Where to find the best music shops in Buda? Top-18 options

They have lots of selection and great music lessons

Came in here a few times while I was Treeplanting out of Chemainus and ended up buying a new Yamaha Fsx800c after trying a bunch of different acoustics and was helped by Ryan both times I was in the store. I’ve been super happy with the guitar especially at the price for how great it sounds and plays and the service couldn’t have been better. If I’m ever on the Island again I’ll be shopping here forsure!

The staff is absolutely wonderful and accommodating! They restrung my guitars for free, and were super helpful when I came in to exchange my ukulele

Bought a new bari ukulele today. The guys here are always great, very knowledgeable and willing to make it a pleasant shopping experience.

Good

First time there. They have some different brands there . Only complaint is u could read the small print prices. But nice store

You’re better off making the trip to music stores in Victoria or Nanaimo. Here they have very little stock and the apathetic staff behave as if they don’t want your business.

I live in Ontario and order all my hard to find ukulele strings from Tapestry. I do priority shipping and get my order within 36 Hours. Excellent service and advice!

I picked up a beautiful Anuenue African Mahogany (AMM3) tenor ukulele from the White Rock location and on a Sunday too! I purposely chose to visit a store that was family run and local. I like that they support music education as well. From free parking out front, to friendly customer service and the ease of transaction I highly recommend. I only wish I had known about Tapestry earlier when I was growing up for all my musical needs. Lovin my new ukulele — thanks!!!

Always a pleasure dealing with Tapestry Music. A great team, knowledgeable and helpful with practical information and advice. Very prompt and responsive to enquiries. Great to have such a resource within our community.

great musical instrament shop to meet my sons school desires…great staff

I really miss this place. We were here all the tme buying guitar supplies, renting a sax., and getting tune ups for a flute and violin.

Their lessons were also really helpful.

Thank you for the set-up you did on my two old electric guitars. One is a from an old a starter pack that I actually enjoy noodling on, the other a garage sale bass that I have never adjusted. They feel new now. The money spent is certainly less than buying a new guitar. I recommend to anyone with an old guitar that you think is unplayable to have it set-up by these guys.

Warning!! Do not bring your guitar for electronics repair here, they don’t have a clue what they’re doing these guys say they do wiring and couldn’t figure out how to solder in a pickup. Two of them are trying to figure it out with a third guy on the phone for technical support and they still didn’t figure it out. Had to take it somewhere else. Not only that but the tech here doesn’t know how many watts his soldering iron is or what temperature he’s running it at when asked.

Tapestry music went to the schools offering instruments for school band. We had looked at other prices and thought it was a great price to get the flute used through Tapestry, a few dollars cheaper than other music stores, so we bought a flute from them. Little did we know that the brand of flute they sold us can only be repaired by them because it is such a faulty brand of flute that other music stores wouldn’t even fix it! The flute wasn’t in great condition, and we had to get all of the pads and a lot of screws repaired, only to have some of the pieces fall apart one month later with no other damage done to the flute since then. The only reason that I am giving 2 stars is because the staff were very friendly and they even gave us a discount on the pads. Do not buy used flutes from Tapestry unless you know the brand!

Was quoted bridge and a sound post for a my Moms violin and was ridiculous and over price. Searched around and I won’t say names but fraction of the price and real home town feel in Vancouver. Anyways, won’t be coming back.

Wanted to thank the guys here at Long and McQuade for helping me sort out my focusrite issue. One of the tech guys Shahrokh was very helpful in resolving the matter. Glad to do business here

Over the past 7 years I’ve rented bass amps, sound systems, guitars, and drums from here and it’s always been easy. The staff are chill AF and generally have good knowledge of the specific instrument you’re interested in. Good selection and good brands. If you need music stuff, this is the big/main spot in van.

Thank you Chad @ the Vancouver store very happy being a Long and McQuade customer again. Anything not perfect with your shopping experience at L & M, Chad makes it right ! -just give him the chance.

Pushed me to buy two sets of trs cable and a audio interface with that only has rca audio output

Not sure if it’s my bad luck or what. I emailed the lesson center and no response. Called and no one was there to pick up. Called on two separate ocadsions. So I had to go to the store physically. Was ok.

Good selection

I am one of the select few who decided to learn how to play my first instrument at a later age – 29, and decided to learn how to play the saxophone. I rented the saxophone, and began taking lessons after talking to the receptionist, as she mentioned that I could use one of their many available rooms to practice between my lessons and sympathized with my situation (I live in an apartment so it would be impossible to practice at home).

