This is an amazing guitar store, let me say. The owner's name is Carl Wilson and just a great…read moreperson. The store is a little small and cramped, but honestly, the owner is so friendly and sweet. He helped a friend out with his guitar strap and taught him a small lesson. He's a great guy. I recommend this guitar shop 100%.

Cluttered mess,, comes of as a nice guy,, watch out ! He has had a broken vintage wah wah pedal of…read moremine that he said he sent out to fix.. 16 months later and a half dozen trips to the store,, he say's" oh it's around here somewhere.". I traded for a acoustic amp.. it has issues.. he want's me to leave it to be "fixed" right!... I'll be going to Michael's Music in Cannon Beach.. A person can walk in his store without tripping hazards.. He is fair...

With my son's busy high school band schedule, Flying Pig made it easy to squeeze a professional…read morecleaning in. They had a quick turnaround which was important because between classes, practice, and lessons we really couldn't leave it for an extended period of time. Thanks for accommodating us in such a short turnaround time!

This music/instrument shop is fantastic! Lessons and instruments, cds and vinyl and much,much more!read more

This shop is incredible!! The staff was very nice, knowledgeable and genuinely passionate about…read morehelping me find the right gear without feeling pressure to buy at all. They have an excellent selection of guitars, amps, and accessories. I'll definitely be back and highly recommend checking them out!

Looking for guitar specialists? Thunder Road is your place. They have a selection ranging from…read morerelatively inexpensive to "to die for" models. The best part is their service--these guys love guitars. They own them, play them, know them, and they will expertly guide you to the instrument best suited to your level of playing, size, and budget. Will, the owner, recently helped me with an issue I had with a Martin acoustic, and I walked away completely satisfied. It was a "win-win" solution. Great place for guitar aficionados as well as beginners who need guidance on finding the guitar of their dreams

I don't know enough about the technical aspects of guitars to give an overall rating, but they're…read morenice people, certainly seem to know hwat they're doing, and have, on the two occassions I've been in there, provided me with the basic services I needed...just minor neck adjustments and restringing. that said, the vending machine outside the store is PURE GENIUS!

Quiet little shop. My son needed a reset on his guitar and major stores were quoting weeks and high…read moreprices. Music village was able to do it overnight and at a very reasonable price. My son is very happy with the reset and we were happy to support a local business.

I purchased a plectrum banjo off e-bay recently. It was made my Jim Cox, a Master Luthier from…read moreMaine, a custom order. The banjo is bird's eye maple with plenty of inlay and dressings. The head was badly worn and action was too high. It had been sitting in a closet for awhile and needed some help. Now a luthier may be fantastic with guitars, but banjo's are a different critter. You really have to know what you're doing. I own four banjo's so I found this out the hard way. Dan had a bit of trouble finding the proper head, but he persevered and obtained one. He installed the head, lowered the action and set up the instrument properly. This was not an easy repair and I would not trust just any luthier with it. Dan had the knowledge and expertise to do it right! Now this beautiful banjo sounds just as good as it looks, I am proud to add it to my collection. Thanks Dan, Del

Very helpful and supportive. Great advice as we worked through possibilities on instrument repair.read more

Wow, this is service at it's best. So the first time I experienced Windsmith Music my daughter and…read moreI were shopping for a violin for her. We came to try a few of the violins they had. They were great about explaining the different choices they had and talking about some of the different sounds each violin might produce. My daughter tried the four that were in our price range and didn't really experience anything remarkable. So ultimately we ended up playing a German Violin that had the sound she was looking for. Something about being made from wood from the Carpathian Forests, seemed to make a difference :) But I wouldn't hesitate to buy a violin from them. And personally, I'd love to do that b/c their service is so great (more about that next). So recently, we had a problem with our silent (electric) violin. One of the strings was starting to come apart a bit so we decided to get new strings thinking that would fix the problem. We brought the violin back and found out the problem was still there. So we called, and they said to bring the violin back and they'd take a look. We dropped it off and then about a day later they figured out it had to do with a finger guide we had wrapped around the neck which was coming up just enough to cause a problem w/ a couple of the strings. What impressed me though was how kind and helpful they were throughout the whole process. Cassie was the one helping us and she was AMAZING! So basically, the problem was all on us. We are the ones who caused this issue (not them). Yet they took the time to research the problem to try and figure out what it was, then figured out the issue and got us taken care of. Then on top of that we weren't charged anything. At one point they even offered to drop our violin off in Corvallis (where we live) to save us a trip back into Philomath. PRO TIP: If you're traveling from Corvallis, I recommend calling first depending on what you might need. For example, the person you may want to speak with or work with may not be there when you stop by so it might be wise to call again just to be sure. But they truly go above and beyond, give great service, their pricing is very fair and reasonable. We're fortunately to have such a great music business here in the area and I'm excited for the next time we'll be stopping by!

