Guitar Center

I brought in a used guitar for repair that had some upgraded pickups but a terrible wiring job. Danny and Benny went above and beyond to help me out. They made sure all the connections were solid throughout, fixed poorly spliced wires and re-​soldered everything, tightened up the pots and put new strings on it for me when they were done. They did an amazing job with a fast turnaround and every member of the staff that I met was really cool and helpful. They gave me such a great deal, I felt compelled to buy a few extra packs of strings and a guitar strap there instead of just ordering it off Amazon Prime like I do with everything these days.
I have 9 guitars and if I need any work done, I’ll definitely bring them here in the future. Now that I know there’s a good tech close by, I’m less afraid to open up my Hohner ST 57 vintage lawsuit guitar and try to work on it. If I mess it up, I can always take it to the Guitar Center down the street.
Thanks again, Danny!

All I have to say is lessons was such a great idea for GC. The staff is very knowledgable and you could tell a sense of team work when I have questions. The lessons lead guy Casey knows what he’s talking about; he’s good to my kids and keeps things going. The staff is welcoming and they even tell me about things in the store to by, great sales team too. Casey is very patient with what my kids need and my questions and concerns. Great dude! Need more staff like him and the dude with the glasses who’s usually there!

I came here with a couple of guitars, one that needed a setup for heavier strings, and one which had a pickup problem. Unfortunately, the tech’s work was lackluster and somewhat unprofessional.
1) The guitar that required heavier strings needed the nut to be filed so it would sit accordingly. I understand that. What I didn’t understand was why the tech thought it would be OK to proceed with the job and charge the customer (me) without asking or even mentioning it previously.
2) The guitar that had a pickup problem specifically had noise in the signal. So the pickup needed to be resoldered. Great, the job was done. Unfortunately the day after I picked the guitar up, the pickup had little to no signal at all. The tech didn’t bother testing further and charged me for a problem that was never solved. The tech said I probably needed a new pickup since this one may be dead.
I brought this same guitar over to another retailer which does warranty repairs since my guitar is less than a year old, and found that the «tech» didn’t wire them correctly. Overall, the warranty repair did basically the same procedure and more by testing the pickup using a multimeter, and got it fixed properly, FOR FREE.
So basically I paid the tech at this Guitar Center for a problem that wasn’t fixed, and got a warranty repair from a tech who did all of this, again, FOR FREE! How do you think I feel right now? I wished I knew about the warranty repair previously…
To me, gaining trust of a tech is like gaining trust of your barber, and this is a prime example why. Ask around and know your techs. If you need a recommendation, go to Sam Ash on 34^th Street and look for Paul.

Fun store, big and organized. Has every musical instrument you can ask for. The sales people are fun and spunky and allow you to try the items out. Can find everything you need.

For the life of me I can’t figure out how this location stays in business. The inventory, the quality, and the service this place provides is sub par.
I don’t get the condescending attitude guitar sales people give customers. Maybe it’s their work environment, maybe it’s their commission structure and fading, maybe it’s union pressure. Who knows…
The fact is I’m still a customer, with money, looking for something to buy.
Bain Capital seriously needs to review this location’s profitability.

Long time customers of Guitar Center.
Things I’ve purchased over the years and still have in my home:
Yamaha portable grand & bench
Squier mini
Guitalele (Guitar /​Ukulele)
Countless music books
Several Harmonicas
But my latest purchase was probably the best. The Epiphone PR-​150 Acoustic Guitar was purchased on sale as a beginner guitar for $ 99 and even our guitar instructor enjoys using it. He now recommends it as an affordable beginner guitar to his other students. Check for sales.
Have also brought my guitar to be restrung. I had one of their workers fix my guitar in under 10 minutes. Not sure if it’s because they see me in there so often, but I wasn’t even charged for the restringing (other than the purchase of the strings).
On a sidenote, IMO Guitar Center is kid friendly. I don’t feel forced to purchase anything, and my kids feel free to explore new instruments. They love going there, the sales associates are friendly and helpful, and we can easily spent several hours at the store. Score!

Came into guitar center today and met Damond. He was working in the pro audio section. Boy am I glad I met this guy. He not only educated me on audio software, microphone quality and superiority but he sold me on just about everything there. I went from wanting a $ 30.00 headphone to buying something much more higher quality and a bit pricier but according to Damond this was what I needed. He also educated me on making my podcast and audio interviews much easier and simple by purchasing an additional piece of equipment. He offered me a financing option and although I declined the finance option at the moment. I will return and purchase it soon from Damond. Hopefully the guy is still there when I return. He’s a good salesman and most of all honest which speaks for itself.