I did this for over 5 months with no problem – that is until they hired a new receptionist who wanted to charge me per 30 minutes of use. I had explained to him that I had used the room multiple times a week for the past months and said that he couldn’t because he double checked with management. So I asked to speak to the manager.

The manager, Heather, spoke with him for a good 15 minutes or so. Finally, I came back to her telling me they had no rooms available coming up (mind you I had been coming in during the afternoon 2-3 times a week most if not all were always empty) and that there was nothing she could do. I called her out on this but she wouldn’t budge, and I began to come to the conclusion that I had just wasted hundreds if not thousands of dollars to now have to quit learning the saxophone. Months of practicing and learning only to have to quit because they wanted to charge a hefty amount to use a room for 30 minutes. There were rooms available – she was just trying to find a way for me to not use the rooms without charging me. She later back tracked and had then changed her answer to “I never said all of the rooms were unavailable” but that they will rarely be available, and only for people who book the rooms and pay.

If you are thinking of taking lessons here – I would look elsewhere. Management does not care about individuals and their circumstances, and overall its left a really bad taste in my mouth. I even just invested in a new music book and reeds that are now useless. Paying hundreds of dollars a month was not enough for them – and had no problem with me deciding to quit my lessons and return my rented saxophone. I had some pleasant conversations with some of the employees in the store – but the manager didn’t seem to care, and I guess it goes without saying – learning how to play an instrument at this centre is for the wealthy.

Friendly and helpful staffs, but maybe store is too big. They can’t keep track or find all the parts to their guitars they sell.

What they carry is great and they have many options but know/research what you need before going in.

I went there to get studio amplifier. know what I wanted, but incase if there is other option, I asked recommendation. I told specific specs and watt requirements (8ohm and 50~100watts maximum) of my passive speaker. T

guy recommending me a 200 watts amplifier from same brand ($200 more expensive) as if he did not have any options but this. He was like oh it will just have more power for your speaker you should get it.

He knows that they have much more suitable options in stock but instead I got a recommendation for more expensive yet not useful options. By the way if I make any mistake on taking a volume, 200 watts can blow up my speaker and yet I was getting recommended to get that lol.

Don’t ask for recommendation, unless you know exactly what you are looking for and price range. They will try scam you by recommending more expensive option that you do not need.

Exceptional genuine and caring customer service today. Thank you Julia for helping us fix our daughters fiddle.

Came from Toronto 8 years ago and was amazed by the great service and ease of which I attained many guitars on great payment plans, keep going back

Good service from friendly and knowledgeable staff.

The people that work there are very self involved… if I hear one more employee try and win the room with a garbled guitar arpeggio im going to vomit ☝️

Good selection of instruments and a ton more online that can be brought in. We found staff are not particularly helpful or interested in walking you through options, more interested in the sale. We experienced some upselling attempts which we didn’t bite on. Website is good to help sort through instrument options and that was a good resource.

Very knowledgeable and helpful staff !

This Long and Mcquade has monopoly syndrome

Waited for an hour looking at their poor bass amp section with no help whatsoever. Not even an “Hey, how are you doing over here”. Also, there’s way better deals elsewhere than with L&M. Don’t settle for their horrible service. Never again

Went in to try to find some machine heads and was met with a rude-toned reply of “what type?” I told him and got no reply, he just started walking, so I followed. He took me to the front and relayed my request to someone else, who just looked in the direction of the machine heads and said nothing. At the same time I saw some well-off looking customers being served with a delight. I won’t be back.

My friends and I had such a wonderful experience here, we could have wandered around this place for hours! This shop has so many unique and high quality instruments from all over the world, and we even got the chance to try some of them out. The owner is very knowledgeable and super friendly. If you visit Granville Island, you need to check out this place!

I called the shop today and the owner answered every question I had about harmoniums. He was very knowledgeable and honest about the instruments. Even though I wasn’t physically in the shop he took the time to explain everything. Will definitely be coming soon to pick up a harmonium! Thank you for the great service

Top-notch service and knowledge. So much stuff to play with a child with. It’s great to come here with your date date. You will not be disappointed.

I just looked from outside and I found several weird musical instruments that I neve have seen in my life. For someone who plays that must be the spot!

I went in and was incredibly happy with the stores variety of instruments and the staff seemed very knowledgeableas well, however the lady who was one of the owners had a very unpleasant attitude and made me feel guilty about asking to play anything. I will be going again, but I will try to avoid going when she is working.

