Strange Guitarworks

Locally owned & operated. Paul is great at repair & attention to detail. He even makes his own…read morepedals.

Amazing service and selection! Paul's expertise and craftsmanship is second to none. You won't be…read moredisappointed.

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Spreading the Music

5.0(4 reviews)

1.9 mi•Freret

This practice space just so happened to be only 5 minutes away from where I am staying in town. It…read moreis also a music school. The staff is very accommodating and hospitable. I believe I met the owner, and if so she is sweet and very helpful. The space has everything you need if you want to practice drums and any other instrument. It's also super affordable, super easy to schedule time to practice (or rehearse for bands and seasoned drummers). I hope to utilize this space a few more times before I leave town. There is free wifi, and you can also rent the bluetooth speaker for $5.00. I am super happy this place is here!

I was in town for a month as a singer and had to find a place to practice. They welcome anyone to…read moreuse the rehearsal room with incredibly affordable price and also the rooms are well prepared with at least one or more pianos and/or high quality keyboards. Also their drum room is incredibly well equipped! This studio is literally perfect for any musicians! (Also rooms are very cute!) And Candace who run this place is so sweet and so accommodating! She was also responsible, respectful, and friendly! I truly enjoyed talking to her and her employee! recommend this studio for EVERYONE!!!

Spreading the music teachers

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Private Drum Lesson with Mr. Rick Sebastian

Guitar Center

3.1(48 reviews)

3.2 mi

These folks are the best - come in and talk, they know everything! Oh, my reviews of these awesome…read morepeople needs more words. Mind adding something?

I would say I have bought 90% of my gear from guitar center. I've used multiple stores. Each time…read morethey're respectful they are honest and they're helpful. I've never felt like I've been taken advantage of, and they've always helped me out when I've needed it. I want to just say a big thank you to guitar center for all the years of great service. It means a lot. I recently purchased an amp and had an issue with it and Dylan the store manager without question took care of the issue. I can't state enough how professional the guys at the store were. They made a rough situation easy, which goes a long way in my book. Thank you.

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Rental equip avail

Todd's Music Express

4.5(8 reviews)

2.4 mi

Had two fender necks leveled- one turned out ok , but they really screwed up the expensive Warmoth…read morewith stainless frets. Had to replace nut, re level lower frets. Plus, the assistant guy is real rude. Third shop in new Orleans that did crummy work.

Once again, I am writing a review for my partner. He had his acoustic guitar "repaired" by another…read moreshop in town and they...let's say, overcorrected, and the saddle snapped. After asking around for the best luthier in town, he was steered to Todd. Not only did he repair the guitar to its former glorious sound, it turns out that he probably sold the guitar to E back in the early 80s when he worked for a now defunct music store. Great prices, friendly staff, walls full of instruments and a floor full of vintage amps. Fun for the whole family.

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Uptown Music Exchange

4.4(7 reviews)

4.6 mi•Marigny

•$$$

Store was really nice with offering for almost every genre of music. Staff was super helpful. I…read morehighly recommend.

Best repair tech in the city. That alone is enough. Nice people running the place. I mean, Yelp…read morewants me to keep writing, so I'll keep going, but if you're not interested already, you aren't paying attention. Umm, the building is nice. There's beautiful hardwood floors. Lots of...thank God, Yelp says this is enough. If you play an instrument, go there now.

Olds Ambassador Cornet

Saxes and Trombones too

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Entrance off of Octavia st!

Michon's

Mr sell was so nice he was so sweet and patient definitely recommend and love the viberead more

Many brass band players and artists come here to get their instruments fix and Mr. Michon does a…read moregrest job go for a very affordable price depending on the trauma done to that instrument. When you walk into the shop there's music instruments every where. He's a really nice approachable guy that every local artist or band player seems to have his number on speed dial!!!

