bought my son his first electric guitar here. Ken was very helpful in choosing something practical…read moreand within my budget. ever since my son has been taking lessons and his progress has been amazing. it's been a wonderful experience and my son looks forward to it weekly. we look forward to adding an acoustic guitar to his collection as his love of music grows with the support and encouragement he receives here.

I took my ten year old Taylor in for a set up. It was at a point where it was unplayable. After…read morecleaning, adjusting the rods and the saddle, along with new strings, it sounds and plays as good as new. Ken is knowledgeable and easy to work with. Nice selection of guitars and accessories. The fees were very reasonable. I will definitely be a repeat customer.

5/5!!! I've been taking lessons here for years and I couldn't ask for better people and musicians!!…read moreEveryone is super nice and is always putting the students and customers first.

I visited Music Center to get an instrument for my elementary school student that is taking flute…read morethis year. Mark Minotti greeted us quickly and knew exactly what we were looking for. He explained the different rental options (4 month vs. 10 month) and filled out the appropriate paperwork for the rental agreement. He was extremely enthusiastic and knew how to talk to someone (myself) that knew nothing about musical instruments. This is a home town shop with a little cafe inside. There's a little bit of organized chaos throughout the place but that's what you'd expect and it adds to the charm.

I registered for Six Adult Education Classes for Banjo instruction…read more My first organized , professionally delivered Music classes in my Life- and I'm no Kid ;-)! George and Paula were great- organized, patient, detailed enough for the level of the class and George made it fun! I intend to pursue learning through Private Lessons which are offered as well. Great investment of Time and a good way to begin Learning.

An adult learner, I have been taking weekly guitar lessons with George for the past 7 months. I…read morecame here for lessons because my son took a year of guitar lessons here when he was 10, about seven year ago, and that was a positive experience for him and me. George is a great, interesting teacher--very patient with beginners and also able to challenge them to reach further than they thought they could. Paula is a very pleasant partner to George, keeping the shop and schedule running smoothly and always accommodating if I need to adjust my lesson time. If you are interested in music lessons of any type, take a set of discounted introductory lessons and see if All Things Musical is right for you, as it has been for me and my family.

Tim is a great resource for all things music and woodwinds. Very easy to get lost in conversation…read morewith him, as he has so many anecdotes and pieces of valuable info. He is most highly experienced with great knowledge to share.

When one owns a nice instrument one of the requirements is to find someone who can maintain it to…read morethe level of the instrument. We have been looking for someone in the area and found Mr. Moran. He is a resource and truly a talented craftsman. When one looks at cost it needs to be measured against the expertise brought to the task--- it is well worth having him make sure an instrument maintains its quality features. Definitely will return and have complete trust in his abilities.

This place has turned into my place for drum equipment. A heads-up to Eric, and the rest of the…read moreguys I deal with in the drum area. I'm not the most personalble guy and can come-off as a slight bit antisocial (Just sit me behind a set and I let the drums do the talking, for me!) and the guys handling the drum section know how to interact with people that are even as recluse as me, and that shows an excellence in customer service! Guitar Center, in Southington, should be ashamed, and should take some notes on work ethic from these men.

So I just heard that the 100 year-old Sam Ash chain of stores is closing - and that is what has…read moreprompted this review, I apologize in advance for its length: For over 26 years, my company did business with Sam Ash. Back in the 90's I would walk into the Woodbridge, CT store and be properly and professionally greeted, guided to the salesperson that would help with my purchase and get great advice, information and service from a knowledgeable staff member and most of the time, fellow musician. Who could ask for more? Fast forward to the 2020's and the retail giant is totally unrecognizable - so hearing the news this morning that the chain was closing didn't exactly come as a shock, as I predicted this years ago. The tell-tale signs were everywhere and honestly, I'm surprised it took this long. It doesn't however make this news any less heartbreaking. I say heartbreaking because anytime a brick and mortar establishment closes, every American should stop and tremble. This is the end of another era. Out of tradition or some sort of misplaced loyalty, I've always stopped into Sam Ash to give them yet "Another Chance" to redeem themselves and every time, I left the store empty-handed, disappointed and kicking myself for wasting my time there - again. No greeting at the door. No smiling faces. No staff to help. No knowledgeable staff on hand. So, I stood there and waited and waited. When someone finally decided to acknowledge me, they were useless. Then to add insult to injury, as time went on, they rarely stocked anything I needed. So I just stopped considering them as a supplier. Most of the time, I was there for high-end sound reinforcement for live performances - Large power amps, speakers, sonic maximizers, cabling, wireless mics, mixers, etc. My last visit there about ten years ago. I was shopping for a full-size keyboard to incorporate into my studio. I had specific questions as I'm a guitar player, not a keyboard player, and I got stuck with a salesperson who knew less about keys than I did. So how many time times do professional musicians, engineers, producers and sound people let this scenario play out before we let Jeff Bezos take care of us? And here we are. Towns across America are full of little corner music shops that sell low end everything for the grade school student and beginning musician and that's as it should be, but professionals go to stores like Sam Ash for the performance grade stuff. And when you're dumping two thousand to 12 thousand on a Les Paul or Strat or maybe 5K on a vintage Vibrolux, you want your sales staff to know their stuff. You EXPECT to be treated a certain way. You want to be able to touch, feel, see, hear and play that dream guitar you've been waiting a lifetime to buy. You want to smell that cedar top on that new Classical guitar. Kinda hard to do with an on-line purchase. Imagine buying a new car without the test drive! And THAT is what makes this a sad day in America. It's another sign of the times. Another example of how we've fallen as a Capitalist society. Some people celebrate that I guess. I don't. I'm sad to hear this news. I'm going to miss Sam Ash despite my feelings. I'm going to miss the experience of buying in person. No one wants to see a business fail. This is a part of history we're losing. Someone worked hard to build that business. It was someone's dream. And Sam Ash won't be the last. Guitar Centers is suffering from the exact same issues and collapse of the business model and I say they're next - but will they turn it around? Will their board of directors send out district and regional managers or "secret shoppers" and start fixing the issues before Jeff Bezos takes their dollars too? Will they read reviews like this one and get off their collective asses to turn the Titanic around? Probably not, when you can't find anyone today who really knows what hard work is - how do you fix it? Who's training their staff? There comes a point when the damage is done and it's not salvageable. Goodbye Sam Ash. I take no pleasure in writing this. I'm disgusted. I'm disappointed. I'm sad. I just hope that those in control at the top levels of management of these chain stores, read their reviews and pay attention - take them to heart and make the effort to improve your businesses. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way, it's just that most people won't take the time to write something like this - but I feel better for having said it. Maybe by some miracle, someone will come in and scoop Sam Ash up and right the ship at the last hour. I can dream, can't I? Ron L, Southington , CT

