BUYERS BEWARE!! Greatly disappointed with how Island Music Co handles returns. Advertises 14-day return hassle free policy on Reverb.com. BUT offered no assistance when the item arrived damaged. Granted it was not their fault for the shipping damage, but instead of dealing with FedEx they put the responsibility on the buyer instead to resolve by suggesting to the buyer to utilize the manufacturer's product warranty and then stopped all communications with the buyer following this advice. After many failed attempts by buyer to get Island Guitars to honor the return and send buyer a return shipping label, Reverb was asked to step in (which they did luckily) and they had to force the return process. There was ZERO cooperation by Island Music Co and later Reverb issued the full refund once item was returned to seller. read more

found guitar online called store to let them know what i was intrested in 3 days before stopping in from out of town. called day of visit to let them know when i will arrive and would like to look at one other guitar.When arrived guitars had not been pulled ,not set up,out of tune .1500 dollar fenders not cheap guitars .Did find cheaper mexican telecaster that was great. I did have two trade ins and there offers were very very low ,but at that point was not enjoying the experience. read more

Great service and reasonable prices!!!! The people were great and helpful. Will be back again.

My daughter was set on a cello as her instrument of choice but I was completely out of my element. I was helped by Brian and he just made the process SO seamless! He was so helpful and efficient. They didn't have any new cellos in stock at the time but he kept me informed of when her instrument would be in and promptly called me when it was in (for the cello, it took about a week). He took all the guess work out of figuring out what I needed and suggested all the extras my daughter would need including the book that was required for her. I will be coming right back to Island Music and specifically Brian when it's time to get my son an instrument. read more

Ordered a PRS Modern Eagle V guitar through these guys, and they stuck with it and delivered. A+ service and shipping. Thank you Island Music Company! I couldn't give them 5 stars again on Reverb so I came here to do it. :D read more

Store manager contacted me and offered an acceptable resolution to the situation. I am confident that the offered restring and setup will be performed satisfactorily. read more

Island Music Co - Musical Instruments & Teachers Near Me - La Plata, Maryland

This music store needs to shut their doors. It appears the sales associates do not play any instruments and simply Guess on what they are doing. I spent a good deal of money in there and I'm doing my best not to go back in there. the best music store in the dc area is Atomic music, by far the best and the best thing is they negotiate. read more

This store has a great selection at a whole range of price points. Even on some of the less expensive guitars, they have chosen the best playing/sounding of the least expensive brands and models. All the guitars are expertly set up. I came in about a month ago wanting to try a bunch of electric guitars before making a decision and they gave me all the space and time I needed. Don't let the size of the building fool you into thinking it is small. They fit an awful lot in there. I was probably in there too long...sorry about that. read more

Excellent customer service! I recommend everyone shop here over Guitar Center or anywhere else! The sales associates are personable and caring. They seem to actually care that their customers are pleased with their purchase. They have the perfect amount of attentiveness. They don't hover but are still available for questions, advice, and suggestions. It makes the buying experience so much more comfortable. I have never experienced a "pushy salesman" in this shop. It's also sooo relieving to see the same staff here over the years that I have shopped with Island Music. I have now been shopping with Jack McNutt for about 3 years and will go back to him every time for my guitar related purchases. If you're looking for a new guitar or any kind of musical equipment go to Island and ask for Jack! You'll have a great shopping experience from a deadicated sales representative who actually cares about finding the right piece of musical equipment for you. read more

One of the best selections of in-stock quality for guitars in the area, most shops that have high end gear tend to stick to safe choices like PRS, but this store has awesome japanese Jackson/Charvel, USA ESP, EBMM, and more. The people working at the store are really knowledgeable. String selection looks large, but could be better for extended range instruments especially. Huge amp selection, even looks like they are a Revv dealer. Overall super impressed. read more

This store is about 10x bigger than it looks from the outside. If it is something you can make music with, they probably have it. The staff is as good as you could possibly ask for. My daughter and I take guitar lessons here. I cannot say enough good things about the music teachers here either. I have purchased several things from here and the prices are super competitive with anything I can get online or at another store. I will be a long time customer here. Thank you Island Music for not sucking! read more

The place to go for your musical instrument needs! Great variety of instruments and wonderful repair shop. Instructors are top notch!!