Although I’m not from the local area I have dealt with this specific guitar center several times while visiting! I have made several purchases including some high-​end speaker equipment. The staff is very knowledgeable and friendly and they will work with you. They even shipped to your location so I was able to have something shipped to another state. I’ve also dealt with guitar centers online ordering and their excellent. Most of the time they are equal to or can even beat what you will find on Amazon. The advantage here is you can go in the store and get hands-​on with the equipment!

Came here to get a guitar for my girlfriend. She wanted to see basically every guitar they had (it’s a lot) because she’s pretty indecisive. Tom had the patience of Buddha. Beyond impressed with his help. He showed us everything and didn’t try and upsell us. Put us within our budget and was extremely helpful. The whole staff almost jumped at the end to give us a hand since we were keeping them late. Everyone stayed professional and polite and friendly. Can’t recommend coming here more.

I went in to buy a guitar for my brother. They had a sale on a certain guitar but when I got to the store it was sold out… So I bought a different one per sales person recommendation but he began to sell more and more and then it became a bit shady… I bought the guitar but I won’t be coming back. I bought an amp that cost 60 $ online he charged 100 $ the guitar didn’t come with a bag or picks. Very shady horrible experience

This place is awfull! The assistant manager is sooo lazy. I had to wait 1 hour 15min to sell a keyboard :(

My only other GC experience was with the 14^th St. store in Manhattan. I used to moderate a a guitar forum, and GC seems to have a generally bad rep nation-​wide. The LIC store definitely runs against that stereotype. No-​pressure sales staff, and overall knowledgeable. I love how you can wander the store, and get friendly, «May I help you?» without the attitude I’ve experienced in the Manhattan store.
The used amps and guitars looked pretty good, for reasonable prices. I almost picked up a MiM Strat for less than $ 300, only because of the cost, but I don’t really need another Strat.
This particular GC has a mom and pop feel to it, and I guess you can chalk that up to the management, and sales staff. Going back more than a year, I bought a floor model Ibanez hollow body, but the Bigsby was whacked, so I returned it (and the case). The sales-​woman looked disappointed (rightfully so; these people have to make a living), but zero attitude. I felt so bad for her, I bought a Vox Valvetronix amp I really didn’t need!
Take it from an old-​timer who used to go to the legendary Manny’s on W. 48^th St. At Manny’s, they would barely give you the time of day, if you weren’t a rock star. This GC is a pleasure to be in, if only to look around. I’ve been there about 5 times, and always met with a cheery hello from the guy that staffs the security area near the front door. I’ve mostly been there for stands, strings, and music books– not really big-​ticket items, but the staff was helpful and friendly.
If you’re looking for a big-​box music store, go to this Guitar Center. Avoid the Sam Ash on Queens Blvd. like the plague! I do not work for any music stores, btw.

So I went to smaller guitar speciality stores in manhattan and my experience was awful. I felt as if because I was a beginner all the people that worked there were too cool for school and didn’t really wanna help me. I ended up buying a few guitars on craigslist which I wasn’t happy with for the fact that I had no clue what I was buying or why I was buying one as opposed to another.
I tried selling the guitars online with little success. I tried guitar center on northern blvd in queens because it was easier to drive to and park at than the one in manhattan. I called before I made the trip and one of the guitars I bought apparently was pretty rare and when I called to see if they were interested in it I got an excited welcoming feeling from a great dude /​sales associate named Ralph. He took the time to explain everything to me and got me excited to learn to play again. He basically bought the guitars that I had but the guitar I wanted was still out of my budget so I went home with cash in my pocket looking to hit craigslist again. I bought and sold a few and realized if I just got what I wanted at GC originally it would have been cheaper. Lesson learned plus I got to learn what I did not like. So fast forward to today I brought my Les Paul 60’s tribute there to see what I could do and there was Ralph again. The guy is aces for sure he gave me a very fair offer for the guitar I brought in and helped/​worked with me on an amazing Les Paul Classic that Gibson doesn’t make anymore. It was the perfect because I got a guitar worth 3k when it was new for a much lesser price! Couldn’t be happier
Thank you Ralph and that you guitar center on northern blvd! Ill def be back and will recommend you guys to anyone!

