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.

I have had my tubas repaired and cleaned by Sean and his crew a few times now and I really love his…read morework and completely trust his shop. He modified the my F tuba to reduce the valve throw using a pretty creative solution which worked great. The thing I was most impressed by though is I came in complaining about a sticking valve on a relatively new tuba. This was clearly a manufacturing defect, and I need the value to work well for an upcoming concert. He was there on a weekend when the shop was closed and spent an hour meticulously going over the value to identify the problem and got it working perfectly while I waited for the repair. I highly recommend his shop for brass instrument repairs.

Always excellent service on wind instruments…read moreWe have been here throughout students years in band.

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!

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

Not sure if Steve is still doing repairs in the East Bay (I hope he still is - He was EXTREMELY…read moreTALENTED), but just wanted to leave a great review for him, especially once I saw some people that left him a bad review on here... Not cool. To my experience, Steve was BEYOND awesome, and fair. He worked on my Egnater Vengeance amp as well as my prized 1995 Bogner Ecstasy 101B amp. He did a great job! Sounds great! I have had it for 8 years now since he repaired my Bogner and it is still going strong. My photo on yelp is actually the amp he fixed! I am moving back to the East Bay and have some work for him if he's still around! ;) Definitely a great/ nice guy as well. I hope he remembers me! I even smoked a cig with the man, super down to earth guy! Very cool of him. Give him a call!! - Ricardo

I doubt Steve aka Doc Boyd is even in business but I write this review to warn others of my…read moreexperience. Dropped my very expensive equipment off and never saw it again . He seemed like a good guy when I met him . He is not returning my calls , though he did pocket dial me so I guess he is still around. Im not really sure what happened with him , I wish he would let me know . Did he steal it , lose it , have an accident ? I have no way of knowing . Steve I know you are not a thief at heart and you should really give me a call and give me back my Macintosh and marantz.

Great experience with this shop. The staff is always helpful, and Jeff has taken care of a few of…read moremy instruments now. He previously swapped out a bridge on a student instrument for me and checked over a 5-string pochette violin to inspect a potential rib crack and assess the setup. Recently, I brought in an unfinished 5-string violin project. He set the nut, bridge, and sound post properly, and his work made the whole project completely worth it.

Be Warned. I also had an extremely rude experience as another Yelper posted. I took my Vito alto…read moresax in to have the low C fixed and to get an estimate for pad replacements. The serial number places it from the Yamaha factory in Japan in the early 70s. They said that it would be inspected and I would get a phone call about an estimate. They did not review the horn with me. It should have been my first red flag. A few days later I get a call informing me that 'the instrument needs a complete overhaul and that when they put a light in it it was just full of leaks everywhere and would cost $1500 in labor and $200 in parts and that it wasn't worth it because of the value of the instrument' in an arrogant judgmental tone. When I picked up the horn, I was again told about leaks. This told me everything I needed to know because I too have put a light down my instrument to find the leaks and know exactly where a 1972 vintage alto that's never had it's pad replaced is leaking. And it wasn't were he was pointing to. I don't know who hurt you or which horn you're confusing mine with but I felt like I was being lied to. If you didn't want to do the work, simply let me know. Telling me my instrument isn't worth fixing is unacceptable. I determine the value of my horn, not you. And being rude about it is even more unacceptable. I guess with the closing of AG Music in Oakland and abundant USD student rentals, there's no space for the community musician in their shop. Be warned when you cross their handyman-grade aluminum threshold.

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.

I brought in a custom offset tele for a set up and a Plekk. Tomm helped me. Took a few weeks but…read morethe waiting was well worth it! Expert repair and friendly service. These guys know their stuff. Up there with the smartest guitar folks in the Bay Area.

Took my mandolin in for a little glow-up, since I hadn't really had a proper setup in years. Fixed…read moreup my frets, got the bridge in the right spot, added bridge dams, secured my pickguard, and got everything adjusted and dialed in perfectly. I also just took the electric guitar setup class and learned so much. Until now, I've just been able to change my strings and hope for the best. Now I feel much more confident in being able to take accurate measurements and making the necessary adjustments. Highly recommended and thank you!

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!!

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