However aside from that one thing I seriously love this store!

A lot of great features music instruments there, my son had increased his knowledge

I’ve had quite a terrible customer service experience that I am so exhausted by I can’t even write the details but just know they are way over priced. I bought a tongue drum which I later found for $200 cheaper. I was sold a $60 bag in the price of my drum which I was told was a gift with the drum not part of the price and when they explained that I paid so much because the bags purchase was $60 they would even let me return the bag even though they never told me they were selling it to me. They went on to offer me 10% off of a chime which I have at no point shown any interest in. Check out Long and Mcquade for instruments $200 cheaper. I’m all for supporting small businesses and paying a little extra but not when the sales are done out of integrity and have incredibly poor customer service.

Came in on a Saturday with my partner from out of town. As a musician, he’d hoped to see some of the best musical instrument stores that Vancouver had to offer.
For having such beautiful instruments, we were shocked at the unwelcoming attitude of the clerk/part-owner. My partner’s interest in the Hang drums was quickly diminished by our interaction. Too bad for both parties!

Rude unwelcoming staff.

I didn’t buy a guitar from here but the guy who helped me given I’m a complete beginner didn’t try to oversell and gave me some great insights. Thank you!

Great costumer service. They helped me out in a pinch with my Martin. Large selection of guitars great prices.I highly recommend.

I ordered a difficult-to-find new guitar from Rufus last week and it arrived today, having traveled almost all the way across the country from Vancouver to Toronto. It seems to be in excellent condition and is well set-up too, and the price was terrific.

I received terrific customer service from Blaine McNamee personally as well as the rest of the Rufus team, both by phone and by email, and this inspired confidence at every stage of the transaction. Thanks, guys! I’ll be ordering from Rufus again.

Snobby, stuck up guitar side. But amazing warm, inviting and friendly drum side. It was night and day, going into the drum shop I felt like I just walked into the perfect establishment that totally took all of the music store cliches and smashed them to the ground. Decided to check out the guitar side and that Tom Lee/L&M snobbery perforated the air. Was asked if I was buying anything, said “No just looking around” as he walked over and joked with the person at the front laughing “good to know”.

Not a good so i left, before closed the door they ask me 10%off.

Very cool old school guitar shop. Very knowledgeable staff

Not a great experience for me. Shop looks nice, lots of guitars one can try. I chose a second hand guitar, but found out there was an issue with volume knob. The shop offered to fix it in a week, but 7 weeks later it is still not done. I tried to get in touch several times, but I got pushed back, because there is a work that has to be done for other customers first. I ended up spending my money elsewhere.

UPDATED: I did not ask you to buy my guitar, I asked how much it was worth. And yes, I did ask if you would put it up for consignment and whoever who spoke to me (after saying its not worth much) said it’s not worth it to put up for consignment either – and just brushed me away to attend to other customers.

Seems like there’s not much of a difference even after Blaine took over. I went there from the East side to put my guitar on consignment. After a long commute, they took a look at it for less than a minute and decided it’s not worth anything. This is AFTER I emailed them the type, brand and model of guitar i’m wanting to sell (Email below).

Conclusion: Try Craigslist if your guitar is of the”lower end” or you might just have wasted your time – or missed a movie show like me.

————————————————————————————————————————————-

Amirah,

We would be interested in putting the Yamaha with the case on consignment. We pay out 75% of the sale to the customer. We would have to see the guitar to give you a value. Thanks

Blaine

On 05/04/2015 7:15 PM, Amirah Busairi wrote:
Hi there,

I’ve just bought a second hand (left handed) acoustic guitar (YAMAHA FG720SL) and I can’t seem to find the time for it, so I feel that it deserves a better home.
I also have a guitar case with this. They are both well taken care for. Do you buy guitar cases too?

How much do you reckon I could get for this? I would just like to cover the cost I paid for it.

