Guitar Center

I had a great experience buying a bass guitar here for a Christmas gift last month. My sales associate was helpful and responsive (even when I called back the next day with a few more questions). Would definitely go out of my way to make a purchase at this Guitar Center location.

The keyboard gentleman at guitar center in Natick was not at all professional while working with me. He acted as though I was bothering him by being there, I left and will definitely be taking my business elsewhere.

Terrible experience! Walked in there with my two girls. There were 5 salesmen on the floor. None of them even made eye contact with us. I approached a group of three of them who were standing around talking. It was quite obvious that we were looking for help. Not one of them even addressed us. We walked out and will never go back! Happy to give someone else our money…

I am writing to put in a good word for Justin in Repairs. He did a great job doing some electric guitar setups for me. I usually use a boutique shop that does superlative work so was skeptical about what to expect from G.C., but he came through. The guitars came back playing and looking great. The price was reasonable ($ 60+strings) and the turnaround fast. This was my first time trying GC for setups and I will use them again.

This was probably one of the worst shopping experiences that I’ve ever had. I brought in some old equipment to trade and the staff member (Dan) was rude, condescending and bitter. I was able to see him snickering with other employees while my back was turned and made no effort to educate or accommodate someone (me) that is not of Guitar Center employee caliber.

I really enjoy coming here.
One of managers, Bill, is particularly nice to me and always is willing to help. He knows that if I want something, I’m going to take it home, so I am never under uncomfortable pressure to be pushed into buying something. Overall, the guys there are very nice and I can always look forward to enjoying a little guitar chat while I pick a few things up. There is another nearby guitar store in the area (that shall remain nameless) that I am really not particularly fond of and am always happy to drive right past that one to come to Guitar Center.

Dropped off my twenty year old Takamine that was buzzing at all frets. After basic set up ($ 60) shes better than new. Great job thx

Five stars for Kevin Maestranzi, one of the assistant managers.
Kevin was extremely knowledgeable and friendly.
He helped us pick out an interface, mic, and recording software that were all within our budget and exactly met our needs. He gave us fair prices for our trade-​ins and seemed genuinely interested in helping us, rather than just taking our cash.
Bonus points for the store cranking out local music (Damone)!

I have gone to Guitarcenter in natick a few times now. I usually enjoy it despite the fact that i am left handed and out of the 1000s of guitars they have like 8 lefty guitars but still love it. Most of the staff is incredibly nice. For example the other day i went in to buy an amp and i wanted to trade in my old amp and epiphone les paul and a guy who worked in the guitars section named Al really helped me out. Incredibly nice and professional with the type of personality you want when you go in to a store looking to purchase somthing. Overall it was a great experience and they have a lot of great deals to offer!

Decent selection and prices. Staff is pretty helpful.

Utterly Useless GC experience — My sister gave me a gift card to this horrible place. I wanted to get an FX pedal — and they had it — so eek a trip to GC… 12 year olds sitting playing — not music — just holding a guitar — playing with the rack of pedals. the entire time — I knew what I wanted — so got one from the clerk — gave him my sympathy for having to put up with such crap. Went to the «pro-​audio» section… ha ha ha … so we were looking for a Nord to check out — «oh no — we dont stock them… well I can see why I guess — all those 12 year old fingers on the keys — jez…
Help out a local small independent music store before you give these corporate clowns your money.