I usually loathe having to walk into a Guitar Center. Most of the time I get ill-​informed, and borderline ridiculous and unnecessary suggestion for gear and how to properly use it. Not Cool! I don’t fault the employees for this… I blame GC — they don’t even bother to equip their staff with basic knowledge. I’m all for suggestions and advice, just make sure you know what the hell you’re talking about.
Anyway, that said, my experience here was quite pleasant. For starters, I WAS NOT greeted by an employee who mistakenly thought my name was «boss,» «bro,» and/​or «chief;» I don’t know about you, but I found this to be somewhat of a miracle! I was in and out with strings and a new tuner within 5 minutes; no other guitar center I’ve been to can beat that! No BS and no bad tips. Each employee was friendly, helpful, and overall respectful.
So, to sum it all up, I hate GC, but I would gladly shop at this location again.

It ain’t Rudy’s and it isn’t as good as Sam Ash but if you need strings n’ stuff as I sometimes do then stop by this Mecca for musicians and musician wannabes (like yours truly) to get a heapin serving of service from a bunch of clueless staff.

If the customer service being awful wasn’t bad enough, everything here is overpriced compared to B&H and adorama. If u want help with anything don’t expect them to come looking for you, you’re going to have to find them.

I’m disappointed.
Within 24 hours, a string broke on my guitar, which I know happens… but usually not when you’re not even touching it. I mostly understand why strings aren’t covered in the protection plan, but in my opinion, there should be at least a small window in which they’ll cover a string issue. The logic that bothers me is this:
We’d noticed the G (yes, of course it’s the G string) was already a little beat up at the store, and considering it snapped out of nowhere when I picked up the guitar to tune high E, it was probably liable to snap at the store yesterday had I not purchased it, in which case Guitar Center would probably have taken care of it. According to Ralph, I have 30 days in which to «not love my guitar.» So if I get it restrung, and then change my mind, I’m apparently out $ 40+ because here you can only restring 6 strings or none. «I only do all the strings,» said the guy sitting at the desk, who was dressed like a hipster, which is not relevant but fills me with superfluous rage.
My brother had called before we went back the next day, and an assistant manager (Rich, I believe) answered the phone. «The string is $ 1, and we’ll do what we need to do.» It was a vague answer, so we just went in to see what would happen. To be fair, everyone we spoke to in person, including another assistant manager, told us not to bother going to the hipster employee because it would be cheaper and beneficial to learn how to do it myself via watching YouTube tutorials. Points for honesty and good advice in the face of your own store’s lame policy, but that’s not enough to make up for the complete lack of flexibility with replacing a string on a day-​old purchase.
(FYI: I have the method down pat, in theory. Did not do so well in practice. However, I recruited a little help, and I have a 6-​string guitar again, for closer to $ 2. Yay! In case you were wondering.)
Ralph is still great, because he wasn’t at work on Saturday and thus couldn’t disappoint me.

I came to this Guitar Center a few years ago to purchase a Fender Stratocaster. I came during their Columbus day sale and got a pretty nice deal on it. The only problem I have here is that their staff is kinda lazy. The stupid guy wanted to sell me the guitar that was on display. I had to tell him several times to get a brand new one from the back. It was a asian guy too which surprised me. I’m droppin a couple of bills on a guitar and you’re telling me that I can’t have a new one? If it gets to that point, ask to speak with their manager or supervisor. By then, the lazy employee is gonna get shook and will definitely get you a new one from the back right away.
There is a parking lot here but it kinda sucks. It gets pretty full because they share it with other stores like Chuck E. Cheese.

Due to the fact that every guitarist wants to have Dunlop’s Cry Baby Wah Wah Pedal, I set out to check Guitar Center after realizing that Amazon cannot timely deliver this item. I kept away from Guitar Center because it was right beside Chuckie Cheese and I’m convinced that a life spent without walking into a Chuckie Cheese is a life well-​lived. ~_–
As I walked in the store I realized that it is not only a Guitar Center but that it was also filled with other musical instruments like drums and keyboards, as well. I can spend hours in here and ignore the thought that Chuckie Cheese is next door.
Service was efficient and quick. I had called earlier and the guy assured me they carried the Wah Wah in stock. As I walked over to the counter and told them what I needed, they got it for me and I paid for it, all in less than three (3) minutes. It probably helped that there were not a lot of people in the store as it was a weekday.
So now I can play ala-​Jimi Hendrix. Or not.

Bought a Guitar here a few years ago. Im a lefty so there is not much selection which is fine… I had a choice of 4 guitars. Not only was I forced to buy the floor model but the finish on the guitar’s body was chipped exposing the wood. I showed the salesperson and they only gave me $ 10 off… unreal. Also I had to leave there with no Guitar box or case because they didnt offer me one at the time of purchase.
I will not be shopping at this Guitar Center again