This guitar store was discovered while waiting for my colleagues to arrive at a meeting in our office. I have wanted a guitar for many years and always felt it was such a luxury so I thought that day to throw caution to the wind and just go next door to peak. It doesn't hurt to browse. The owner there was so helpful; he explained that acoustic guitars were in the back room, in a special room that was acclimatized for the appropriate temperatures needed to house wooden guitars. Completely impressive! I walked to the room and saw them facing me in rows: Fenders, Washburn, Simon and Patricks and some of them almost winking at me. But what amazed me the most were the prices of the guitars. So well priced plus they also had tags of 10 or 20 percent discounts, I couldn't believe my eyes. I immediately needed to play each one, and listen to tone qualities, to feel how each guitar felt in my hands. The owner was so intuitive as well to give me space to experience this for myself and finally sensing I knew I had found one came back to the room and gave me an especially good price. When I left the guitar store, my colleagues had been waiting for me ouside the office door, as I guess I had been swept away with the time I spent in the store and I had the keys. It was obvious why I was late, they saw my new guitar purchase as we entered the office, I a little embarrassed at my shopping indulgence. I highly recommend this guitar store for your musical needs, extremely knowledgeable and friendly staff and the prices of wares their unbelievably affordable for the quality you are getting. read more

I've been drooling over the prospect of acquiring my first good quality instrument ever. And recently I mapped out a bunch of Calgary music shops for a Saturday "guitar quest". My first stop on my guitar tour was this Total Music Centre. I walked in and proceeded into the acoustic room, saw some interesting guitars, and decided to take my coat off (to avoid any zipper marks on the guitars) and try a few. I reached for one up high and was being careful as always. Well when I lifted it out of the hanger, the hanger lifted with it and then when I pulled the guitar away the hanger fell back into position and made a clunk. The guy working there, could have been the owner since I doubt staff would even care, came almost running in with a warning to be careful, thinking the noise he heard was me banging a guitar into something. I actually was so surprised that I wasn't even sure if I heard him right- I guess in my mind I knew I came with cash and intent to buy, that I'm a middle age family man in a decent income bracket, not some punk vandal. so I was probably in denial that he had actually greeted me with a warning. But it happened so quickly, and I had to gather my senses. Then he did that "can I help you with something" thing which is sort of a condescending hypnotic suggestion to get out of my store. The guy was very cold. And then he was ready to get back to the counter, he did it again- another warning. I'm thinking to myself, what is this guy's problem? And when I politely told him I was being very careful he just looked at me like he knew I was lying. I am not good in moments of confrontation like this. Let's just assume for a moment that I did accidentally bump guitars in the acoustic room (which I didn't)... The guitar I was trying out was a $500-ish made in China Washburn! First of all, it's not some rare vintage 1930s Gibson J45 or something. In fact I didn't see a single guitar in the room worth more than $700 or so- imagine if this guy worked at a real music store where they have $3000+ Martins and Taylors hanging on the wall. Secondly, it was a factory relic guitar! it was designed and built to look aged and distressed! So even if it had bumped into something, unless I el-kabonged it over an amplifier there's not a chance anyone would be able to tell. If he just properly assessed the situation and treated me like the potential customer I was, I might have actually bought something there. Instead I just was a bit shaken up so I decided to go back up front and try to talk to him before leaving. Maybe I could explain what the sound he heard was a bit better and he'll see in the short conversation that I am not some careless riff-raff. But as soon as he had returned to his counter, he picked up a phone call. I stood around waiting for a while by the counter, and I could hear from his end of the conversation that it obviously wasn't a customer. So, I waited there a while, maybe about 3 or 4 minutes, but he just kept talking on the phone, so I just left. I couldn't believe it. Anyways, I ended up buying a guitar later that same day at another store, so his loss. I very much go by feel when making any major purchases, and I think most other people do this too. When you are treated like dirt, they could have the nicest merchandise on earth, but there's no way you'd give them your business. read more