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New Orleans Guitar Company

5.0(1 review)

2.7 mi•Mid-City

Go to Vincent for anything guitar related. He will either help you out quickly or refer you to…read moresomeone who can. Plus he makes beautiful custom made guitars!

Coleman Music Centre

5.0(1 review)

5.5 mi

Needed a quick mic stand for church... and there it was; just a block away from where I attend…read morechurch. The gentleman was helpful, courteous, and pricing was fair. I definitely plan to come back and check out more of what they have. Didn't have time to do it today because I was in a bit of a rush. Thank you so much Coleman Music Centre I love supporting locals.

From the owner: Coleman Music Centre has provided superb Hammond Organ sales and service locally and nationally for…read moreover a decade. As authorized Hammond Organ and Leslie speaker dealers, we aim high to ensure the very best in quality. But it does not stop there. We also offer much more such as; portable keyboards, guitars, drums, music theory books, musical gift items, instrument accessories, and much more! Our number one goal is to insure that churches, schools, private homes, and studios are installed with the finest music equipment available. Our team of friendly staff are motivated by our love for music and the passion to provide excellence in customer satisfaction.

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Musica store

5.0(5 reviews)

5.5 mi•St. Claude

I enjoy a music store that sells folk instruments. The owner is guitar-playing, native New Yorker…read morethat moved down to NOLA years ago. The place is small but loaded with stuff. I bought a pair of teak percussion spoons, a couple small drum sticks, and a cool tambourine covered with a skin. Can't wait to play them...while I'm not driving

Remember this store still; kindly people and interesting instruments…read more And nowhere else do I know where you can get a groowah.

Amazing musical accessories and accoutrements from literally... everywhere.

Heh...

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8 reviews that are not currently recommended

The reviews below are not factored into the business's overall star rating.

Tim P.

14 years ago

In December of 2011 I special ordered a custom Parker Fly Mojo directly from Parker. After a 6 month wait the guitar arrived in July 2012. The guitar is beautiful; the custom paint job looks even better than I'd imagined. BUT I had a nasty fret buzz on several frets. So I sent it back to Parker only to get a kind of condescending email from their tech department saying that the guitar wasn't buzzing. When I got it back the buzz was still there. Then, after having a different local guy (whose name I won't mention) work on it I got it back with horrible action and way more neck relief than any guitar should have and it was "fretting out" badly on bends. I got pretty dejected at this point and just let my beautiful high end, custom guitar languish on it's stand for another 6 months. Then I found Benjamin. Benjamin was super professional. He took a good lock at my Fly, assessed the glaring issues, explained my options, and that he could definitely make my guitar a whole lot better. He asked me a few questions about my playing and what I like as far as action, bending, and general playing goes. He explained that if I wasn't satisfied with his work he'd refund my money. He also told me he could have it ready the next night. When I got the guitar back I was astounded. The action is superb, almost zero neck relief, and zero fret buzz. When I got it home and plugged in I ended up playing the thing for 5 hours straight. And Benjamin told me that if it needed any adjustments he'd take care of that as well. I highly recommend Benjamin. Eventually, I will end up bringing all of my axes to him to work his magic, even the ones that are playing well now. I truly feel that he will improve them all and customize them to suit my needs and desires. Thanks, Benjamin for doing such excellent work. It's nice to do business with a real pro. read more

Paul M.

10 years ago

Benjamin..... I wasn't aware that I'd be committing a faux pas by describing my unpleasant interaction with your company/service. Was a refund supposed to be your assurance that I wouldn't? That's not how this works.....that's not how any of this works... First of all, I expect to see a jewelers shine on a fresh fret polishing and a nice level uniform crowning on the fret.....if this was your work........well.....I am not impressed You didn't even bother to wipe the guitar down before putting it back in the poorly packed box. Nor did you return my original 5 way switch.... ( I kind'a would've liked to have had that back .... Just in case I decided to reinstall the original components ) My former luthier always included specific directions/schematics to assist in doing so. That's a nice little extra touch/courtesy....don't ya think? To address my saying that the bass played better..... I was speaking of the lowering of the nut slots, that you did actually do, which did help playability in the low register. I have a very nice close up of the little plastic shavings you left behind, still attached to the nut, that you didn't bother to clean up....as well as a few of the not so shiny frets. It's plain and simple.... I was not pleased with the work you did,...or didn't do. It was not the level of craftsmanship that I'm accustomed to. If you actually did the work.....well that makes it even worse, my friend..... Live Long and Prosper read more

Vam M.