I think there’s a lot of Guitar Center hate out there. And there are several things I don’t like about the chain and even this store, but it’s a great choice for most people and I would still recommend it to most people.
What I like is that in the area, it has the best selection, hands down. That’s one of the drawbacks to the competitors, such as Music Go Round in Natick.
The salespeople are, despite other reviews, generally quite knowledgeable about their products. If you flag down a drum guy to ask a guitar question, that might not get you the answer you want. And also, most of the employees have their favorite brands/​products. That makes sense and I think it’s a good thing. Generally, they’ve tried out a lot of the products they sell and can offer good advice.
There are, of course, some things I’m not a huge fan of. Yes, they will take down almost any price on «regularly priced» guitars and the like, but they won’t budge a cent on anything used or clearance, even items that have been taking up floor space for many many months. A completely unwilling management to do anything to increase the likelihood of a sale seems a bit stubborn to me and has cost them a few sales, but it certainly never made me not want to shop there.
Their sales team, which works on commission, is pretty split. Some of them are fantastic about locating you the perfect item and some will keep trying to sell you a pricier model, even after you’ve told them your price range. «Yes, I’d love the more expensive model, but I don’t necessarily have the money.»
The website is both terrific and terrible at the same time. They have promotions all the time, but nearly every major manufacturer is excluded, so you have to call. If you want to zoom in on the tiny inch x inch pictures they have on the site, it will just open the same size picture so you can’t see any imperfections without calling or visiting the store. BUT, you can often find great used items at terrific prices (just watch out, they charge shipping on store to store sales!).
They’re the only brick-​and-​mortar store in the area that I know of that price matches any new products, but they (for good reason) won’t do that with used. Still, I wish they would be a bit flexible.
Lastly, I’ve gone into this GC and bought bunches of items and they do truly have a no-​questions asked 30 day policy. Once, I bought about a dozen percussion items, everything from egg shakers to a guiro to a couple of tamborines. And when I decided half of them didn’t fit in my repertoire, they took them all back, even when some didn’t have tags.
I’ve bought items from GC, Music Go Round as well as the websites Musician’s Friend and Music123 (both under GC ownership, I believe) and wouldn’t hesitate to buy anything from GC, but given that the other options are still decent, price would dictate a lot of that. Still, if I need something and don’t want to wait for it to be shipped, 90% of the time, GC will be my first stop.

Had my guitar fixed there in no time, great job

As the non-​musical parent of a young guitarist I have found this place very hit or miss.
I don’t know anything about guitars so I have been reliant on advice from their staff. The first guitar they sold him was totally inappropriate for his size. It was one of those cheap electric guitar packages. He was only eight and we really should have been pointed to the ¾ size (which is about the same price anyway). The full sizes are really too heavy for a child to play comfortably.
We went back months later after he was having tendon problems looking for a ¾ size to alleviate his wrist strain and back pain, on the recommendation of his guitar teacher. The dipstick girl that we talked to basically refused to sell us a ¾ size because she didn’t think it was the right size.
Correct sizing seems to be a matter of opinion but incorrect sizing can cause problems if the kid is playing a lot.
That said, some of the other staff has been helpful and good and they are open for much longer hours than the local independents.
Now I think I would go to Needham Music first for small things. If I needed to buy a guitar for a child I think I would go to Mr. Music or maybe Guitar Stop in Cambridge. They seem to have kids’ music teachers working there a lot which I think can help get the right fit and set up for a guitar.
I have learned that for kids, to avoid strain, it is a good idea to ask for a low action set up so the strings are easy to press. This makes the guitar a little buzzy but it prevents tendonitis if the kids are new to playing. The guitar teacher should be able to help but if the teacher has never had tendonitis he might not be so versed or concerned with injury prevention.

I think this is a pretty decent joint, as far as big box music stores are concerned. The employees have always been really helpful here (will give you a pick if you want to try out the guitars), and not all up in your face while browsing… super important to me! I hate feeling suffocated while taking my time to look at things (especially since there are so MANY instruments and amplifiers here to look at – one of the best things about being at a retail store, versus online shopping, which I also love).
I dig being in the percussion section – mostly because I’ve always wanted to learn how to play drums – and I especially love the acoustic guitar area, where tons of different instruments are housed, from low-​end Yamahas to beautiful $ 3,000 Martins. Since the acoustics’ wood is easily affected by temperature and humidity, this area is enclosed separately, and kept at a constant % humidity and temperature. I love looking at all the gorgeous guitars here, and am always excited whenever I hear someone sit down and play in this space… especially when they try things out on a Taylor or Gibson. The sounds are so rich and deep!
Anyway, pretty good selection and decent staff. I’m sure you could probably find something for less online (as is the case with everything vs. big box stores), but it’s still nice to be able to FEEL the instruments before purchasing them. Thumbs up, Guitar Center.

