Best guitars and best owners and so welcoming and so open to help and I got a free shirtread more

Highlights: - Friendly and helpful staff…read more- Lots of guitars to check out and try - Melodicas!!! I stumbled into Mr. Music while visiting Boston. I was really excited to check out Allston, and this place caught my eye as I was walking around the neighborhood. I've been playing bass for about 4 months now. I was really excited to finally be able to walk into a music store and be able to actually try out the guitars and see which ones I liked. The staff were very helpful - right away they asked if I needed help finding anything. They pointed me in the direction of the bass guitars, specifically acoustic basses (which I was interested in hearing/playing). Their bass guitar section is awesome! They have a handful of acoustics that you can try out, which is really cool. If you're looking to purchase a bass guitar and want to make sure you're comfortable with it first - this is the place. They have a variety of pics that you can try, too. I've only played with two different pic styles before, so being able to try a handful made me realize what I really liked. They also have a great little corner for trying out electric guitars, complete with a little amp. I tried a lot of different electric basses, and found the ones I really liked. It was so much fun to try out the guitars and find out what I want to save up for. Besides guitars, they have a cute little percussion section and a bunch of melodicas!! The melodica is such a cool instrument, so I was happy to see it getting some love in this store. All-in-all, I walked away from the store with a handful of new pics and a smile on my face. This is such an authentic little shop, you can tell they really care a lot about music. I would love to go back!

Stellar quality work, quick turnaround, excellently priced, and a good hang!! HIGHLY recommended.read more

From the owner: The Boston Area's Best affordable Instrument Repair Shop!…read moreAllston String Doc is here to bring quality repair and modifications for your Electric/Acoustic guitars and basses, as well as other stringed instruments and related gear! Having worked as a guitar technician at Warped tour, INKcarceration, Louder than Life, and Multiple tours across the globe, The Allston String Doctor is proud to bring these services to a local shop.

My business dealings were an online purchase. There are no dealers in my immediate area for a…read moreproduct I needed and a Google search led me to Virtuosity which had the item I needed in stock. There was a problem with my shipment with the Postal Service causing a long delay in delivery, so they sent me a replacement via UPS which arrived in short order. It's this going the extra mile service that will keep customers coming back again and again. I recommend them highly!

Great people. Was looking for some trumpet accessories. Amazing collection of antique instruments…read more Very accommodating.

Over five years ago I had the fortune to find out about Maestro Woodwind. Since then I only trust…read morehim to work on my clarinets and saxophones, no one else. Georgiy is extremely professional and super friendly. He is an amazing human being, extremely knowledgeable in the arts of woodwinds repair, tuning and teaching. He does a quality job, with a fast turn around and fair pricing (he is very reasonable and honest, and you will never pay more than what's right for the job). I truly recommend Maestro Woodwind to all my colleagues and friends.

I want to offer a second review. As it appears the my first review has been taken off. I do not…read morerecommend this place to get your clarinet repaired. Take it elsewhere. I bought a brand new R13 elsewhere. As many of you will know, it is common for tenons to swell up when they are new and need to be slightly adjusted. The common way to adjust this is to slightly sand it down. This is what virtuosity did, afterwards on a different tenon, for free! For some reason, he used a laser cutter, and charged me $60. He took off too much, confirmed by multiple repair persons. Now my clarinet moves slightly at one of its joints. It was an imperfect job that has permanent consequences for my very expensive instrument. He has consistently refused to own up to the mistake and give me any kind of refund. Furthermore, on an earlier post, he blatantly denied that he did this. He said that I "fabricated" the story. Nope, it happened. It's one thing to mess up my clarinet, it is another to consistently deny that it happened and call me a liar. Bummer. Go elsewhere for clarinet repair!!

Do not bring your guitar here. I brought in my vintage Gibson ES175 about a year and a half ago to…read moreget refretted. I also asked to replace the wooden bridge with a tuneomatic bridge. They were confident they could work on the vintage instrument no problem and would finish it with two weeks max. When I tried to pick up the instrument, he said it wasn't ready. There was a couple month period where we tried to set up a time, then i couldn't get ahold of him. His phone number disconnected, email didn't exist, and website no longer existed. I finally heard from him after leaving a note in his mailbox. Came to pick up the guitar months later, and he said he refretted the guitar but couldn't setup the guitar correctly with the new bridge without resetting the neck. So he only charged me $400 something dollars instead of the $600 he quoted. Shame on me, I paid him without checking his work. Upon looking at the guitar, there was glue fingerprints all over the guitar and chunks of the fretboard were missing. Literal slice marks across the fret board. The refret job was horrible and essentially ruined my 1970 ES175. The value of the guitar has significantly dropped because of his work.