I was VERY impressed with my visit to Centaur Guitar! Selection is HUGE (much larger than one…read morewould expect when looking at it from the outside), the staff is EXTREMELY knowledgeable, helpful, and friendly, and prices are LOW. They carry a huge variety of electric guitars, acoustic guitars, amplifiers, and accessories. They also offer setup and repair services. They sell both new and used items. Their used items were unanimously in extremely great condition, and did not appear to be used. A few things to note if you visit: *There is a small, private parking lot *The entrance on the building that is on the same side of the gate as the parking lot is not actually for Centaur Guitar, it is for an amplifier repair service that shares the building. *The entrance for Centaur Guitar is on the street side of the building, past the parking lot gate. *To enter, one must ring the doorbell, and an employee will open the door to let you in *There are no centaurs available for sale

What a great place! I start my guitar class tonight and I completely spaced on procuring a guitar…read moreuntil today. I forgot the name of the kind person who helped me. They took the time to go over several guitars with me so that I walked out with something that was usable, nice sounding and not intimidating. I can't wait to use my new guitar tonight.

I went in to buy a bass and a practice amp. I got talked into buying this little…read morerecording/headphone device for the same price I wanted the amp ($160). I was told I had 30 days to return it. I didn't like it and tried to return it a few weeks later. What I wasn't told was that I'd only get $50 as in store credit if the box was damaged (just the box, not the actual product itself). The worst part was the guy looked up the resell price on a used version and it came to about $80, but he then took 35% off even though it's a return. I then wanted to buy an amp (What I originally wanted before I was talked into something else) and asked for something around the $150 mark. He then tried to talk me into an amp without telling me the price. I had to firmly ask what the price was twice before he told me it's $300. Even though I was visibly upset from losing $100 from a product I bought from them because the box was damaged. I finally got him to show me exactly what I wanted. If you go here, know exactly what you want and be firm about it so you're not talked into getting something you don't want that costs more money. Also know that the boxes their products are in are worth $100 so you can't return a perfect condition product, within their return window, if the box is damaged.

While I have no complaints on their sales department which always has been nice, my rating is for…read moretheir amplifier repair service that is not honest. I highly recommend being very careful if you must bring your amplfiers there. It's for a repair work finished for my Mesa Boogie Mark III on 3/6/2022. I brought it for a crackling noise and it was just due to a bad 12AX7 tube (V1) due to bad contact on pins. They knew it but they additionally replaced a healthy volume pot, 2 healthy 30uF filter capacitors, while leaving one that was actually bad and underspec (20uF) which was worsening 60hz hum (which is the design weakness with this amp even with DC heater supply for V1). Total cost I paid was $100 + $15 + $16 + $10 + $125 = $266!! In addition, they didn't tighten up the top suspension screws which caused one 12AX7 tube to break during transport. It was not my first time taking the amp there because they are supposedly the only Mesa Boogie service center here. In 2018-2019, it was also them who installed the very JJ 20uF 500V filter capacitor that is underspec! I am engineer myself with a master degree in electrical engineering and I have been learning about repairing and building vintage tube amplifiers in past few years and now I know well enough. I still have all the receipts and documentation and the healthy parts that have been wrongfully replaced.