If I could give you all 10 stars I would. The entire staff have been so kind to my family and I from day one. I found island music by driving by and decided to get lessons for my daughter who plays the saxophone. The front desk staff are so professional, knowledgeable of their products and they have done a great job hiring excellent instructors. They have always been super friendly and most of all appreciative of their customers. My family and are new to MD and so it is nice to meet good people. One particular experience was when I dropped my daughter off for a lesson and she needed to purchase a pack of reeds. I thought she had enough money on her, but as it turned out she was short a couple of dollars. She called me freaking out, and by then I had already left to go to the gas station (driving on E) :-(. I told her to ask the front desk if they would please let her get the merchandise and I would bring cash back ASAP. The young man at the front desk did one better, he allowed my daughter to buy what she needed with the cash that she had, and said "don't worry about the $3, it's on the house" (not in those exact words, but you known what I mean). That's what I call excellent service! Thank you Island Music! And we love our instructor Dillon!! read more

This is an amazing mom and pop style music store. It has a wide variety of instruments but they primarily sell guitars. Saw some great instruments including a rare Steve Vai signature guitar. Great prices. A little cramped in some areas but they have so much gear that it doesn't even matter. Great welcoming staff. Overall, a must go for local MD musicians read more

That one star review is pretty ridiculous... That guys wants a guitar shipped to an address other than what his credit card or paypal address is... That is a MAJOR FRAUD ALERT. I have had many great dealings with Island Music. Both as a customer and selling them product as a manufacturers rep. 5 stars all around. Check out their filtered reviews below. Keith runs one of best music stores in all of the Mid-Atlantic. Check them out! read more

Island Music is the best Music store in Southern Maryland. The staff is very helpful, and so accommodating. My husband take guitar lessons there, and the teacher is great. But even more importantly, we bought an electric guitar last evening and they were so helpful. Letting him try it with different amps until he found the right one, and then helping us carry everything out even though we'd parked a ways away. We will continue to support this establishment for years to come. read more

Super helpful to this ukulele newbie! Let me tinker around on a few before I made my decision and provided great input on what instrument they thought would be best for me (not an expensive one!). Lessons are reasonable and the ability to arrange around my schedule is very appreciated! read more

Great selection of guitars. All the brands you would expect including used and vintage. This is my new favorite music store!

Terrible customer service, don't waste your time, buy somewhere else. I Bought a Taylor guitar and case for about $3,000. Called them when I got home to tell them the case has a latch that will not remain closed. I brought it in and the lady said I would have to pay for the technician's time to repair or replace the latch. I told her there was nothing wrong with the money I gave them and I'd like to speak to the manager. She said she was the manager. She refused to fix the latch or repair it for no additional charge saying Taylor's warranty doesn't cover shipping and they won't pay for it. I told her I was not a happy customer she said there was nothing she could do. Don't waste your time or money on this place. I took my case with the broken latch back home rather than give them any more money. read more

Awesome music store been going there for years. Great customer service , and when you go you have to meet keith the owner. The only person I khow who brought ther Dream to life. read more

I've been coming to Island Music for a few years now and have never had a complaint. Very friendly staff, HUGE inventory and great prices!!! They also have instructors for practically every instrument, who are also extremely patient and top notch read more

this is one of my favorite stores and it made me sad to see its one bad review. first of all, i imaging this isnt the best online store, but in the real world it is amazing. everyone that works there is incredibly nice and knowledgeable. i have bought guitar pedals there and always had someone guiding me and helping me try things out. i also take piano lessons here and my teacher is fantastic. this place is rather new i guess as i've lived in the area for 20 years, and it is what i have been waiting for in a local music store. they are fairly priced and friendly. i love island music! read more

My son heads up a local metal band and got a Peavey speaker from Island Music this last year. Unfortunately, it had a bad driver. Peavey's warranty policy is (IMHO) not very generous and requires customers to pay shipping for warranty repairs, even if it is found to be the fault of the factory. I talked to Matt about it expecting to be rejected, but he spent a good deal of energy arguing the point with Peavey to stand behind their products and ended up reimbursing us for the repair which he handled expertly in house. These guys stand with their customer and go the extra mile. Awesome!!! read more

Really amazing selection of guitars. Nice friendly folks. Worth stopping in to see what they have. It literally is wall to wall guitars. Wish they did more with classical guitars for us olde folks :-) read more

The employees are always very pleasant. My son comes here for lessons and loves it. The instructors seem knowledgeable and patient.

I have been doing business with Island music for over 10 years and have always had a great experience with them. They have wonderful customer service, great sales reps, and very competitive pricing. There are other music stores in the area but I always go to Island music first. read more

Great store. Nice inventory. Good people. I always have a good experience here. Wish I could make more of the work shops.