Thank you!
Amirah

I’ve been in the market for past few months on a new Swart STR tweed 5 Watt amp and called Rufus guitar shop { 1 of 4 or 5 swart dealers in Canada }and spoke eith Owen this past Sunday afternoon. HE, Owen Asked me “if I’d like to make an offer on the $1799 listed price. Sure, then I’ll ofer $1600. I hadn’t even considered making an offer. He asked me, is that all in, umm ya sure all in Owen and he said hang on let me check to see how much room we have to move on the amp. He puts me on hold then Comes back on the line and said yes we should be fine with that offer not including postage to Ontario. I’m fine with that I said. Owen said let me check with my boss tomorrow when he’s back in the shop and we will let you know. Next day comes and goes and no called so I called them the following day and Owen is not working today. Blaine the owner answers the phone and after I explain everything to him he says no way would Owen say that bc I can’t sell that amp for that price. That’s not my problem or fault Blaine. Owen works for you and he should know if he doesn’t have the authority to make a decision like this then he should’ve Ndver lead me to believe the price would be $1600. Blaine would not move at all on his price of $1799 plus tax But free shipping and not even bend to help me out with the huge disappointment I felt over this deal. I told him this isn’t a very diplomatic way or does it show any level of professionalism. he dropped the F bomb more than once during our conversation like we were best buddies. I’m so disappointed I will never ever consider dealing with these people again. They should be called Dufus not Rufus. Good luck Michael Swart having these guys represent your product line. They won’t stay in business for long treating people like this. I’m not trying to rip anyone off but don’t lead people to thinking they have a deal then to have someone else come in and squash it then make them feel like you Blaine made me feel like I made all this up. I’m not a punk kid. This is not about a few hundred dollars difference but instead it’s about the principle. Doesn’t look good guys. Say what you want Blaine to this review and others reading this might buy your BS, I know how the conversation went between Owen and I and hes a courteous young man but he messed up by sticking his neck out to talk money and deals if in fact he had no authority to do so. So what he’s human and this is how we learn in life. BUT as a business owner you Should by rights swallow the loss and learn from this not make me feel like I’ve done you some disservice. You’re only hurting your own reputation you’re struggling to build as a new business owner. Had this deal been made with my go to shop of L&M no matter who quoted who, they wouldn’t be telling me the customer I’m full of crap and loose the deal. They’d eat it because they know any good customer will respect them for making the deal right and that customer will always return. This is precisely why I spend too many $1000’s/year at L&M because they look after their customers. Good luck in life Blaine.

awesome for instrument repairs!!!!

Not that it matters, but being able to chat with the owner who’s not only friendly but also knowledgeable makes the visit experience that much better.

Good place for musicians to go.

very friendly and approachable

Great place, great music, great advice, nice staff.

Friendly professional service. You can consign trumpets here.

Martin is an absolute wealth of knowledge. Messaged him after discovering his youtube channel when I was in the market for an accordion and he hooked me up. Great service and prices.

Martin was the utmost helpful when it came to helping with my accordion. Over the last years he has built a close relationship and as a customer I feel extremely valued which means a lot. Martin is detail orientated, and treats my instrument as his own when he it handling it with care. Any musical instrument repairs … Martin at Tempo Trend is the guy to see.

Great place. Bought a Ukelele. Friendly helpful owner. Also offer an upgrade service.

Wonderful for repairs. Have a Value Village accordin the the wizard fixed up beautifully. Leveled the keys and fixed a reed and put on reasonably priced comfortable straps. Have to go back to fix an air leak after a drop. I’m hopeful she is repairable. The only place that could fix her. My main squeeze is hurt. See yas soon!

I bought a accordion on line and the seller did not package it properly. I called and spoke with Martin, who was amazing to deal with!! Thank you Martin for helping me and fixing my accordion

Antonio

Back in 1980 I experienced my very first, and last, banjo lessons at Templo Trend Music on Burnside Road E.

I’ve pretty much given up on these guys as they don’t really seem concerned about the problems and expense they’ve caused me.

Their luthier, Mario, wrecked a resonator instrument I have by gluing down the cone and gluing the biscuit/saddle to the point where they can’t be removed. In the end, I had to ship it back to the original maker to get a new cone/biscuit/saddle built and installed as other local ships didn’t want to touch it – can’t say that I blame them as it’s a pretty big mess.

At no point did they return one of my phone calls.

At no point did they offer to pay me back the 200 dollars I had paid (They DID offer me store credit when I pushed for a refund).

I hounded them for months while the instrument sat on their shelf with no work being done on it and I couldn’t get Mario to fix the damage he had done. My hope was that they would recognize that they had created a problem and would try to fix it. There were many promises made but little or no follow up on any of them. In the end, the instrument had been out of commission for about a year (In their possession for about 8 months) before I threw my hands up and just ate the expense of shipping and labor to get it dealt with.

An awful experience borderlining on the surreal at times. I couldn’t believe that they would let something get so out-of-control-awful. I really wanted to like these guys as they’re my local music shop and Martin is a really nice guy but the way they treated me was just too awful.