My boyfriend and I went to Guitar Center to look at/​possibly buy a keyboard for his birthday. We had two in mind to look at. An older salesman asked us if we needed help, but we had just arrived and wanted to try out several keyboards first. Around 15 or 20 minutes later, we had some questions prepared just as a younger salesman approached us. We asked questions and gave him our price limit. He motioned toward the more expensive keyboards without all of the extras that we wanted. He also showed us this Yamaha/​Casio keyboard «kit.» He told us that the keyboards didn’t come with the AC adapter for the keyboard so we had to buy this «kit,» which came with an AC adapter along with other extras we had no interest in buying (microphone, etc.). I was pretty shocked that these keyboards didn’t come with the necessary adapter to make it work. The questions we asked him he didn’t know off the top of his head and had to read the information card for answers.
So we said we needed some more time and continued to look around. We finally decided on a Casio keyboard but the younger salesman was helping another family (basically helping them decide on the COLOR of the piano that would best match their house… interesting!). So we went to look for the older salesman who offered assistance in the beginning. He looked in the back and saw that there was only the floor model and asked if we were already being helped. Once we told him that the younger guy had helped us earlier, he basically bolted and said the younger guy would place our order. So we continued to wait. About ten minutes later we just decided to leave since the family was still picking out pianos with the salesman.
I ended up buying the same Casio keyboard at Best Buy today since it was closer. Turns out the AC adapter DOES come with the keyboard. So Guitar Center was trying to sell this unnecessary «kit» in order to make a little more money. I also was not too happy with the young salesman trying to push the Guitar Center credit card on me. I have enough credit cards, and I think I’ve stepped into this chain twice in my lifetime.

I bring my teenagers here often to shop for instruments and accessories. The employees are usually happy to help us, answer our questions, etc, although sometimes they get very busy and we have to wait awhile. One time I was investigating drum sets as a gift for my son, and the GC employee spent a lot of time explaining things to me. He ended up writing his recommendation down for me so I could find it online, since they didn’t have it in store. When I did buy the set, the guy who had helped me didn’t get any credit for helping me, though i wish he would have. One negative is the way they push the extended warrantee. I’ve learned that the manufacturer has its own guarantee and usually it’s all you ever need.

Came here Saturday to pick out an acoustic guitar. Ended up with a nice Yamaha that didn’t break the bank, thanks mostly to my generous familia who hooked me up with $ 150 of gift certs here. See, I’ve played since I was a kid, and had sort of a banged up electric kicking around until I sold it this summer when the wife and I packed up and moved. So, I’ve been itching to get another 6 string for some mighty fine pickin’ and a strummin.’
The sales guy was helpful, pointing out pros and cons of the various guitars I tried out. I told him my max was $ 200, and while he did encourage me to try out the $ 250 model, he wasn’t a jerk about pushing it on me hard. I sprang for a $ 40 case and $ 27 for the 2 year protection plan — no ?‘s asked, they replace your axe if it breaks. Figured it was worth the extra cake!
Been coming here for years, ever since it opened in 1997 in my dear old hometown of Natick… figured it was only right to go back to this location as opposed to Boston. Glad to give my guy one last commission before closing time this past Saturday night!

Good for supplies (strings, sticks, cables) but very small selection of vendors with most items geared to beginners. Staff expertise and customer service is hit or miss. Their guitar «tech» tried to convince me the action on the fretboard was beyond repair and he would give me a discount on am in store purchase. I took it elsewhere and the guy removed a few shims from the bridge and I was all set. It seems the GC tech was not aware of this. Kind of lame…

Typical big box music store that carries lots of stuff that hides the fact that it represents only a limited set of makers. Couldn’t find Washburn guitars or EZDrummer software, or any tuning gears but Planet Waves, etc.
I do like the guitar department manager, but even he seems affected by the corporate programming that seeks to turn all sales people into automatons that seem to engage in less honest conversation than in semi-​pre-​scripted sales tricks.
I dislike the fact that everything, even packaged items behind the counter, is overpriced. I saw the price on tuning gears, $ 50, that I paid $ 40 for elsewhere a year prior. I said, «gee, when the price go that high,» and without further prompting, the robotic associate immediately said, «oh, well, we can do $ 40 for you.» See what I mean? What about the people who don’t think aloud like I did? Probably not that much different than Daddy’s or other box stores in this respect, but I personally think it’s worse at GC. The listed prices just are not fair, in my opinion and I don’t like to haggle. It’s like buying a car in there every time. And returns, in my experience, on big ticket items, aren’t for cash but for credit, or maybe the sales guy just made me believe that — I don’t know.