Been going there for years for several of my horns, and they are always on top of everything, and…read moredo great work. Can't recommend them strongly enough.

We inherited an old flute for our child that my husband's aunt had used in her high school days…read moremany decades ago. It looked very vintage, to put it nicely, and definitely needed a lot of TLC if it was even still usable. After some research, we found the Windsmith, located in the neighborhood of North Park, with exceptional reviews. We were lucky to have found Franco, who specializes in woodwind instrument repairs, to take a look at the old flute. He said the necessary maintenance was not extensive and gave us a very affordable quote for repairs to get the flute back in shape. In less than a week, we had the flute fixed up and ready to be played. Thank you Franco, and we will be back again for regular maintenance. My other child is interested in playing the trumpet so we hope to bring business to his partner Jim at the Windsmith, who specializes in brass instruments. We are so happy to have found this place. Thank you!

As a professional luthier of over 30 years myself, and a human for 77 years, I know something about…read morespotting top notch luthiers, and top notch people. Buck is both. He has helped me out now several times with design and 3D printing jobs for Lame Horse custom guitars. The work is always top notch and very prompt. I could not give a higher recommendation!

Absolutely top-notch work from Buck. Great communication and service. He fixed up two of my…read moreguitars: a new Strat that had alignment issues and an older SG that needed some TLC. Buck fixed the alignment on the Strat, and it's playing perfectly now. The SG feels and plays like it did the first day I got it. He has great attention to detail and even pointed out a few things I hadn't noticed. I'd definitely recommend Buck for any guitar issues.

I sold a couple of Gibsons to Imperial after I did a lot of research & review of other shops in San…read moreDiego and LA. Imperial always showed up at the top of the customer satisfaction reviews. They gave me a fair market offer to buy them outright and I took it. I'll go back...

Went there and it was closed even though maps said it's open. The store should have told the maps…read moreso people don't just waist their time, gas and get frustrated. Was gonna buy strings for my Gretsch and check this store but was really bummed.

If there's one thing Rick loves more than drums, it's people. I've been taking lessons here for…read morenearly a decade and Rick is such an awesome teacher. If you look at my previous reviews, Rick has far surpassed the instruction I've received from some of the top musical talent in San Diego across multiple disciplines. What's even more awesome than his teaching, his method book series, and his studio, is Rick, the person. He's always so positive with a "no bad days" vibe and he has such a way of connecting with people and making you comfortable and excited to learn drums. I've never heard a foul word or disparaging comments about another person, ever, and I've spent hundreds of hours with Rick at this point. If you're wanting to learn drums in the most fun way possible (by playing along with songs you know and love) and you want to do it quickly without it feeling like a chore, Rick is your guy. He's technically proficient in what seems like every musical style you can think of, from punk, metal, jazz, blues, country, swing, etc there is nothing he can't play or teach. Do yourself a favor, stop your search for drum lessons here and call Rick immediately. You will absolutely not regret it.

I took lessons for just under two months before deciding to go a different direction but I am…read moregrateful for the experience. I really like the location. The building itself is very clean and secure. Rick is the second teacher I've worked with at this building and I would definitely recommend exploring all different options. I purchased three of his books. As a former teacher with a Master's Degree in Curriculum Writing from SDSU's school of Education I can appreciate all time that went into creating them. As a neurodivergent person his space was just a little overwhelming for my learning style but I can appreciate all the things he had in there. I would do better in a cozier, smaller setting. I picked up on a bit of competitiveness between instructors and as a former teacher that surprised me. I expected more professionalism when talking about fellow teachers, especially from a veteran teacher, but my experience has been in public education, perhaps the music world is different. When I said that I would be going a different direction he replied right away and was very gracious about it. Still looking for a drum teacher but I'm grateful for the experience. I learned quite a bit in the short time I was there.