Very disappointing, my husbands check has supposedly been sent three times in the past three months.

Had some work done on a bass guitar. I’ve been chasing the invoice for over a year after work was completed. I’ve stopped in, I’ve provided my email. I was told it will be sent later or I need time to find it. I have been told that the invoice has been emailed over a year ago, and told tempo trend I have not received it. I checked all my folders including spam. A printed copy should have been readily available or printed on site, and or sitting with the finished instrument detailing work and price. This store will not receive future repeat business from me ever again.
I still don’t have the invoice or the bass. I refuse to make payments without the included final price. I am asking to have my bass returned/picked up at a discount price. Due to the unprofessional non-chalant service I have received during this process. If you want to chase tails in circles, I recommend you go to tempo trend. Find another small local retailer who provides the same services and instead you will be more satisfied.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ GREAT PEOPLE & QUALITY PRODUCTS! would recommend!

Really kind and friendly staff!

They had the order ready and someone brought it to my car.. perfect!

Posted a review critical of one of the gig bags they sell on their website and they didn’t post it. The tenor uke I bought from them is a very good instrument at a good price although the model is no longer sold there.

This is not a storefront contrary to anything on their website. Wasted a few hours getting there for a specific amp and they didn’t say they didn’t sell anything there with full knowing I was coming…

One of the best customer service experiences I had with Alex, I was looking for some support on some of my musical instruments and equipment and he was the person who helped me through it all!

I needed my guitar re-strung and he was extremely supportive with all the details of the process. I also needed help on my audio interface and microphone and he was able to take extra time out of his day to support me and mention that my interface had a warranty that hadn’t expired yet. He even supported me with next best steps on potential repairs.

If you’re looking for someone to support you with exceptional customer service, Alex is the person!

又好又便宜。

Used to take drums lessons here + got my set of drums and guitar here. Simply incredible customer service. Great staff.

I found these guys to be really helpful in picking out the guitar I wanted. They even said I could bring it back in thirty days if I wanted to buy something different. They took it out of the box and tuned it right there. Great service and advice.

To be honest I am a Long & McQuade guy, but when I was in the market for a Art and Luthierie guitar Tom Lee was one of the only places in town that had the one I was looking for in stock. On top of that the guitar was on sale and we were able to get a great deal on a Martin hard case. While I truly prefer L & M, Tom Lee had just what I was looking for and when my new Acoustic needed a truss rod adjustment they fixed the guitar in five minutes and for free.

种类齐全，课程选择很多。

Bought a piano there and when it came home there were white paint markings on the one of the boards, embedded within the polish. Yes the piano was made in China. But people should have checked it.

Very very bad experience at Tom Lee Richmond.

One of the worst experiences ever- there was only one left in stock of the books we needed, and there was a part that was broken, and they still made us pay full price- nor would they help us fix it , no words ….

If you want a guitar or piano. Highly recommend to visit there. I wanted to buy a La patrie guitar so kept going couple of times before I choose the one. Every time I go felt all staff are so nice and helpful.
I’m so happy that I could purchase the Canadian guitar with them. Thanks alot!!

Amazing choices of musical instruments available. I went into the store looking for an Ukulele. Regina provided exceptional customer service experience and showed me all the options available for me to choose. I definitely recommend going to Music Gallery for any music related needs. Thank you once again to both Regina and Music Gallery for making the shopping experience a very positive one.

I recently started piano lessons at Vancouver Music Gallery and I purchased an acoustic piano shortly after. Before I came across this store on the North Shore, I had searched almost every where small and big shops including Tom lee and Long mcquade to buy a piano. I ended up getting my piano from vancouver music gallery because I appreciated the fact that they spend the time to show different pianos carefully and acknowledged me. In addition i felt no pressure from their sales people and the owner Mike, he is such a great guy who helped me a lot. i got the best price in town with 0% financing which I couldn’t get else where within my price range. I am still continuing my piano lessons from a great teacher at Music Gallery. I will recommend this store and academy to any person. I am really glad I found this place :)))))

Thank you guys for the great service :)) You are the best 🙂

low variety of products and prices are usually more expensive than other chain stores like Tom Lee or Long and Mcquade

I’m a piano technician and have known many dealers. I visited The Music gallery today, and met Michael, the owner. I was favourably impressed with him and his store. He is very welcoming and considerate gentleman. His main line is Hailun pianos. I was given the opportunity to tune one, and found it very nice to work on. It is as well engineered as Yamaha, if not better, with a far superior tone, sustain and decay. It is more like a good German upright than a typical Asian piano.
To those seeking a piano, I would definitely recommend checking out The Music Gallery.

