We bought an acoustic guitar for our son for college graduation. I wish I had the name of the young man who helped me but he was phenomenal. Greeted us at the door and spend a ton of time going over the pros and cons of various guitars as well as sharing his insight as a guitar player and inquiring as to how our son intended to use the guitar. We were not pressured into buying any guitar and were shown guitars at many different price points then left to consider the myriad of options and come to our own conclusion. The store has a great selection of guitars to choose from. That coupled with the expert customer service make this place a win! I'll juxtapose our experience at Palen with one at Guitar Center in LA. At GC nobody helped us, we had no idea what where we should go to find the guitars he wanted and everyone just stood around while we wandered aimlessly. They did however, point to the section of the store we should go to but not one person came back to help us. 5 stars for Palen Music Center, we wish you continued success read more

Since moving to Columbia in 2011 my father in law has used their pianos to practice silently, with the volume off, every couple of months (as an internationally known pianist and recording artist he needs to keep his fingers loose while on vacation). Today he walked into an empty store and was treated like a scam artist and was essentially called a liar "you've never been here before" and they refused to let him play one of their pianos that was collecting dust. With customer service like that no wonder their store is always empty. Edit: after contacting Palen they have rectified the situation and are now going above and beyond to correct their actions. Management has been great! read more

Typical guitar store, looked for a guitar on the internet and although it said that they had it when we arrived it was gone and not even the same that was advertised. read more

Palen Music Center - Musical Instruments & Teachers Near Me - Columbia, Missouri

The store is small butt Ed and the staff will bend over backwards to assist in any way. If they don't have your item they will get it from another store, vendor, or manufacturer. I have purchased 3 guitars, a Fender amp and a butt-kicking Mackie powered mixer over the years. Epiphone Dot w/Gibson hardware Dan Electro guitar Mackie 808 Powered mixer Fender Reverb Deluxw read more

The staff is not well trained on handling string instruments (violin/viola/cello/bass). I had a student go there to get their string replaced, no one knew how to put on a string -- instead they just loaned him a new cello until I could put the new string on for him. Another student needed to have their bow re-haired and no one knew how to do that. I have had similar experiences with multiple students -- please hire some knowledgeable string luthiers!! You are one of only a FEW instrument shops in town, students should NOT have to travel to St. Louis or Kansas City to get quality service on string instruments read more

Not a huge selection but great prices and very friendly staff! We called ahead to see if they had a bass drum case and they answered immediately and with enthusiasm, checked their I entity, and got back to me very quickly. When we went in, they were all super nice, listened to my band's music, helped our bassist polish his bass and change his strings, and we're overall a great staff. We had fun fiddling around while they worked on the bass. Definitely a great place to get the basics. read more

Adress is wrong. They are out by 63 off East Broadway in a mall. Ive got a guitar, a amp, and mis. They will treat you good here. I buy everything from Eddie. I gonna go back and buy some more (toys)heheh. You won't go wrong here. Adress is 2609 E. Broadway Suite 208 Phone 573-256-5555 read more

I saw a video on FB of Nate playing a Gibson ES-175 guitar through the Keeley 30ms Double Tracker pedal. I was impressed. I went by the store a couple of weeks later, but the guitar was sold. No problem Nate and Ed assured me if I wanted to have a new one. They went out of their way to track down a brand new model from the Memphis factory and would make me a tremendous offer if I wanted to buy it. I won't reveal the price, but it was much better than Sweetwater, Guitar Center, Sam Ash, or even E-Bay. Although not a big shop, Palen Music in COMO is a class act! I've been to a lot of music stores/shops, etc. in St. Louis, Chicago and Nashville and even McCabe's in Santa Monica. Palen is right up there with those big guitar store selections, staff knowledge and personalities. Well, they may not have as many guitars as those other places, I still highly recommend Palen Music, especially for Gibson guitars, guitar effects and pedals, and good people to know in the guitar world. read more