Amazing luthier and musical tech! I was severely let down by others but this place is by far the…read morebest place to get your instrument set up. He is extremely knowledgeable and skilled. I will never trust anyone else again. He has a nice little shop where you can order gear, customize equipment and get great advice from someone with great hands, eyes and ears! Truly an exceptional find in the area. Worth driving to and avoiding the chain stores for a personal touch! Surprisingly competitive priced with the chain stores too! This place is awesome!

Great work on set-ups and string changes. Cool shop. Friendly staff and a collection of interesting…read moreguitars and basses. I highly recommend!

Amazing vocal coach. I started as an absolute beginner and I am amazed at what my voice has becomeread more

Lindsey has worked with my now 28 year old son for the last 11 years and all I can say is that she…read moreis a miracle worker!!! While he was quite musical in a number of areas, he would often sing some of the notes of a song "a little sharp and curiously 'nasal'." With asperations of auditioning for musical theater productions, these were serious issues to be rectified. It is beyond my comprehension how Lindsey was able to train Ari's ear to sing completely "on pitch" and alleviate the less than musically attractive nasal tone. Eleven years later, my son has his own band and is highly regarded by his bandmates for the wonderful quality of his voice, as lead singer. And what about the nasal tone? I am no longer aware of it, in spite of his spring allergies!!! Lindsey is an incredibly perceptive and "person-centered" voice teacher. She takes the time to get to know her students and is sensitive to whether they're having a good or a bad day, as their current mood affects their singing. As an awarded, professional opera singer, Lindsey has all the tools, experience and compassion to help a voice student of any age, to meet his, her or their musical goals!

Guitar Center can be hit or miss. This experience was a hit. I brought in a guitar ordered online…read more(risky) as a Christmas gift because the action was off and I was concerned about the integrity of the neck. The store was pretty busy the night before Christmas Eve, and the two dudes working were clearly outnumbered by customers. After not too bad of a wait, Kai took a look, agreed the action wasn't right, and even though the regular guitar tech wasn't there, said he might be able to fix it. And he did--he fixed it well, in a way that felt knowledgeable and trustworthy. Suddenly, the guitar played great. I was impressed by these two guys juggling various things and making it all seem easy.

Some people might think that if someone's walk around the store looking for something, maybe an…read moreemployee would help them. I literally want from the right side of the building to the left side of the building looking for a guitar tuner, and it was my first time being at the store. There's about 10 employees walking around talk to each other at the register and the security guy doesn't even look up for his computer at the front door. Not to say Amazon is green and everything, but I was looking for something simple so I might as well go to Amazon. They were talking so much at the register didn't even look up to see who was around. They were letting a customer eat at the cash register if I can't expect good customer service I just put down the item and left.

Have to support these small music shops. Victor Litz has a lot to offer from types of instruments,…read moreelectronics, lessons, used gear, you name it. I was especially impressed with their selection of ukuleles. Never have I seen so many in MD in one place! Definitely more than what Guitar center offers. They have an acoustic room in the back to try their acoustic/classical guitars. I had the chance to buy one of their used guitars at an amazing price. I appreciate the staff working with me on the price and even holding the instrument for a day when they could have easily sold it to next customer. Shows that they care about customer satisfaction more than just making a sale. I was able to spend a good amount of time trying out the instrument and they also helped tweak the intonation before I decided to take it home with me. The only few downsides I could see was some of the staff were not particularly knowledgeable about certain guitar models that they were selling, but much better than say Guitar Center. The humidification in the acoustic room basically only controlled by a residential type humidifier, so not very precise. Compared to other small guitar shops in the DMV, I don't think I would feel comfortable getting my guitar worked on here just based on the level of expertise I surmounted from the conversations I had. But a good place to buy gear nonetheless if you know what you are looking for. Parking is just a little challenging since it is in the middle of old town Gaithersburg. But in the past I have come on the weekends and there is some parking across the street at the museum.

Amazing store and staff - it's been around forever - nice guy Charlie always helps me w/ my vinyl…read morerecord selections

Serviced my saxophone - outstanding work. Very thorough and knowledgeable. Highly recommend…read moreSteven!!