Today is 01/02/25, Thursday, the day after New Year's Day. It's 11:15am that I'm writing this…read morereview. I've been waiting for 15 mins for the store to open even though the hours say they open at 11:00 am. Their voicemail is full but the recording also says 11:00 am opening. Their website says open at 11:00 am. I'm not quite sure if everything says the store should be open but they aren't open. I purposefully came here to get my guitar strung with fresh strings. I wanted to support local stores specifically. The worker came in around 11:18 am. We all have hard days. I only dinged one star because truthfully it was only one worker for the whole store he was very very apologetic... He cleaned, oiled, and strung my guitar. He took his time and carefully did everything while also having to man the whole store by himself! He apologized profusely when he had to step away to help customers. I could be upset set, but it's the beginning of the year and we're all human. $12 for full restring (all 6 strings) you pay for the cost of the strings you want put on. I chose Elixir for my acoustic electric and those run around $20-ish bucks

It took some convincing (most of last school year), but my 5th grader "decided" to play an…read moreinstrument this year--the violin! Yay! Our school provided a list of required items, based on the instrument selected. They also listed local places where parents can go to rent or buy an instrument. Disappointingly, both of the recommended places are owned by the same big company that has been absorbing local shops the last few years. So I busted out Yelp on my phone and Music Central came up as an option. I gave this shop a call and Charlie was kind enough to answer all of my questions over the phone. He left a great first impression from the different shops I reached out to that morning. I decided to take the afternoon off from work and pick up my daughter early during her minimum day so we could see Charlie while he was working--glad I did! Charlie answered more of my questions and measured my daughter for her first violin (insert proud parent tears of joy here). We discussed rental terms and Charlie answered another round of questions to help make me very comfortable signing a contract. I like how standard repairs (like string replacement) and maintenance (like tuning) are included with my rental. And I LOVE how I can "trade in" my rental for the next size up instrument (in similar condition) without breaking my contract! During our first visit we picked up a few of the required accessories listed for the violin and Charlie gave his recommendations on what is really needed to help save me some money up front. As a dad on a budget, this was much appreciated. This shop has a large collection of acoustic and electric guitars in the back. There are also lots and lots of music sheets in stock too. Much to my surprise, Music Central also has a large collection of ukuleles from different manufacturers. My eldest daughter has been interested in ukuleles for years (we have owned a few inexpensive ones to foster her exploration of this instrument) so this may be the focus a future visit. I mentioned this to Charlie and he shared that he teaches ukulele for the shop. How cool is that?! Thanks for an awesome first visit Charlie! Looking forward to a long relationship with Music Central to help my daughters make beautiful music.

My 9 yr old son been seening Victor for the past month every week. He is very flexible with your…read moreschedule and communicates if there are any changes in schedule and has good service. My son enjoys learning drums here and it is reasonably priced. Definitely would recommend if you are looking to learn drums Victor is solid teacher.

I started drum lessons with Victor as an older beginner. I couldn't have asked for a better…read moreteacher. He's patient, knowledgeable, and great at explaining techniques in a way that's easy to follow. Victor tailors each lesson to my pace, making every session challenging but fun. l've learned alot without feeling rushed or overwhelmed. Victor teaches a huge age range of students, from youngsters to oldsters. If you're thinking about learning drums, or already play, I highly recommend Victor - he is a great musician and a super instructor!

I've brought two Guitars and one Bass for Willie and his repair team to fix, I highly recommend…read morethem super knowledgeable, the turnaround is surprisingly quick I won't go anywhere else to get my instruments repaired, plus they are super nice in the front desk there and very welcoming.

i've only been playing guitar a couple of years and I was looking for a place to buy some pics as I…read moream new in California originally from Massachusetts. The woman in charge there I think her name was Shannon was very hospitable and friendly. The place looked really hot decor was great with rock gods all over over the walls, but it's primarily a place to go and rehearse live so when I get back to playing I plan to go back plus I'm getting the band back together again looks good to me

This place does zero things wrong. We've been renting here for years. Never had any issue. Bow…read moreneeds to be rehaired? Switch. String broken? 15 min fix. Time to size up? Ok let's see what you need and get it tuned and out the door. Super affordable as well.

We had a great experience at San Diego Violins purchasing a violin with our daughter. Highly…read morerecommend!