The Blue Guitar

Excellent service and knowledgeable staff. This is also the place you will find the best acoustics in San Diego. Highly recommend this place.

I bought a guitar here a few years back and it was the singlehanded best experience I’ve had buying a musical instrument. These guys care if you get a product that suits your needs and it doesn’t feel like you’re being sold something just so they can make commission. Great shop.

Excellent establishment! We never felt rushed or pushed. Both DeForest and Scott were completely helpful, kind and customer service oriented. We gig 6 nights a week and their turn around time is very quick for a small fee. We will most definitely bring all of our guitars here to be repaired from now on! A+++++

This is a quality guitar shop with skilled and knowledgeable people who go above and beyond my expectations every time I visit. I took my Yamaha in for a fret job and set up a year ago and they did so well I decided to take my Taylor in to have it set up. Naturally, they are a bit pricy but not that much. Guitar Center charges around 65 for a set up and they charge around 75 or 80. I feel more comfortable taking my guitars here because they are highly skilled and knowledgable.
They also have a good but small selection of higher end guitars. However, their main focus is on quality and not quantity so they are not Guitar center. I would say their customer base includes professionals and established musicians and not the GarageBand teenagers who congregate the bigger music store chains. If your looking for a laid back and low pressure place to visit then I highly recommend them for their knowledge, skill and experience.

Legendary repair shop. Can’t address the retail side of the business, but for anything repair related, Blue Guitar is absolutely tops.

I like Blue Guitar. I usually feel welcome, and I never get the sense that I am being bull shitted, like at Freedom Guitar.
Their services are a bit pricey, but when you have a good reputation, you can afford to charge a little more!
I would trust these guys with any major repairs to my instruments.

One of the best guitar shops I’ve been to in my life! Deforest, the owner, was very knowledgable about guitars and he showed me any guitar I wanted and had great suggestions. This man know guitars like I’ve never seen before! I was very happy with my purchase and was not rushed despite being in the store for more than an hour! I definitely recommend this place.

had a fender jp90 worked on over the last few weeks and it was given the royal treatment. I never felt hassled or confused, and was spoken to with respect (even though my experience is minimal). the bass turned out better than ever, sounds fantastic, plays even better, and i could not be happier. I have found my new favorite instrument shop.

I thought the owner and the other guy working there were great. Very knowledgeable and willing to educate. I went in on a recommendation as I needed an appraisal on a very old Mandolin. I would go back and recommend to others.
The negative feedback I see here is all from people who grabbed stuff off the wall without asking first. Ask first, it’s respectful.

Great little gem of a store. I don’t play guitar but want to learn and came here looking for a beginner guitar that I will not quickly out grow. I worked with DeForrest, the owner and he was very helpful. I have read some of he other reviews hat people said he was not nice but I did not experience that. I told him my price range and what brands and models I had been looking at and he led me from there.
I walked out the door with a Seagull S6 which I love, a bag and a stand. He had a used bag in the back that was in great shape and gave it to me for half of what a new bag would have cost me. He didn’t have to o that.
One other note, I brought my 15 year old daughter in who has a guitar but has not really taken it up. He talked with her and recommended an instructor and that they take a look at her guitar. They are well known for their repairs and builds. He took her guitar n two days before Christmas and called the same evening stating she could come pick it up after telling me it could take one or two weeks due to the holiday.
All in all it was a great experience. I much prefer a small shop over the large crowded superstores and Blue Guitar did not disappoint.

I don’t live in the area and had no experience with this store before, all I knew was that they had a special guitar in stock that isn’t found everywhere. DeForest gave me plenty of good information about the instrument and was very helpful with suggestions regarding the setup for my playing style. I told him I would call him the next day to pay for the guitar as I was pressed for time at work.
When I called back, to my pleasant surprise, he had already started work on a lefty setup and I hadn’t paid a dime on it yet! He took me at my word for the purchase and set the guitar up exactly the way I needed it. The delivery was fast. I since have received and played the guitar and all I can say is, it’s sweet! The setup was done flawlessly and the instrument is in perfect condition. I would not hesitate to do business with DeForest and The Blue Guitar in the future.

Stepping inside the store is like a trip back to the 80s where your neighborhood brick and mortar stores were the only places you could get stuff you needed but you developed relationships with the store and the people.
Shops like this is a dying breed.
Yes, DeForest has his way of communicating. He usually treats you like a dumb arse shredder especially if you look younger than 50 and he doesn’t know you or never heard you play. After dealing with him a few times, you realize he is actually very helpful if you need things that are otherwise hard to get anywhere else. I’ve yet to hear him say no to my requests.
I can’t speak for steel strings and electrics as I’m clueless about those. I would say, it’s the only place worth stopping by if you’re looking for a good classical guitar around town.

