Groth Music was recommended to get sheet music and boy, did they deliver. I ended up speaking with…read moreDan who was beyond helpful! I highly recommend this for your musical needs.

I checked out Groth Music because I love music and this is a music store. It also is a Minnesota…read moreinstitution. I wanted to meet cool employees, have great conversations about music, and honestly, I wanted to buy something. I have a lot of money (well, not really) and I am genuinely in the market for... music stuff. Groth Music has guitars, but guitar is not its primary focus. Instead, Groth is the spot to go to when you want to find sheet music. I think there's still a lot of value in this despite e-commerce. A lot of times, the quality of sheet music isn't clear, especially for pop music. It's very useful to be able to look at the pages for yourself. I'm rating Groth 3 stars because no employee felt like greeting me. I was especially disappointed that the guy in the guitar section simply sat at his desk without even trying to engage me at all. He semi-grumpily said "let me know if you have any questions." I genuinely could've bought something, even a guitar, if he took the second to chat with me like many local music shop workers often do. Instead, I got Guitar Center-level service.

Went in to inquire about my violin bow being rehaired and came out with a new bow! I was given a…read moreviolin and a bow from a family member and one of my bows needed new hair. Fein violins sends out bows to be rehaired but will let you loan a bow while it's being worked on. The bow I was gifted from family was actually a very inexpensive bow and wouldn't be worth it to rehair but I was able to buy a new bow. Diane showed me some options to choose from and I could hear the differences as I tried them out on my instrument. She also showed me some violins the owner was in the process of making. It's super cool to see the instruments being made on site! I'm excited to use my new bow, thanks Fein Violins!

For anyone reading on here and seeing the negative reviews, I question their authenticity and am…read moredismayed at their disparaging of a small business that is a cornerstone of the St. Paul community. Here is my review: We moved to the Twin Cities and my daughter needed a new cello rental for school. The quality of the rental was very decent compared to other shops. After a few years, she had advanced in her play in high school. She was moving up through the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphony, first chair in her current section, and first chair in her school orchestra section as well. We had the opportunity through a family gift to purchase her a more intermediate student cello. We went to Andy first, since we had a credit with his shop. He was sold out of the price points we were looking at but let us come and play on a few instruments on hold for other buyers. He was incredibly gracious. In the meantime while we waited on more instruments to be available, we did our due diligence and tried cellos and bows at other shops around town, and had her teacher weigh in on a few. In my mind I didn't like any as much as one we had played at Andy's shop before, but I was trying to approach it from a neutral position. We found two that were fine instruments in our price range and would have served. One shop even offered us a discount to make up some of the difference in not having a rental credit with them, and another shop was having a sale. This process really helped us in our decision, because when Andy had two cellos available we went back in to try them. Wow! My ears had not deceived me. After all the time spent listening to my daughter playing perhaps as many as 20 other cellos, the quality of sound in Andy's cellos stood out as warm and resonant across the entire range. My daughter almost immediately fell in love with one. We spent over an hour playing on them above his shop, to which he graciously gave us the space and privacy to try out cellos and bows and discuss. The cello we have purchased is so beautiful and will serve her for many years as she advances in her play. Andy had recently had a cello sale over the holidays and he and his business manager, Diane, offered to extend those prices for us. He also sent us with a nicer bow than we had originally planned, and a beautiful case and dampits and new rosin. He was nothing but friendly, gracious, knowledgeable, and clearly loving of his craft. I have received nothing for this review, except I felt compelled to write one after our experience working with Andy and to tell anyone else on here to ignore the negative reviews because I can recommend his work and his shop and his person without reservation. Of note, Andy has been serving the community for decades with instrument rentals and sales as a small business owner. Some of these reviews are about people thinking they found some $150k violin (unlikely!) and were angry at being told otherwise, or people irritated that his small shop wasn't open when they stopped by without appointment. Ridiculous! I would recommend you call in advance. This is customary for most luthiers. They are small and many are by appointment only, or may need at times to step out or handle business or appointments away from the shop. It also enables them to prepare for your visit and ensure the practice space and instrument types you are seeking are available.

