I came to guitar center about 5 years ago when my two kids wanted to learn drums and guitar. I…read morewould sit and visit with the lessons lead and eventually ,I decided I should take lessons as well. I was matched with Xy. I love her energy and passion for music. She is an incredible teacher! I've purchased several guitars, and drums from this location and appreciate the expertise of the staff. They have several faces that have been constant through the years and I appreciate their kindness and patience when I have questions. I highly recommend them for your music needs.

The guy at the repair desk was condescending, unhelpful, and downright rude at times…read more I purchased a beautiful PRS and some elixir strings around the holidays, and noticed the action was way high and even after trying to change it myself, it was still not to my liking. I missed the return policy so I was fine paying for whatever was wrong with it. I drove half an hour to this location to get it checked out, and the guy was super condescending to me the whole time. I'm a young guy, an intermediate player, and I don't know much about the technical side of guitars, but damn, was he really making me feel stupid. Dude was rolling his eyes at me every time I said I didn't know something. I bought a kapo and a guitar strap, and the guy checking me out was on the phone with someone else the whole time. If I'm going to buy a guitar I'd honestly rather drive twice the distance to the Chicago location. The guys over there are dope and ACTUALLY helpful. Anyways, support local businesses.

I'm a full-time musician, solo multi instrumentalist/ LoopingArtist playing 200 shows a year for…read more25+ years. When I moved to Wisconsin, this was the place people told me to go to if I wanted to find good vintage gear, or if I needed work done on my guitars. This place definitely delivers. I've had fretwork done on my guitars, had a vintage reverb pedal repaired there, had vintage Fender Jazz Bass pickups put in an old jazz bass of mine, and each time I've been there, everything is done professionally and very well. The owner, Greg, is an awesome guy, and the staff are always good to me. And you should see the selection of vintage, guitars, basses, and amplifiers there! Even rare finelike this beauty! (See pic) I highly recommend this place.

I think the store is great and they had really great vintage guitars, amps, and other. It kind of…read moresucks though. I took an amp in and gave them time to work on it since I didn't need it. Picked it up and didn't have time to test it since I had to get to work. Got home and plugged it in and it was dead. I gave them a call and ended up with someone on the line. He was like "did you plug it in to the wall"(come on) "did you turn it on"(duh) "is the red light on in the front?(hmmm). I was a little frustrated by this. I told him I do understand the basic operation of my vintage amp and was like "I was told you guys were like the best Fender Amp Repair guys around here." He started yelling and screaming and I tried to say something but he just kept yelling and called me an asshole and hung up. I realized that he was the owner, I mean THE OWNER, damn. In the end they must of yanked the cord out of the socket since that was the power issue so I had to replace the "original part" - then once I powered it up one of the new tubes pretty much almost exploded it powered up so fast and blew it self. They were supposed to replace two power tubes and bias them but what they did was switch the tubes around so that one of the old tubes was with the new tube and the other new tube was with the old tube completely unbiased(Fender Twin) So now I had to get a new matched set of power tubes due to the damage. Finally they also wired up and did not remount the reverb tank correctly(how do you do that). I lost a lot of money considering I paid them maybe around 350$+ for the work and then had to get new tubes and pretty much fixing it myself. I wish this would of worked out better cause I really liked the place and would of definately(sp) bought equipment from them. Now I really have no where to go, Except Daves and they're work was great once and bad the next time. So hard to find a descent tech, I guess people sometimes get in a hurry on a Friday to go get some beer or they give it to a less experienced tech and no one watches over their work. Or they just don't have a clue. I like to pay people to do a good job so it supports the music community. Also I like to play music rather than sit around soldering parts. Oh well.

top dogs in town Always go the extra mile. Tom S…read more A lot of knowledge between Jeff and Marshall. I recommend Top Shelf over anyone in the city. ***** five star rating Tom S.