146

107

7 years ago

I have used the same guitar tech in the Bywater for the last 12 years, so going here for a big job on a vintage collectors guitar was well out of my comfort zone. Alas, my regular guy is often backlogged and Mr.Strange came highly recommended from a Grammy award winning Musician, so I went to the shop to scope them out. I was going to put them through a plethora of questions but upon walking through the door, the first thing I see is a $100k Plex intonation machine and that told me all I needed to know, which is that these guys know what they're doing. What more can I say? They know their stuff and have great customer service. Actually, there's a lot more I can say... They are clean, organized and their business model is pretty solid, but what's really awesome is that you can jump to the front of the line for $50. I opted for the standard service because they didn't have parts in stock and still got a reasonable turnaround time. They also take security seriously and keep the front door locked, but instead of buzzing you in, a human comes to the door to let you in which is nice personal touch. And finally, I had already agreed to their estimate, so I was pleasantly surprised when Benjamin told me the total was actually under budget and I'm getting $100 back. I only one small complaint and it's that they didn't clean the guitar. Wipe it down, cause I'm on! read more

James S.

13 years ago

I couldn't be more pleased with the quality of the craftsmanship over at this shop! I brought my 7 string to Strange Guitarworks for a pretty serious overhaul. I was looking to refret, rewire, add a momentary switch, and add a new pickup. Right off the bat Ben took the time to get to know me and what I wanted out of the instrument. He was committed to getting the instrument performing based on the way I play and my personal preferences. Awesome. The refret came out great, especially considering how painstaking it can be to pull frets off an ebony fingerboard. He even fashioned a new custom bone nut for the neck. Between the new nut and the steel frets the guitar has never played better. I was also really unsure of how I would like the new pickup because it can be hard to tell how it will sound until it's in your guitar. Once the install was complete I went and did a gig with the new electronics and was really disappointed. The switch was too slow and the pickup sounded way too muddy. Ben was attentive as ever though and when I showed back up with a new switch and different pickup he swapped em out no questions asked. He also gave me valuable advice while I was searching for the best pickup for my guitar. I will definitely be taking my other guitars to Ben, I have a couple more projects I think he'd be perfect for. read more

Mark S.

13 years ago

Scored a $100 guitar (Squier 51) off Craigslist. Sounded great; mysteriously difficult action. I took it to Strange Guitarworks and Benjamin had it sorted out by the next day. The nut needed to be re-cut. He did a great job, and the guitar is 100% better. Now if he could do that with my $100 Squier, then I know I'm going to bring my more expensive ones in! Great guy to deal with, very polite & efficient, and he guarantees all his work. It is frankly a relief not to have to do all my work myself any more due to the lack of competent guitar repairmen in New Orleans (sorry, y'all, but it's the truth). We now have a competent guitar repairman in town. Rejoice! read more

Michael A.

13 years ago

every guitar that Benjamin has repaired came out better than the factory...he's made many repairs and has finished faster than "other" guys in New Orleans. Highly recommended...thanks again for the excellent customer service read more

Daniel C.

16 days ago

Had them change out an adjustable saddle to fixed saddle on a J45. The overall tonality was night and day. The work and craftsmanship done was as good as it gets. Thank you guys, Daniel read more

Brian L.

8 years ago

Can't recommend these guys enough. They're passionate about their work and it shows.

Strange Guitarworks - musicalinstrumentsandteachers - Updated September 2026

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