I started as a mere novice musician turned happy customer who brought in a used guitar to be…read morerestrung and worked on a bit. However, I called back to ask about vocal/instrument lessons and so am here to rave about the Magical Marzuki, who I would love to believe is a strong representation of the quality of instructors Mountain Music is lucky to host. (The staff have been lovely to work with too.) Specific to my experience, Marzuki G is magical. He is empathetic, personable, and has been wonderfully able to communicate his expertise in both the body as an instrument (vocals) and music making as a whole.

Excellent service and fair pricing. What's not to love about sales folks who give you an honest…read moreopinion.

Great shop. No joke, like, prob the best guitar store in the bay. Always something new and a great…read morerange of fun affordable axes and more drool worthy rarities. Also a great selection of effects pedals! The space feels very communal Johnny is always encouraging ppl to grab a guitar and plug in.

Love the shop. I do my best to shop here when I am in the east bay…read more Good mix of old and new guitars, nice amps. They have a work bench for repairs. Staff are friendly and accommodating. Since Leo's and Starving went out of business, shops like this need and deserve support. It's better than doom scrolling Reverb. I can usually pick up an interesting and used pedal for a few bucks. Instant fun!

So far so good! My son is in our trial month for piano lessons. His teacher is Akiko, and she's…read morebeen great so far! She's been fun and engaging, and very patient. The stickers help. :) To start, I had a phone consultation with Jamie, who was very sweet and we had a good conversation about our goals. She recommended Akiko and I think she was spot on. We're excited to continue!

First! If your kids want to learn some MUSIC???? COME here! It might be a little pricey, but the…read moreinstructors are nice and helpful! Plus your kids will learn lots! My girl takes singing classes here and has learned lots of techniques for singing, which is exactly why I recommend it for kids and adults!!

The staff is very knowledgeable , and they have a variety quality used instruments at good prices.read more

Love this place! Great personal service. They always do an amazing job efficiently and with very…read morereasonable prices. Bonus, the place has a great vibe but maybe because it's filled with beautiful instruments

Got my strat set up here by Eduardo and it came back playing beautifully. He helped me with string…read morerecommendations and was super helpful with my questions. I appreciated how he was cool and patient, and did not make me feel out of place being an amateur guitarist.

Lotta p***** working here, but it's ok if you need a guitar cord I guess. San Francisco location is…read morebetter.

I met Stevie first as a guitar instructor and I ended up buying two well crafted guitars from him;…read morea Corcoran 00 (my favorite of all time), and a Yamamoto OM Paulonia that plays in DADGAD like a dream. His guitar teaching and inventory is awesome. Neither of my guitars are still available, and yet they are my pals for life!

You have mighty fine guitars. My husband always wanted to visit your shop. The Gibson was very…read moresmooth and nice. Ty

Took a vintage bass in to have a pickup installed and to replace some fingerboard dots. Yes, they…read moredid install the pickup and pots, but the volume knob went from low to high with no intermediary capability. The original had three knobs, they only wired for two. The replaced dots were not flush with the fingerboard. The bass has a floating bridge, which they installed in the wrong place, so I had to reset and intonate myself. Half-a$$sed work. Reasonable price though, so I guess you get what you pay for.

one of a kind guitar store - patronize them!…read more I've bought remotely from them for years and its always good, talk to someone on the phone to be clear on stuff

I'm so happy that I found East Bay Guitar Repair. After having some subpar experiences with other…read moretechs in the bay, I can truly say that Mike is top tier. I have brought him 4 of my guitars now and the work has ranged from just a standard setup to installing new pickups with custom wiring and switches. He's knocked it out of the park every time. I am admittedly a pretty picky person when it comes to my guitars and Mike has been MORE THAN accommodating any time I had a follow up question or asked for a tweak or a second look. His setups have made my guitars play better than they ever have. His prices reflect the value that you get out of his services; and even though there most certainly will be a wait; it's well worth it. I hope to keep taking my guitars to Mike for as long as I am a bay area resident.

Mike did an excellent job improving a problematic old Fender Jazzmaster/partsmaster with some…read morefairly involving work. First, I had him install a Mastery bridge to replace a non-stock Vox-style bridge that was very noisy and plonky sounding. To do that, he first had to drill out and re-fill the existing, sloppily done dowel-and-drill work that was done decades ago--by another shop--to accommodate the funky Vox bridge, and then drill new bridge thimble holes for the Mastery. He also dealt with a problem with the old Fender-licensed Allparts neck: there was a sizable gap between the sides of the neck heel and the walls of the neck pocket routing, and he filled and re-drilled the neck's bolt holes so that the neck could be nudged forward to at least close the gap between the end of the neck heel and the body, which also helped to more accurately dial in the Jazzmaster's intended scale length. In addition, he replaced a noisy output jack and set the guitar up with 11-48-gauge strings, and it now plays *quite* nicely. No more rattling from the bridge, and the guitar has a more stable and playable feel to it. I'm happy with the quality of the work Mike did, and I would go to him again. I also like that you get to communicate with Mike in person, face to face. I've dealt with other repair shops where you don't get to talk with the person doing the work, which has sometimes resulted in a communication breakdown that had an impact on the work done. But with Mike, you schedule an appoint and you get to discuss with him--one on one--whatever work you'd like him to do, which is exactly how it should be.

LOVE LOVE LOVE this place. I was on my way to SFO to pick someone up, and stopped in...man, I…read moreflipped out. I feel like most of the good gear that I stupidly let go of ended up in there...Jesse, Chris, Ben...these are real guitar guys who own and run a store. I have been in the guitar playing game sixty years and seen more than a few great stores, and seen them all go byebye...so I want you to go there and buy or trade something with them. After that first trip, I was back three more times in eight days and I live more than an hour away on the freeway. I ended up trading stuff I didn't want for stuff that I really did want, and each transaction was friendly, honest, fair, and a whole lot of fun...just like the guys there. I saw them interact perfectly with everyone who came in, from each different private universe, and the staff at Real Guitars knew what the people were talking about and immediately helped them...not SELL them something, helped them figure out what they needed and how to find it. This place and the people rekindled my guitar loving flame and I am so grateful. Of course I will be back. I hope I see YOU there.

Great vintage guitars, basses and amps in a cool south of market street spot. A helpful staff too.read more

Stewart really knows his stuff. The shop is on a great street in Oakland that artists banded…read moretogether and bought to preserve as an artist community, and Stewart has a great understanding of string instruments big and small. My son became way too enthusiastic playing with my banjo and repeatedly messed with the bridge. Stewart helped fix it and recenter the strings, and explained some of the history of my own banjo that he could glean from the materials it was made of. I'll be back.

Stewart stopped answering my calls after he fixed my guitar and never answered my email…read more I used another phone to call him and he answered. He blocked my number. How good is the warranty for one year if he stops communicating. He is a nice guy but for my new guitar I decided to go the Mountain Music on Piedmont Ave Oakland. Adam did a great job on my new Cordoba My name is Garfield