Very nice store and incredibly friendly customer service. I would definitely recommend it, but I can’t quite give it a five star rating.

I initially went in looking for left-handed guitars. Unfortunately, they did not have any in stock. I am used to this, however, so that wasn’t too big a deal. I instead opted to order a particular left-handed La Patrie from Music Gallery, since they offered me an extra “Grand Opening” incentive. I was given an estimated delivery time and patiently waited…

I finally got the call to come and pick up the new guitar. I sat down in the store to try it out for the first time, only to discover there was a large crack running halfway down the face of the guitar body. I am sure the damage most likely occurred during shipping, but I did find it surprising that nobody had inspected the instrument in-store before giving it to me.

A new guitar then had to be ordered. The Music Gallery called me to tell me that the representative for Godin had told them that there were no more left-handed models of the guitar I wanted in stock. Therefore, a new one would have to be made. Out of curiosity, I e-mailed La Patrie myself to inquire as to how long that process might take. They responded telling me that they had several in stock and one would only take a week to ship. Now I’m not necessarily blaming The Music Gallery for the error, but some sort of miscommunication had occurred. Had I not inquired myself, I would have likely waited a significant amount of time for the wrong model of guitar to be made and shipped, only to then have to wait yet another period of time for the proper one to finally be shipped.

To their credit, The Music Gallery did let me keep the broken instrument for the duration of the wait. I now have my intact La Patrie, and can say that I really do love it.

Edit: The owner, Mike, contacted me to follow-up on my experience and review. It definitely demonstrated the care he has for every customers experience, especially for any experience that is anything short of exemplary. He explained to me that many guitar buyers are very particular about their new guitars, and in his experience they tend to prefer not to have anyone handling their new instruments before they do. Obviously, the damage that I discovered is more of a freak occurrence, and the ‘no-inspection policy’ would not typically lead to such problems.

Additionally, Mike explained that the plot as I explained above is incorrect. When he ordered a replacement for the broken guitar, the wrong guitar was never ordered. He was more than willing to e-mail me evidence that the correct guitar was requested in Godin’s system from the very first step. This does not change the fact that I was told the wrong guitar had been ordered initially. I’m glad to hear that I was never going to be disappointed when the wrong guitar arrived. But I still did experience a fair amount of stress as a result of the miscommunication, since (at least from my perspective) this was an expensive purchase that I did not anticipate as being stressful.

I appreciate the follow-up and discussion of my experience with Mike. He apologized profusely, and assured me steps would be taken to prevent any miscommunication in the future. This is truly a level of customer service that I have never experienced in a guitar store before.

drove a long way and time out of my day to see an amp Shertler Jam 100. I was told is in stock even when I called first, I arrive at the store and they do not have the product.

Very friendly and helpful. Was able to find acoustic guitar strings.

I would give David and his team 10 stars if I could! Amazing customer service! Helpful on the phone and they delivered my son’s instrument directly to him at school within 30 mins just in time for band class! David and his delivery person even waited for me to figure out my computer system to fill out the form online so it could go out on the next delivery! Thank you very much you helped me make my boy’s day!

David is one of the best if not only instrument repair shops around the lower mainland. I would highly suggest him. He’s not only serviced my personal instruments, but over 100 of the instruments I have at my school. As a band teacher I trust Matterhorn with all the needs my program has throughout the school year!

Good customer service and work on my saxophones.

it is good but needs to be clean and the lady in the front should have known what she is doing because when i was trying to rent something out
she had o call the manager and ask the price when the entire booklet that had the prices was right infront of her it took 29 minutes for her to finish asking her manager she took 10 minutes to do the math and she had a calculator but didn’t use it and it took forever for her to finish because she kept on restarting her math i wish she knew what she was doing but otherwise it is okay

The employees here are very knowledgeable about all types of instruments as well as how they function and produce a sound. Lots of variety in clarinet and saxophone reeds. The only downside is that they are somewhat expensive.

I sent my instrument in for cleaning and it came back much worse than it was before.

Fantastic!

Great musical instruments shop! Huge place. (Nice discounts on boxing day)

Staff are knowledgeable and helpful. Selection of musical instruments is vast and well displayed

I stopped by the new location today. There are no testing rooms for the guitars (as far as I saw) and the staff seem more obviously on commission than they were in the past location – one staff member in the piano department tried to sell me a $5000 piano after only a minute of playing while the staff in the guitar department gave off a don’t-bother-me-unless-you’re-here-to-buy-an-expensive-guitar-that-you’ve-never-played-before-right-now vibe.

