instrument. Disappointingly, both of the recommended places are owned by the same big company that has been absorbing local shops the last few years. So I busted out Yelp on my phone and Music Central came up as an option. I gave this shop a call and Charlie was kind enough to answer all of my questions over the phone. He left a great first impression from the different shops I reached out to that morning. I decided to take the afternoon off from work and pick up my daughter early during her minimum day so we could see Charlie while he was working--glad I did! Charlie answered more of my questions and measured my daughter for her first violin (insert proud parent tears of joy here). We discussed rental terms and Charlie answered another round of questions to help make me very comfortable signing a contract. I like how standard repairs (like string replacement) and maintenance (like tuning) are included with my rental. And I LOVE how I can "trade in" my rental for the next size up instrument (in similar condition) without breaking my contract! During our first visit we picked up a few of the required accessories listed for the violin and Charlie gave his recommendations on what is really needed to help save me some money up front. As a dad on a budget, this was much appreciated. This shop has a large collection of acoustic and electric guitars in the back. There are also lots and lots of music sheets in stock too. Much to my surprise, Music Central also has a large collection of ukuleles from different manufacturers. My eldest daughter has been interested in ukuleles for years (we have owned a few inexpensive ones to foster her exploration of this instrument) so this may be the focus a future visit. I mentioned this to Charlie and he shared that he teaches ukulele for the shop. How cool is that?! Thanks for an awesome first visit Charlie! Looking forward to a long relationship with Music Central to help my daughters make beautiful music.

This place does zero things wrong. We've been renting here for years. Never had any issue. Bow…read moreneeds to be rehaired? Switch. String broken? 15 min fix. Time to size up? Ok let's see what you need and get it tuned and out the door. Super affordable as well.

We had a great experience at San Diego Violins purchasing a violin with our daughter. Highly…read morerecommend!

As a professional luthier of over 30 years myself, and a human for 77 years, I know something about…read morespotting top notch luthiers, and top notch people. Buck is both. He has helped me out now several times with design and 3D printing jobs for Lame Horse custom guitars. The work is always top notch and very prompt. I could not give a higher recommendation!

Absolutely top-notch work from Buck. Great communication and service. He fixed up two of my…read moreguitars: a new Strat that had alignment issues and an older SG that needed some TLC. Buck fixed the alignment on the Strat, and it's playing perfectly now. The SG feels and plays like it did the first day I got it. He has great attention to detail and even pointed out a few things I hadn't noticed. I'd definitely recommend Buck for any guitar issues.

Owner has been very rude. Sure there are better places with nicer people to get your guitar fixed.read more

I sold a couple of Gibsons to Imperial after I did a lot of research & review of other shops in San…read moreDiego and LA. Imperial always showed up at the top of the customer satisfaction reviews. They gave me a fair market offer to buy them outright and I took it. I'll go back...

The owner and the one gentleman who worked there are top-notch guys. Spent a lot of time with me…read moretalk to me about different guitars why I was there. I learned a lot. I had a lot to think about when I left. I didn't end up purchasing anything then, but when I do, that'll be the place.

The best music store for guitars in North County. The store is well-stocked, and staff is…read moreknowledgeable. I always try to stop by when I am in town. On my last trip there, I was delighted to find that I could rent a guitar for a month for $60 (I took home a Yamaha Revstar Element - nice playing instrument).

I've been a client of Ms Nguyen for several years studying violin and piano. An extraordinary…read moreteachers like Quyen are hard to find these days, which is why I feel privileged to have the opportunity to work with her. Quyen possesses exemplary knowledge on both the physiological and cognitive approaches to studying music. She is quick to assess technical problems with music and offer unique solutions. I -strongly- recommend Quyen Nguyen for anyone who is ready to achieve their unlimited potentials - whether they are young beginners, advanced performers or adult hobbyists!

My daughter has been taking cello lessons from Quyen for several years…read more Quyen has been incredibly helpful to her about all aspects of music from her excellent pedagogy and taste in choosing repertoire for students to career advice about being a musician, the real-life business aspects of a musical career and knowledge about instruments, bows, and locations where you can find trusted sellers. It is no surprise that my daughter is principal cello in her high school orchestra, and an outstanding student in her music theory classes. Cultivating musicality in young students new to the technical part of performing music is a huge challenge, but Quyen does this very, very well. The quality of her student recitals throughout the past several years is a testament to her talent as a superb music teacher. Not only extremely professional, she is also very well-connected in the network of Southern California string performers, staying current with new trends in classical music and using this knowledge to teach her students not only the technical aspects of performance, but helping them also develop taste and find their musical style so they can perform with the musicality which distinguishes true performers from merely technical players. I would not hesitate to suggest her to friends looking for a teacher for their children (I have done so many times) at any level from beginners to advanced performers. I cannot recommend her highly enough to parents looking for the best string instrument education for their children within San Diego County.