I like this place. I recently brought Taylor and Martin guitars in for set-​ups. Each is worth about $ 2,000, so needless to say, I don’t let many people touch them.
Throughout the process, the staff was professional, and the luthiers did the work quickly. When the guitars came back, they sounded and felt brand new. Their luthiers did the work as if the guitars were their own. Also, two people — the Martin luthier and the checkout guy — made a point to say that they stand by their work, i.e. satisfaction guaranteed.
I have never really looked at their inventory. It’s a pretty small place, but it looks like they have a lot of good stuff.

I do not give five stars very often, but there was not a single part of my experience with Blue Guitar that could possibly be improved. I was looking for an Orange micro-​terror amp as a gift. The large name retailers that I was familiar with were all out of stock, and I was nervous choosing a company I was unfamiliar with.
Blue Guitar had my order to UPS by the end of the business day, and when I missed my delivery dates (work a 9 – 5), they even called me to let me know if I missed my delivery attempt that my amp would be sent back to them. They were quick on delivery, courteous, and my amp was well packaged. It ended up being an excellent and well-​loved gift. I would recommend this company to anyone!

I recently had my classical guitar worked on by their most experienced tech (and founder) Yuris and I have to say that I was extremely impressed by the quality of the work and the turnaround time. Yuris also took the time to explain all of my options before moving forward, based on my needs. I had him refinish an area of my finish that was totally ruined by suction cup guitar supports as well as lower the action on the guitar as it was abnormally high. The finish job looked flawless and the action adjustment was spot on. The price was also completely fair based on the level of repair IMO. I should mention that I also purchased my Cervantes millenia concert guitar from Deforest years before and absolutely love the guitar. Deforest let me compare and try countless guitars and helped narrow down my choices based on what I was looking for.

I got my lovely KoAloha concert ukulele here! They have a great selection, and DeForest, the owner, was very helpful. He was extremely knowledgeable, and was an amazing uke player! My dad got his tenor uke here as well!

I visited today and I thought it was a cool little place. I was helped by the owner and He was nice and knowledgeable. The thing I didn’t like is that I felt «rushed» as if he was rushing me to leave. Don’t know why since I was the only one in the store besides him. Overall a cool place with a cool guitar selection (mostly acoustic and ukuleles) They have high end stuff. check it out

The Blue Guitar has expert luthiers on staff – I’ve always been pleased with the work they’ve done on my instruments… and they’re fast! I’ve also referred friends and family here… they’ve had the same expert service as well.
The owner, DeForest, knows everything there is to know about guitars and ukes. The Blue Guitar has a pretty good selection… you’ll get to know your instrument before purchasing it. Check it out!

It’s been a while since I have been to the blue guitar. My studio moved right near the Repair Zone and I have been taking my instruments in there since then.
The Blue Guitar is a quality place, though. I always recommend that my students stop by if they are in the market for a good acoustic guitar. Talking with the owner a few years ago, I came to understand that they are able to hand-​pick the instruments that they stock, which keeps the quality very high. Being a repair shop, all their guitars have been set up and are ready to go.
Speaking of repairs, Pat, who worked on a couple of my guitars, files the nicest bone nuts that I have ever played. I had two replacement nuts put on my guitars, and both times the tuning action was perfect… not only no snags, but the smoothest tuning I have ever experienced.

Veteran players.
Blue Guitar has been open since 1961 (goddamn!). Managed now by DeForest, Blue Guitar has helped me out when I needed it and didn’t know where else to go. Mainly focusing on guitar construction and repair, these guys are seasoned, educated and trustworthy. I sent DeForest an email about luthier schools and he was glad to send me a long list as well as plenty of information, more than I needed.
I recently took my amp in for re-​tubing and I am anxious to get it back. This is my second re-​tubing of this amp. I’ve also had some minor guitar work done here as well. It, of course, costs more than I want to pay. I know there are other places and famous guys to take instruments to around town. But Blue Guitar will do just fine.
They have a small selection of top shelf amps. Soldano, Orange, THD, Savage, Vox and Victorias. They even have those classy new Taylor solid body electrics that are all the fuggin buzz, both humbuckers and strat style single coils. So if you wanna play through $ 5000 worth of equipment without 13 year old zits hogging the high end room, a la guitar center, check out Blue Guitar off Mission Gorge, across from Rallys.
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Edit: 2÷7÷2009
It has now been exactly four months, during which I’ve had to take my amp back to the Blue Guitar … not once… but twice. The last (third) time, I included a CD recording of the connection shortage problem. I honestly couldn’t believe they didnt fix it the second time. I had the over arching feeling my amp didnt even move from behind the desk.
It was pretty terrible. Imagine DJing for a party and the record skipping uncontrollably.
The Blue Guitar guys were cool enough to work with the problem until it was fixed completely. But, it has been four months since my amp SHOULD HAVE been in full working order. I paid over $ 200 for a complete tube service. I am a little disappointed that I have to –1star them.