I’ll give the new store another couple chances but I fear that the easygoing vibe that I associate with Tom Lee (and which has me shopping at Tom Lee over Long and McQuade) may be gone from the downtown location, which will see me visiting the North Van location exclusively.

Good

(IMPORTANT: I have amended this review, following the outcome of what I describe. As a frequent customer I think I can give a fairly though and fair review, if that’s all you want to read, then skip to the end.) )I’ve spent a lot of money here over the last couple of years, was always fairly neutral on it. Some staff were nice, others were rude. I was there to shop, not make friends, so it didn’t concern me I recently spent $1900 there (Not an un-common purchase for me) on something that nearly fried my computers USB bus, I exchanged it for another synth.The synth was obviously a return and improperly packed as there were peripheral pieces missing, I let that go (With a call to the store so they were aware of it), but then the synths right output began malfuctioning, not wanting another defective item I returned it and planed to pick up something else of greater value then both, so just to be clear I am now spending MORE, or I had planned to. The sales associate tells me they are not to accept returns from me without authorization from a particular manager…..OK, let me get this straight, You sell me a synth that almost costs me my computer, and other synth with wonky outputs and your going to start getting tense with me about returning broken merchandise? One of those synths was $1900 another $699, when I spend that kind of cash I expect things to work! Mind you when something under warrantee needed fixing a few moths ago they told me to forget it, I had to chase down the manufacturer MYSELF and managed to get it fixed, the item was deliver through them but I had to make it happen because they tried to talk me into not pursuing my right as a consumer. So anyway, I now have to make another trip to the store to hear a manager explain to me what? How I should keep defective goods? This one aught to be good, if what you sold me to begin with worked there wouldn’t be any problem. I suppose the real issue here is that Tom Lee music is insane, If I was a regular customer at a car dealership, they would bend over backwards to make sure I kept spending money there, while Tom Lee employees are actively trying to alienate someone who spends thousands of dollars a year there, and for what? Because they are too lazy to do the paper work on defective items? Whatever the case maybe, the employees at the new downtown Vancouver location are going to cost their business thousands of dollars a year when I take my money elsewhere, I have already done the homework on on-line suppliers and am ready to leave this kind of ammeter hour stuff behind, you would think they would value good patronage with many music retailers being pushed under by on-line retailers. I will enforce my consumer rights without exception and this will be no different, well there will be one difference, an immediate drop in sales as both as I stop spending money at Tom Lee. This is why if there is no owner on premises, things get weird, no one has any incentive other than to make their jobs easier, I will amend this post if they do the right thing, If I do not you can be sure the worst has occurred. I’ll say it once more, this is why physical stores are going out of business the alienation of customers by people who don’t care whether the business makes money or not.
UPDATE: I said I would amend this if everything were handled well. and IT WAS, when I went in there were no problems at all, and I ended up with items I use everyday. The staff in the pro Audio section are quite nice and helpful, tI will say that by shopping there you are supporting a good staff, and that’s a worthwhile act. The company is clearly foreign owned, which isn’t great for our economy, but the staff are good local people who are working hard, I never see anyone slacking off in the new store. The old DJ basement, where staff were rude and things were a mess is gone. The remaining staff are all hard working pro’s.

Just thought I’d add I’ve continued to shop here, and my experiences have been very good. Add star.

the service there was horrible

I had a really poor experience with customer service. The employees were so rude and snobby and in a nutshell, I can see why the passion and music is withering away.

Regards

last time someone actually greeted me was roughly 15 years ago. they worked at the drum department and were the nicest people. everytime i walk in, no one ever bother to help or make eye contact when they just sit there. i did buy a guitar pedal a few years back because you guys were the only one that had it locally. so i had no choice but to buy from you. even if i walk by your store now, i refuse to go inside because it feels like a funeral in there. feels like the staff is too good to help.

side note: As a piano player for many years. my advice is to get a new piano tech who knows what they are doing and voice all your Steinway pianos properly. they all sound overly bright and the touch is messed up.

2 stars for the guy who sold me the pedal, he was actually nice.

The guys were very helpful and knowledgeable.

Great advice

Such a great place, friendly staff and affordable prices too

Friendly, had what I was looking for.

Terrible service today. I went there because I had great service in the past, so today was a surprise. Now going almost anywhere else.