Amazing selection of new Yamaha's as well as used pianos. Very friendly. Great customer service.read more

"Wow," is all I can say. I thought my guitar sounded great before I brought it to Artifact. I…read morebrought in three guitars in need of differing degrees of TLC. When I got them back, all three sounded immediately better. The biggest change I noticed was in a Takamine P2 that Is my primary acoustic. Not only did the work get done flawlessly, but they took the time to explain why it was better. In addition to the Takamine, they worked on my father's vintage Martin and took great care of it. I would trust Artifact Guitars with any instrument. It's clear they can make a basic guitar great and a pro guitar amazing. In addition, I live 60 miles from the shop. Jes personally drove my guitars out to my home to save me the trip of driving down there a second time. Great service. Great results. A+.

My experience was a mixed bag. I brought in an old Les Paul bass with a broken headstock and a…read morebridge missing parts. Jes did an amazing job fixing a headstock no other luthier would touch, and also gave it a nice fret job and installed an aftermarket bridge. They made me pay in advance and then proceeded to take several months to complete it, I had to buy the bridge myself and deliver it to them, and then told me they were unable to figure out how to wire it up. So after hundreds of dollars and many weeks I ended up picking up a bass that STILL didn't work. I felt they should have gone the extra mile for me and researched it to make me happy, because a 5 minute Google search gave me the wiring and I just did it myself. They do nice work and Jes was friendly but I felt like I was not a priority.

...another great experience with Tom & the guys at the shop!…read more I had an injured banjo in need of some emergency surgery. I called up the shop on a Sunday afternoon - in the middle of my "help-me-my-banjo-is-broken!!!-panic"...and I was surprised to hear Tom himself answer the phone. I talked to him a few minutes & made an appointment to have my banjo operated on the following day. I think I was lucky to get out of the shop for just under $60. For that $60...I got new tuning pegs, a new bridge, new strings (+ a lesson on how to string it myself), the head tightened, and a few other minor adjustments. I know there are other places where I could have taken my banjo to be repaired (Homestead Pickin' Parlor, Schmitt Music, My Music Store, etc) but I felt like Nechville Music was really my only option...I knew my banjo was in good hands...and I knew I would walk away happy...and I did.. :)

Amazing sounding banjos and friendly, helpful service. I love the playing the Zeus I bought, and…read morethey've been more than helpful with any questions I've had after I bought it!

Returned a rented instrument and the owner of the store did not clearly communicate the return…read morepolicy. Tried discussing the return policy and the owner literally stopped talking when I was in the store. It was the strangest experience....I was simply asking for clarification (the owner was going to refund half a months rental fee and then abruptly said he'd decided to only do a quarter of it). It only was a difference of like $12 so not a huge deal. My issue is that when I was trying to understand what changed the owner just stopped talking. This place was not easy to work with and there are better options available elsewhere.

Great musical instrument store. Helpful and knowledgeable owners with years of industry experience.read more

5 years ago I was in his shop and he had a plastic cello case for just $50, it was a great deal,…read morehis shop looks nice, now you have to make an appointment to see him on a weekend.

I am currently in the market for a lower range cello, but John Waddle providing a high level of…read morecare. Providing a multitude of options and sharing a lot of wonderful stories as well. It really feels like he cares about the player as opposed to other shops that are purely trying to sell an instrument. I would highly recommend anyone in the market for an intermediate or professional level instrument strongly considers an instrument from John Waddle.

Brickhouse is the ideal local music store! The staff is amazing and the owner, Tom, is as nice and…read moreknowledgeable as they come. I've purchased a few bass guitars from Brickhouse with my most recent being an Order-Option G&L. Tom was insanely helpful through the process. The other cool part is that they have a far better assortment of guitars, basses, and amps than the big box stores. But local and support the small business instead! I seriously can't recommend this place enough!

Super nice shop. Called them up to check on the stock of a pedal. Although it was ultimately out of…read morestock, they were helpful in giving me suggestions for similar gear, and let me know of some special edition pedals they had coming up. I wouldn't hesitate to shop with them at all, Brickhouse seems really knowledgable and super friendly.