This place destroyed the sides of my frets and fretboard doing a fret sprout repair. When I emailed…read morethe owner, Jeff, to inquire about why they did this to my guitar, he tried to justify his shop's poor work based on the quality of my guitar. He said this instrument as well as all the other instruments I brought into his shop to have work done were "Chinese made junk that weren't of any quality to begin with". I guess that justifies doing a poor repair job according to Jeffrey Benske, owner of Top Shelf Guitar Shop. He also said I constantly badgered him about spending too much money on repairs, which is a complete lie. I was just trying to spend within my budget, that's all. I was never super aggressive toward anyone at this business at any point. But, according to Jeff, I'm in the wrong since I brought cheap guitars into his shop. How dare I not bring in a 2,000-dollar Gibson or something of that sort and instead bring in a 200-dollar cheapo! It's my fault for having the audacity to bring in a cheap guitar, hence the cheap repair work! I guess I deserved it! Yeah... Right. Get out of here with that attitude. Honestly, I could say a lot more about this place because their poor work on most of the guitars I brought in over the year and a half I came here for repairs has caused me great distress as well as set me back in terms of repair work on my guitars. However, to save me from going insane, I will just post the pictures of my guitar with this review and the screenshot of the email I received after I inquired about why my guitar was ruined. I think the pictures and email speak volumes about the type of people you will be dealing with when coming into this shop for repairs. There is nothing that justifies this type of low-quality, low-effort repair work, no matter how inexpensive your guitar may be. If the sides of your frets not getting destroyed matters to you along with not dealing with arrogant, elitist business owners, I would stay far, far away from this place. I truly believe Jeff is unfit to own a guitar repair business based on my interactions with him and based on his shop's unfortunately poor work on my guitars.

I have had Wade's do several guitar setups and purchased a Martin acoustic from them. His shop is…read morestuffed with new & used guitars which you can play upon request. In an age of big box and internet sales, it's refreshing to have a local store with knowledgeable people who don't pressure you and answer your questions. Its like a going back in time to friendlier space and I'll keep going for all my guitar services and those Martins.

I bought my first electric guitar here in 1996, and I still have it and play it regularly even…read morethough I left town long ago.

I've had several guitars worked on. Top notch work! Really nice guys that know what they are…read moredoing! Would highly recommend!

This place rules. The owner is "one of us" and won't give you the cheesy salesman shit the other…read morejoints will.

Guitar Center is Guitar Center. If you want to walk into a music store and have a great choice of…read moreinstruments, this is where you go. A location where you can actually touch, feel, and play the instrument you are considering purchasing. It has been that way since they first opened. I have been going to Guitar Center since their first location, (different from the one of today) in Hollywood, California. And, whenever I'm in a new city, if I have some time to kill, I always like to check out the local Guitar Center. You never know what you will find. This is what I did with this location. Walking in, as is almost always the case, you will year some player noodling on a guitar through an amp. I don't know how the people who work at these stores put up with it, as it is more frequently than not very bad playing. As was the case when I walked into this shop. An elderly, longhair guy, playing some bad licks (loudly) on a Strat through an Orange amp. I guess you (and the employees) just must tune them out. Horrible! This Guitar Center is set up as most of them are. A lot of electric guitars along one wall. Acoustics in the back. Basses on the other wall. Synths and keyboards over in their own section. All Good. This location is fully stocked with all of the instruments and accessories you may need. The staff seemed very nice and did none of the hard-sell type of thing. So, if you're in the area, and you need some musical equipment, this may be your place to go.

We visit this location often. For the last few weeks, I have made a comment to my husband that we…read morehave perused the guitars every week and never buy. Of course, because I said the word never, something had to happen. Today was the day, my husband bought himself a new Jackson guitar a Randy Rhoads edition. The only thing is that they did not have a case for the guitar so we did have to order one. The service was still great, and my husband walked away happy. I'm sure we'll be going again in the near future.

After trying everywhere in Milwaukee I can confidently say Denny Rauen is the best! He costs a…read morelittle more , but when you consider the cost of the job being done wrong and your time trying to get it done right, he is worth it. I consider his craftsmanship top quality and can say that we are extremely lucky to have him here in Milwaukee. A simple guitar setup from him makes all the difference...

From the owner: Since 1982, Rauen Guitars has been serving a variety of clients, including top musicians,…read moreenthusiasts, and collectors from around the world. Currently, Denny is continuing his craft but downsizing his workload. Shop operates by appointment.