After 2 failed attempts to set up my guitar at this store, I ended up looking it up on Google and getting a better result. I won’t be back.

Excellent, friendly, helpful service and repair.

I don’t usually write reviews, but this place really impressed me. I went in to buy my kid a cheap ukulele, just as a guy off the street. The care and attention to detail from both proprietors made it feel like a purchase for a professional musician. From a complete tuning, to sanding down the points on the frets for little fingers, it was a great experience.

Phil is great. Knowledgeable, nice, funny, very professional.

Great localmusic shop

Great selection

Great music shop

Called they didn’t even know what a Blue Yeti mic (One of the most used mics) was …. Please learn audio products

The worst music shop in Vancouver. Please avoid this place at all costs. It is really too bad as it would be nice to have a nice little privately owned music shop in this particularly artsy neighbourhood. However, the owner and his staff are strangely paranoid, defensive, and not very helpful.

The best people I have ever met!! Always willing to assist. Always friendly. I have been there a few times and this is my favorite shop in BC so far. Thank you for all the great advice and tips. I am a beginner guitar player and their honesty was improved my understanding and experience. Thank you Kurt & Roland, you guys rock!!

Curt’s definitely Kurt but hey that’s part of the charm. Phenomenal selection of Guitars, Plus!

THE guitar experts on Vancouver Island.

Looked good from the window.closed for the holidays

Excellent service

Great selection; knowledgeable helpful staff

In trying to tighten the jack input on my custom built baritone ukulele, Kurt the owner carelessly left permanent scratches on my beautiful instrument. Unbelievable. DO NOT TAKE YOUR INSTRUMENT THERE FOR REPAIR.

I think the person that is running the store is actually racist or i don’t know just not a nice person. I am middle eastern. I went there once and guy was helping the white folks there very nicely in a good manner. However, when I ask my question the very first thing that he mentioned was the price range of their guitars ( Our budget for a guitar was actually more than that) right after he started giving life lessons about how I shouldn’t surprise any one in life and I actually making me feel bad about my question. I actually don’t recommend going this store especially if you’re looking for experts to ask questions about guitars and absolutely don’t go there if you’re a visible minority.

Rudely asked to leave the store for “browsing” because another customer was waiting outside.
We are actually looking to BUY a guitar, which would require said browsing.
It is not a good idea to ask a customer to leave the store to have another customer come in.
Definitely not buying the guitar from here.

Good experience here, friendly and helpful folks without that pushy feel.

Not a musician myself, I’ve come here for my kids interest in school band. We’ve done both rental and most recently purchase and happy with both experiences.

Store was much larger than expected, lots of selection and what’s not in stock is easily ordered and notified upon arrival.

INCREDIBLE service. Thank you to Mark (and Spencer at the Brampton store—yes, these folks will help you from 3 times zones away if they can!) who helped source the very last one of an out-of-production tweeter for my studio monitors. This is an impossible to find part, nothing’s available at the factory, Craigslist, eBay, Amazon, anywhere. Called Mark yesterday to find a replacement for the punched-in silk dome on my YSM1P, model number TWT0013. Stock was showing zeroes across the board, as expected. But Mark took a closer look and discovered that stock was showing -1 at one store while showing +1 at Brampton, so it looked like a zero in the total. Anyone else might have probably thought “nope, nothing in stock”. That extra due diligence paid off, as anyone who has ever dealt with Mark will attest to. Anyway, I called Brampton when they opened at 7AM this morning and talked to Spencer who found it right away. They’re transferring it now and I couldn’t be more pleased, it’ll resuscitate a set of monitors I thought were destined for the parts bin. Thank you guys, I am a customer for life.

Great staff and a large selection of guitars and accessories.

Seems to have a good selection, the customers service seems to be hit and miss, some days they are happy and helpful, other days they seem too busy to help or rushed. Otherwise a good experience

My fiance had the most unpleasant phone call with Alex yesterday. This gentleman was rude, unknowledgeable about what was in stock, and kept interrupting to say different things weren’t possible. Immediately after we called another L&M location and that employee was super kind, helpful, and actually found answers to our questions.

We generally have a positive experience with L&M, which is why I bumped the review to 3 stars, but realistically his attitude warrants 1 star.

Great selection, good knowledgeable staff

Not worth the effort.

GARBAGE!!

Not the most helpful or knowledgeable people I’ve come across. I’ll stick with either the Terminal location or the Surrey location. Hard to believe this store is part of the same chain…..