Great people. They are very helpful and knowledgable. My go to for brass repair. Work was better…read morethan expect Ed and I sold one of trombones there on consignment. Pete is an amazing technician. I love the selection of pre-owned instruments and related products.

The good news is that they were able to clean and repair a 90 year old SilverTone Cornet from a…read morefamily estate sale. It was finally sold on consignment after 2 years and several price reductions. The bad news is that they performed unauthorized repairs after the initial work, without explanation, which they then deducted from the balance paid out to the estate. Further, when I discussed this several times with Chris Greco, he assured me it should have been handled differently, and would issue a refund for that unauthorized work after discussing it with Linda. Months later I have no updates and no refunds as promised. I understand the work is specialized, but don't hide what you're doing. At this point I have lost any respect for the business and how they do things.

I've shopped there in the past. I purchased instruments for my son. I would recommend this place. I…read moreintend on purchasing an instrument for my grandchild.

I want to start by saying how sad I am to leave this review. Teds is the closest music store to my…read morehome and one I came to for years as a student. I consistantly ordered a particular brand of reeds from them during my middle and high school years and had two buffet clarinets serviced there while martriculating and preparing for collegiate auditions. This is why I trusted Ted's and brought the parent of one of my students here. We purchased his first professional clarinet, a used Buffet from here. While his parent was happy to buy a new professional clarinet, the quality and richness of older Buffet clarinets matched the beautiful tone my student achieves. Ted's gave us a good price and I played the clarinet briefly to make sure it was functional. They even offered a 6 month warranty. During lessons, my clarinet student started to have issues with one of the keys. I noticed some very small pieces of cork were missing. We took the clarinet back to Ted's and instead of picking up the clarinet, I had to send it back for a more complete fix (the pad was now not closing correctly). I was told they did an overhaul of the clarinet and after some time, we tried the clarinet and picked it up again. Because an overhaul was done, I visually inspected and tested the clarinet again. All seemed well. A few weeks ago, my student had to send his instrument to the repair shop for an overhaul after pads in the right hand joint became loose and fell off. This time, at a different store, we were notified there was no way an actual overhaul was done because of the condition of the pads. I can no longer recommend, nor do business with Ted's, which is really a shame after all of these years.

Farrell's--more than just violins! Come here for violins, violas, basses, and 'cellos…read more My dad brought me here back in 4th grade when I first decided to start playing the violin. We teased him because he was only saving $100 by going there versus the other music stores, and it was a bit of a drive for us . . . but it saved a lot more in the long run! They used to have a deal that whatever money you spent while renting went towards your future violin that you would buy. I rented for about 8 years before buying, and I ended up not having to pay for anything except for maybe my case. They will let you play on instrument after instrument, talk to you about them, describe the sounds . . . needless to say, I spent hours here. : ) They do excellent repairs with excellent service, and even though I think they dropped the rental deal, their prices are still good. My violin was valued at somewhere around $1000 there, but it would cost so much more anywhere else. They're not after selling you the most expensive instrument, just the one you like the most. (Of course, the one I liked the most was the one the owner was making, but it was going to sell for $5000--boo!) Bonus throw-in . . . I'm apparently related to Mr. Farrell, and to his nephew who also works/worked there. It's like third/fourth cousin or something, but still random fun!

After retiring, I decided I wanted a Les Paul jr. I knew they'd gone up in price, but $6K for the…read moresame guitar I bought for $100 50 years ago? The other options didn't appeal to me, so I built one. Doug was just the right person to set it up - you get to watch and learn something. In under 30min. I had a great playing LP jr. I will NEVER go to anyone else!! Off topic - building that guitar was great fun, highly recommended. I started with a body&neck from Precision Guitar Kits in Canada from there, just use parts of your choice. Doug even mentioned I did a good job on it!

Lies about what he sells and prosecutes you for your beliefs that differs from his and by doing so,…read morenegates any ongoing warranty you may have...he'll have your best review until he turns on you... BEWARE so you don't get blind sided like I did...

Hamiltone music resides inside an old firehouse in the heart of Hamilton-Lauraville's Main Street…read more The location was renovated with great community assistance and also huge support from the HL Mainstreet Association. It is a business incubator. Terrific work!! Hamiltone is mainly a site fur music lessons which I'm told are great. There are three studio practice rooms for instruction and a small retail business. They also fix guitars. On the retail side it's small. James, the owner, admits it's a work in progress. He has guitar strings, some equipment and a few guitars. Again it's mostly lessons so don't expect a ton...but do expect knowledge!!! He helped my little boy pick a 3/4 guitar and compare it to full size, gave us advice on cases, and was encouraging. Great little shop. I hope he expands.

Hamiltone Music is a wonderful little shop in the heart of Hamilton. James is so knowledgeable and…read moredoes amazing work on guitar repairs. He is a warm instructor who specializes in teaching guitar to all levels. The shop has a lot of fun instruments for sale, as well as any gear you might need for your instrument. It is definitely worth stopping in! If you are looking for guitar lessons, James is your man! And if guitar isn't your thing, they have many other talented teachers and James will pair you with the best!

This place was so great for renting my son's violin. They had a promotion for $20 for 3 months…read more Then the price increases per month but the opening promotion is a great deal to see if my son likes the violin. They also have all the music books available for purchase. You can tell them what school your child is in and they will pretty much take care of the rest.

I brought my guitar in for repair and they did a nice job. Very professional. I will definitely…read morebe back!

I had a vintage hollow body that needed a re-fret and made the long drive to drop the guitar off…read more The good = the removal of the frets, and re-planing of the fretwork is the cleanest and most conservative I've ever seen. He also pinned the floating bridge in a really neat, clean, and innovative way. The turn time was less than two weeks. The bad = The final charge was over $100 over the estimate, and they didn't inform me of this before hand before I made the long drive to pick it up. The new frets were too high and not crowned properly, so it was painful to play. The frets were squared off and not rounded. I couldn't afford the time and money to make the drive again to have this corrected, so I had to pay somebody else to correct the work (by leveling and re-crowning the frets). I now have to ship my guitars out of state for fretwork since there is nobody good in the DC/Baltimore area aside from a few hobbyist working out of their homes. I've definitely seen worse fret work than this, like I said, I was impressed with the care taken with the removal of the old frets and re-planing the fretboard. But the re-fret felt incomplete to me and the extra unexpected charge was a kick in the gut.

If you ship your guitar to get work done here, be prepared to wait at least half a year to get it…read moreback. No joke. Don't believe them when they say it will be several weeks to a month. I shipped my guitar to Philtone years ago and had them PLEK and set up my guitar years. Didn't hear back for months and didn't want to seem like I was too pushy. After four or five months, I started to get a little anxious so I emailed or called them. They said it would be soon. I ended up getting my guitar six or seven months later. It's known in the guitar community that time management is this place's worst attribute. I've read a number of complaints about not hearing back and waiting forever.