We love everything about RiverCity Rock Star Academy!…read more My daughter is about to start her 4th program with them, the Saturday Rockers. These programs run each season, with summer being a bit shorter than the others. She takes electric guitar lessons in the program, which teaches students not only how to play their instruments but also how to play together as a band. Each session includes one-on-one private lessons (which can be done anytime), then 2-hour band lessons (on Saturday in our case). So some students are learning guitar, others doing drums, bass, keyboard, or taking vocal lessons. They select a playlist of songs they want to learn and rehearse together, with full support from the instructors every step of the way. At the end of each program, they perform live in front of an audience. Sometimes it's mostly parents, other times they do shows in town, like at The Barn or Grand Theater. It's been very motivating for my daughter, and I started taking private lessons there myself recently. Every staff member and instructor genuinely cares about the success, safety, and satisfaction of the students and it shows. I think the pricing is very reasonable for everything you get, and there's not many places that do anything like this. It's a great location, too, because they can really play loud without disturbing anyone, yet it's also very close to downtown and lots of little restaurants to check out nearby. From the front, it may look small but once you go inside you and see how many rooms the place has, you'll see it's actually very spacious inside. There's also a good selection of guitars and gear to buy, with no pressure and very helpful staff. Check out their website and social media, or stop by and give them a try!

Am I the first person to review RiverCity Rock Star Academy on Yelp? That would be my honor…read more Why is a guy from Chicago raving about RiverCity Rock Star Academy? I could list 3 things but I'll focus on the third point. I purchased a beautiful white/white Jet JS-400 Guitar from Oregon, long distance. That process went great. 1) Timely updates in email. 2) Wonderfully packed. 3) Great SETUP of the guitar. I took the guitar out of the box and it was flawless. I tuned it, that was simple. The guitar played great out of the box. Normally you need to spend $50 getting a guitar "set up". Putting on new strings and making sure the "action" isn't too high. The "action" on my new Jet Guitar JS-400 was perfect. Let's call it medium. Too high and it's hard for a beginner to press down guitar strings. Strings too low and you get "fret buzz". My Jet guitar from RiverCity Rock Star Academy played great out of the box. Her Slovenian name is "Bela" pronounced "bay luh". (Jet Guitars are owned by Slovenians.) RiverCity Rock Star Academy staff are wonderful. Buy a guitar from them locally or long distance. Best Wishes from Chicago, IL Richard

Incredible customer service! Very friendly and family oriented. Actually wants you to get the best…read moreout of your musical journey.

My children, like many of children in the area, have joined the public school orchestra. They…read moredecided on their instruments (which completely matched their personalities) and so we were directed to Uptown Music for rental and other equipment. Emmaly was amazing and took incredible care of me and my boys! The store was very busy, considering it was the weekend after Orchestra Parent night, but she greeted us immediately and was incredibly helpful in finding us what we needed. She sized up my one son immediately, as he played the same instrument she did, but she was quick to realize that my other son wanted to play an instrument that might be in short supply, so she rushed to check on that one first. She happened to get the very last one that was in stock and immediately claimed it for us. She then spent a great deal of time going over the entire instrument, ensuring that we had the right bow, rosin, and that the case fit correctly and had everything in it. She then set us up on the other instrument, and made sure it fit properly. She clearly explained all the rental rules and requirements and how it worked. I will say this; Uptown Music appears committed to keeping people playing music over maximizing overall profit. It's a rent-to-own system, and when a child sizes up out of an instrument, you can bring it back in and have the credit go immediately to the new one. If my children stay with these instruments, I won't have to constantly go back and buy a bigger size while being stuck with lost payments on an old one. I really appreciate that! They also operate on a month-to-month rental agreement, so if it doesn't work out, I'm not stuck with a long term contract. Music books were ready available, and despite the fact that all the schools in the area were starting up orchestra, they put $30 music stands on sale for $20. I had to drop some money to get my kids set up for this, but it could have been A LOT more. Then, because of all the confusion, there was a small error in the initial payment on the rental agreement. Emmaly gave us a call and the store was super accommodating in giving us time to get back in and catch up on the payment. I visited Uptown Music years and years ago, over eleven I'd have to say, and took some piano lessons here to try and build on what I learned as a kid. Going back with my kids now was a great experience, and made me get excited about music all over again. I'm really hoping my kids enjoy playing their instruments. I'd love to keep them playin for years and years. One of my sons is interested in the saxophone, so we're looking at that for a potential future option. If you're in need of musical instruments, I strongly urge you to avoid large national chains and check out this place. I had a great experience and felt very well taken care of!