Made an appointment for repair, confirmed it, went to his shop the next day and he was a no show…read more Didn't even answer his phone or reply on email. Gets back to me the next day and cops to his error and invites me to drive back to his shop to try again. Fool me once!

I had been looking for a reliable place for a stainless refret for months, contacted multiple…read moreplaces in multiple states. One day by chance I met the owner of misc stepson at a job I had played on a Sunday, when I got home I emailed Tony the owner not expecting to hear back for a couple of days at best - he answered within minutes and connected me with Wolf the tech. Wolf also took time on a Sunday to reply to me which meant a lot. He told me he wouldn't be able to get to me for a few weeks and we set a date. I brought my guitar on a Tuesday the day before we discussed and got an email on Friday that it was all set. Picked up on following Monday and for an incredibly reasonable price at an incredibly timely manner I had my guitar back better than new, exactly as I had hoped. Tony and Wolf are honest special people in a world increasingly full of shitheads. Couldn't be happier that's my 2 cents.

I brought my guild acoustic to be set up here there was some slight string buzz on the second…read morestring. I came in to pick it up on the date I was told it would be done Which was 2 weeks after I had drop it off. I came there with a brand new Stratocaster literally right out of the box for an easy setup which I do with all my instrument. When I got there not only wasn't my guild ready he hadn't even touched it. It sat in a corner for two weeks. So I left the strat which I now regret and they'd call me when the guild was ready. A week and a half later I was told it was done. When I brought it in it had 11 gauge strings on it. He brought it out and the first thing I noticed was he put 12 gauge on it. This Is a tiny place with no area to play your instrument. I had to get on my knees in front of the counter to try it out. The next thing I noticed was the action was higher. I played it with the 12s and When it was time to change them I got the same brand of 12s. When I put them on they where literally touching the frets after the 7th fret. I couldn't play it after the 7th. I complained to Tony and was told to call Wolf and I did and said the issue seemed to be with the cut of the bridge. So I brought it back expecting to leave it off so he could fix the issue. it had only been 7 months he didn't remember me or my guitar. Then looks at it and asks me if I could wait a few minutes I said okay. I expected him to come back and tell me how long it would take to correct it. He brings it back to me and his solution was to stick a couple shims under the bridge which made the action even higher and the string buzz on the second string which was the original issue was even worse. I could have done that myself. They charged me 85 dollars for the setup and ruined a 900 dollar guitar. Not mention the fact that he talked me like I was an idiot who new nothing about my instrument. don't go there.

This dude is phenomenal as he is friendly, accommodating, and offers fair pricing. He fixed my…read moreMesa Boogie Tremoverb and it now sounds brand new ! Definitely recommend his business to anyone looking to repair amps.

I am new with this firm and had two Dbx units repaired to my satisfaction in a prompt and courteous…read moremanner. Both units work ok over a month later. A bit hard to find this place and tiny shop that you cannot enter. He seems to repair things like guitar amps too, besides consumer electronics. Could use an updated website to explain his services better. Dave M.

I just wanted to thank you SO SO much for fixing my Gibson Les Paul. You did SUCH a good job that…read moreit sounds like it did when it was brand new nearly 20 years ago, NO ONE has done such a great job as you have. A thousand thank yous, I got completely lost in the moment playing it and it's been years since I experience that unless I was onstage in the zone. I'm thrilled my step father found you, your going to be my forever go to for anything regarding fixing my guitars. Price was VERY reasonable- in a world where everything is to much, you certainly are priced fair. Thank you.

I walked into Mike's, because I was in the market for an electric and live in the neighborhood…read more This was my first electric, but I knew I wanted something decent with good tone. I told the store owner what I was looking for, and he showed me what was in my price range. He also very kindly told me that I was welcome to try any of the guitars--even though I very clearly could not afford them! I thought that was cool! He left me alone to play the guitars. I was able to take my time--as I didn't really know what I was looking for. I was so happy with one of them, that I went ahead and bought it! I've had it for about 2 or 3 years now, and I still love it!

Just had an amp serviced by Greg at Cranky's, he did a fantastic job as usual and reasonable price…read more Very happy with Cranky's, can recommend.

I am in LOVE with this guitar again! This Strat+ was purchased new 25 yrs ago and survived decades…read moreof gigging/jamming but eventually developed serious tuning and intonation issues. I all but gave up on the thing until my friends told me about Cranky's. For a very reasonable fee, Greg worked on the frets, tremolo, tuning heads, saddles, and gave it a thorough cleaning. She now plays BETTER than in 1995, and I'm happy to report has taken its place as my main axe again! As far as I'm concerned, this is the only place that I will trust with my dearest guitars. Many thanks to Greg!