We have now entered the realm of student music... along with (what seemed) the rest of the entire…read morelocal school district(s). Bertrand's Music already did a great job marketing last year to introduce the kids to various instruments, and to provide parents with information about how to secure rental instruments and lessons. The fliers and information were helpful to return to this location. We were fortunate to identify a couple of violins from close friends but they desperately needed restring and repair. We came in Saturday to meet Troy - who was the nicest young man to help us identify the services needed. He provided detailed information about timeline and quote and made the whole experience painless. Mind you~ this is their busiest season at the start of the school year. Even though the building was filled with families, students, crying babies, and various instrument noises.. Troy provided top notch service and executed all needs without a hitch. We submitted instruments on Saturday and received a detailed telephone call by Monday to retrieve the instruments. Even upon return, we had the high fortune of meeting with Troy again. One of his fellow associates (newer in her training) helped us at first. Troy came to the rescue to help clarify the transaction, identified a computer error in billing, and skillfully provided us with the close of transaction needed. He went above and beyond to then offer to tune the instruments using one of their tools behind the counter (and he doesn't even play violin! just knows the ear and use of equipment). The violins sounded lovely. I never met this young gentleman before, but if Troy is the standard of hiring at this type of establishment, he has secured my business and my recommendation to come back to this Bertrand's. He was kind, well informed, and efficient. I was able to have two instruments repaired, tuned and timely prepared for the this wretched band season (I have two very excited musicians and a new box of earplugs.) The prices were reasonable and the service quick. He couldn't have provided better service. Be sure to ask for Troy when you return if you need anything related to music service needs. He made the experience fantastic and we will return and recommend.

Bertrand's Music is a music store focused on "school band & orchestra sales, rentals, lessons, and…read morerepair," as stated on their website. Our middle school band teachers works with Bertrand's Music exclusively and I understand that they trust them. The store itself looks nice. They had some instruments for sale displayed, along with music books. They have rooms for lessons in the back. The parking lot is usually congested though and parking is not easy. Our experience is only with getting an instrument repair quote from them. I'm sure the lessons and rentals are just fine here, but we would not exactly recommend Bertrand's for repairs, especially if you weren't even referred to come here by your school band for an instrument that belongs to the school. They have to ship out the instrument somewhere off site to even give us a quote, and we had to wait ten business days just to hear back that the instrument was unsalvageable and not worth repairing. They were unable to provide us with any written detail of what exactly needed to be repaired and what the cost would be. I'm not sure why they do it like this, because it appears a bit unprofessional. If you're looking for someone to repair a specific instrument that you own, we don't think this is the perfect place to bring it. It would probably be best to find someone who specializes in repairing that instrument to do it on site. Repairs were just one aspect of their business and it's technically a relationship between the school band and Bertrand's, so it didn't bother us. The staff were very nice and accommodating, and we appreciated that. They provided us with a receipt that the school needed, and it was as simple as that. Thank you!

Brought my brand new HSS player 2 for a set up, they were not only incredibly fast (3 days with an…read moreexpedited fee) but also extremely knowledgeable. Nick explained to me everything the staff was going to do and walked me through the whole process. I believe Jeff was the one who actually worked on the setup, and he did an amazing job. Now I can't stop playing this guitar! Thanks guys!

After suffering property damage and parts loss at other shops, Repair Zone first claimed they would…read moreintake my guitars. When the time finally came around they fell through and said "we don't want any of your work". Sounds like a fake shop, most importantly when they said that over the phone they felt the need to reiterate maybe three times instead of ending the call like a normal retailer and shutting the fuck up. What a clown show. Update: Some of the other shops that Repair Zone are scared to be just like, and probably are already, have posted statements which are on Yelp (see American Music Store in Encinitas) that talk about unrelated topics like my cancer treatment and claiming meth use. This has nothing to do with their shit job(s) and continuous inconsistency. Yelp took these down and I took the liberty of posting that for the public as those are direct attacks on me. See photo evidence for the property damage and loss I suffered at that page.