Our trumpet was in need of a little TLC and Steven not only was super responsive to our inquiry,…read morebut was also able to get to us quickly and did a fabulous job! We initially reached out to our local music store but were told they'd need to keep the trumpet several weeks. Luckily we discovered The Cramer Center, which will now be our first choice for any future needs. Highly recommend!

Al, is an amazing luthier, who is able to work wonders on all types of electric guitar, from an…read moreEpiphone Emperor I Joe Pass model (hollow body) to a solid body Agile Pendulum Elite 92527. The Ephiphone needed a complete overhaul of the electronics (pickups and controls) and a setup of the strings afterwards since a new piezo bridge was also installed. Prior to this work, the pots were quite noisy, and there were issues with the 1/4" output where it was also crackly depending upon movement. The pickups were replaced with a fairly standard set of Seymour Duncans (SH-2N and SH-4B), the wiring harness was removed and replaced with a much quieter (read shielded) setup, new pots and a new 1/4" output jack. The sound of this instrument while plugged in has drastically improved and now has a bit more versatility when it comes to live and studio usage. There was a little less work with the Agile solid body, where it needed to be updated with stacked pots in order to give a more Gibson-esque control layout of two volumes and two tone pots (one pair for each pickup) to replace the standard master volume, master tone. This allows the guitar to have more tonal variation, especially when both pickups are in use. In both cases the work was done promptly and with an expected series of charges. Al is probably one of the better luthiers when it comes to communications (including pictures) on what is going on with the respective job orders. Like the others on this board, I highly recommend your repair/setup work come his way.

I was looking for a luthier to help out with resizing the drill holes in my guitar so I could…read morereplace the bridge. Al not only quoted me a very reasonable price but made some very helpful recommendations that I wound up having him work on doing the complete upgrade and set up, all within my budget. His attention to detail and thoroughness made my guitar turn out way better than I could hope. Am very happy with the results and the fast turn around. Would use again.

ZZ is the best!! I…read morebrought in a violin to his workshop a few weeks ago that I'd played over two decades ago that had several issues that required the right luthier's TLC. I was hoping ZZ could repair it for my Mom, as her birthday was coming up soon, and I was hoping to gift my violin to her. She has always wanted to learn how to play it, but never had the chance until recently after she retired. As a child of working class parents in a small town, her parents simply couldn't afford the materials and lessons for her to follow her passion. ZZ did a phenomenal job examining the violin and walking me through the various options for repairs and what they would cost. In addition to his true professionalism and extensive knowledge, he is also delightfully down-to-earth and lovely to work with. I continue to be impressed with his craftsmanship, and am eternally grateful to have found him on my search for local luthiers! He has completely transformed my violin into a beautiful looking and sounding instrument that I know my Mom will treasure for years to come. Cannot recommend him highly enough for those needing expert violin repairs and advice!

I have played violin for nearly 50 years. My violin is a very close second to my children. This is…read morea shop where you can entrust your beloved instrument. I brought my violin following a catastrophic fracture. Not only was he gentle and understanding, his recommendations produced a fulsome resonance I haven't heard for years. This is a violinist's violin technician.

Months in advance, we had another company scheduled to move our piano from DC to Silver Spring, MD…read more A few days before, they called and said the owner had a family emergency so they had to reschedule. Unfortunately, they couldn't find a date that worked with our moving schedule, so we had to scramble. Steve with Empire called me back immediately, fit us into his schedule on the original move date, and did it for the same price as the first company had quoted. He completely saved the day. On the day of the move, three guys came, and I could tell by the way they handled the instrument that they had a lot of experience. It's always nerve-wracking watching a piano get moved, especially if there are steps or other challenges. But they were awesome. If we ever have to move a piano again, Empire will be my first call.

Steve and his crews are the best. Have used them in the past and they just moved a baby grand…read moreperfectly as always. Friendly, professional, reliable, and efficient. Highly recommended

I have been going there since around 2010 I think and this is the only place I go. I'm in Greenbelt…read morebut he does terrific work at a great price and I couldn't ask for better.

Greg is a complete professional. I I was gifted a very well used classical guitar. I told Greg to…read moredo whatever needed to be done to make it usable again. Two days later, I picked up a perfectly playable guitar. Given what he had to do, I was pleasantly surprised at how reasonable it was. I would not hesitate to use Greg's services again.