Buyer beware! Make sure you ask about all of their policies before purchasing at this store. I would have to say that my experience with this company has been absolutely terrible. About 5 years ago I purchased my Gretsch guitar from this store. It did not come with the case, but I was told that it could be ordered for me. I was assured that I would have the case in two weeks' time. Since the sales person seemed so confident, I paid for the case in full and had it ordered. After many phone calls to the store and them asking me to just wait a little bit longer I finally got my case... a month and a half later! The store never called me to update me on the progress of my order. I had to track them down. Once the sale had been made I was yesterday's bad news it seemed. This was unacceptable. A few years went by and a friend of mine started working for this company. I decided to give them a second shot. After all they work off commission and I wanted to help my friend out. I bought some home recording equipment. I got it home and plugged it all in. To my amazement it didn't work. After asking for an exchange they told me that they would not be willing to accommodate me. Their pro audio specialist's advice was that Pro tools isn't very good, and spend more money essentially. To top it off their staff seems to have a dazed and confused look to them whenever I have gone into this shop. I have never been able to get a direct answer about anything they sell. They have always had to look things up online. I could do that myself! If I wanted to do that I would buy online. It is cheaper than their prices. I will not shop here. I wouldn't recommend this shop to anyone. Hate to say it guys. There is a reason why people don't, "shop local" so much anymore. Guitar Center has better prices and their people actually seem to know what they are doing. read more

We purchased a Dean acoustic guitar from Keith via email. He was extremely helpful and responded quickly to our questions. We paid via Paypal and had our purchase shipped to Australia. Our guitar arrived in a month and we are extremely happy. The only gripe I have is that it took Australian customs 11 days to release our parcel for delivery. I'd recommend international purchasing from him to anyone who is sceptical. Linda Grevsmuhl read more

This music store advertises a great variety of left-handed instruments. That is the only reason I purchased from them online from across the country. I'm sure from the many rave reviews this place receives, that if you live in MD. this is a great "brick and mortar" location for buying gear. As a left handed player looking for something specific, I did not have that option in my area. So I was sucked into an online purchase experience that turned out to be terrible. 1. Their website looks/operates like something circa 1995 I wasn't able to see that the instrument I wanted was out of stock and needed to be special ordered (causing an additional 2 week wait time for the instrument). I was only informed of this until after I had paid over $700 for my purchase. Also, there was no confirmation screen to verify my address/contact info and no way to verify that my banking info. had been processed (I had to double check my bank's site to make sure). 2. They did not send me the tracking info. for the instrument when they sent it out. The shipment was already in transit once I got concerned and had to email them asking about the status. 3. THEY SENT THE SHIPMENT TO THE WRONG ADDRESS!! I recently moved and had to use my old address in the billing section so the purchase would be processed correctly. I also included my current SHIPPING address and knew that they had that on file. I got home, the shipment status says delivered..but the package was not there! Luckily I was able to put 2 and 2 together and live close to my old place and was able to run over there and grab it before someone else did!! 4. They are proud to include an instrument set up by a technician. Well, their tech. did a horrible job on my instrument. The instrument's neck was bowed forward to a degree that made it unplayable, and nearly could've ruined it permanently. This also contributed to another part becoming defective. When all was said and done this added $100 to the cost so that I could get it properly set up and repaired. Bottom line: IF YOU DON'T LIVE IN MARYLAND DON'T BUY FROM THIS PLACE IT'S TOO MUCH OF A RISK FOR ANY VALUABLE PIECE OF GEAR. Online customers are better off going through a vendor like Sweetwater..and if the instrument is harder to find...go to a local dealer and order through them. Take it from someone who had to learn the hard way (almost $900 later...)! read more

Great staff who are not only friendly, but obviously knowledgeable of music and the products they sell. I had my sax repaired here, and they went above and beyond to fix even the littlest things. Overall great experience! read more

Bought a used mex tele. They were open to negotiation and completed the transaction very cleanly.

This place is a rare find. A place where the people who work there really care about their customers. Everyone who works there was friendly and willing to help in any way they can. Kieth, who helped me, is knowledgeable, really helpful, very friendly and totally passionate about guitars and about satisfying everyone who walks through the door. The prices are amazing, the selection is incredible. I live two hours drive away, and I happily make the drive (despite having much closer music stores) any time I need something. read more

I am dissappointed that after speaking to the owner/manager he could not give back to my credit card $165. His employee did not order the item we wanted which was a double drum pedal. His employee ordered a conversion kit which is not what was requested. When I spoke to the employee he seemed confused and not knowing what he was doing. I returned the item and opted to deal with another store. The cashier at the front CLEARLY SAID TO ME THE REFUND would go back to my credit card. The girl should have been very clear that I could only get a store credit and also someone should have been more concerned that we get the item we wanted. The young man who ordered the part was trying to sell me just the second pedal and knocker which was unacceptable for one reason would have been more money than just getting the one we wanted which was the actual double drum pedals. But my feeling is what is the big deal to just refund my credit card. I opened a dispute with my credit card company and see what happens from there. I will not deal with this business again due to the poor customer service response from the owner, I do not care what his policy his, customer service is customer service esp when it was your mistake. If I am forced to come in and use up my store credit no one better make me mad that day. The manager/owner should get in the Christmas spirit. read more