Fantastic workmanship. Fixed up my piano in no time, did a great job, and cost me 1/3 of what I…read morewould've paid elsewhere.

Ken at Audio Nexus has always been extremely fair, super knowledgeable and always reasonable. He…read morehas repaired my GK bass head twice over the last 12 years after I rattle the heck out of it. I recently purchased an Ampeg head that was toast and in need of repair. It turned out the head could not be repaired even after Ken took pieces from a donor amp that he had. Fast forward 3 weeks later after I couldn't sell it for parts and I ended up finding the main board new from Ampeg. Ken agreed to swap it out and also replaced the preamp tubes which were toast as well. This long winded story is an example of Ken's persistence and dedication to help his customers. That is why he comes so highly recommended.

If you are an adult looking to start or pick up those music lessons you left off years (or…read moredecades....) ago, I recommend Scott highly. He was my son's private drum teacher for about a year before I asked him if he'd be willing to take me on as a student. I had played the violin for many years, but was always interested in trying piano. I could tell from my son's lessons that Scott was patient, nonjudgmental and easy to be around - all qualities that appealed to the adult student in me. Scott was happy to add me to his student roster and I've been with him for almost three years, first as a piano student and now also on guitar. Scott is a truly excellent teacher, for both kids and adults. With my teenaged son Nick, who takes both drum and bass guitar lessons, Scott combines attention to the basics (scales, basic drum rhythms on a drum pad) with a willingness to follow Nick's interest in learning particular songs or beats. It's no surprise to me to hear Nick practice things like "Fly By Night" or "Tom Sawyer" by Rush, because they are cool pieces for a kid to have fun with after he learns them. But what really impresses me is that somehow Scott has gotten him to understand the value of starting a practice session with basic rudiments and warm-ups - the kinds of exercises anyone, especially a teenager, might be tempted to skip to get to the "fun stuff." So I'll hear Nick tapping away on the drum pad for 15 minutes before he even starts practicing a song. That's pretty great when a teacher can convince a teenager to do repetitive exercises on an instrument on his own initiative. No need for me to yell downstairs, "practice your scales!" It's already happening. With me, Scott is fantastic at teaching the rudiments of theory but also totally open to helping me learn any song I'd like. Since I started with him a few years ago, he's worked with me on songs as diverse as Billy Joel's "Just The Way You Are" to "Color my World" by Chicago to Miles Davis' "So What." I'm always seriously impressed that Scott can listen to any song and write it out musically in a way that I can read, and, with some self-discipline, eventually play! And he's totally cool about it when I admit that I've dropped the ball on practicing because my schedule has been really busy. His patience and flexibility are most welcome to the adult learner. In addition to being our private teacher, Scott has also served as musical arranger and director for a few extended family holiday concerts. He's created super user- friendly arrangements of holiday classics for diverse instruments (violin, drums, bass, piano, trumpet) and ages (5 to 55 years), and has even conducted rehearsals for all the amateur musicians involved. It's been a pleasure for our family to benefit so much from Scott's diverse talents and his enthusiasm for taking on different musical projects for us. I recommend him highly as a teacher, musical director, or arranger.

Scott is a true professional. Really knows his stuff and is patient with my husband who is a…read morebeginner with guitar. He has gone above and beyond a few times now for us in the few weeks we have known him. He is is everything we hoped for and more in an instructor. A real joy! (All this after the first 2 instructors we tried to hire from another site just didn't show up and did not bother to tell us! I guess three really is a charm!)

We purchased a beautifully restored piano from James after he advised us not to try to restore an…read moreolder Sohmer with a cracked soundboard. My son is a professional pianist, and he had told me that we should let the piano go, but I was attached to it as my mother had given it to us. I was impressed that James didn't try to talk me into a repair job, which would have been costly. Instead, he invited my son to his studio, where he played a variety of instruments and bought a Yamaha to replace our old piano. James moved the new one in and took the old one away, and we paid much less than we expected. My son thinks the world of James and the quality of his work. He is our favorite tuner in 30 years of working with different individuals.

I have had the extreme pleasure of doing business with Jim. His prices are extremely fair. He is…read moreone of the best piano tuners in the state. He refurbishes pianos with unbelievable detail. I was able to buy a beautiful Yamaha that he worked on for many months. I love the sound of this piano. Jim removed my older piano and delivered the one I bought from him. He and his movers were so careful and professional with the removal and delivery of the Yamaha piano.