Recently drove to SF from the Peninsula because after lots of research this is the only store in the Bay Area worth visiting if you need to purchase a new or used classical guitar and want to benefit from a robust inventory of options at various price points. The attention we received over the course of two visits and the patience that allowed us to try many guitars and ask countless questions before we decided was simply incredible. The kind of service that I had forgotten even existed. I purchased a used classical guitar made in 1974 for myself and my son got a 7/8 Alhambra. We are both very very happy! read more

Best acoustic guitar selection in San Francisco. Nice guys too. Stop in and spend some time trying out a bunch of beautiful guitars. Then buy one and take it home. Be happy. read more

Love these guys! I've bought two beautiful instruments from them and the experience both times was fantastic. They are very chill, supportive, and helpful. It's a beautiful place to find just the right guitar :) And they have a fantastic selection of ukulele's and baritone ukulele's as well! read more

Got my guitar restrung here. The service was excellent and fast. They have a wide range of guitars, including less expensive ones. I appreciated that considering where we live. read more

It's a beautiful store and I was a little intimidated. I'd read some reviews that said they didn't treat people who weren't professionals well. I shouldn't have worried, I told the salesman what I was looking for, my price range, and that I didn't play very well. He brought out instrument after instrument and I fell in love with a Teton. Great shopping experience with patient, knowledgeable staff. read more

Excellent Guitar store in San Francisco with all your guitar related needs. Professional and knowledgeable staff.

This was as good an experience as I could have asked for. Both Stuart (Stewart?) and Dean were a pleasure to meet. I went in with my daughter to get her new guitar strings and they showed us how to string the guitar properly, advised on best practices, and were just overall very friendly. This place looked like a guitar store out of a movie. Guitars and ukuleles everywhere and all the necessities to accompany! Whenever we need anything in the future, this is where we will go. Highly recommend. read more

I went to this store a long time ago to get my guitar repaired. The technician couldn't wait for me to leave. The repair appeared good when he finished but when hot weather came the guitar self destructed. I put it on the curb and someone took it. This was a guitar I bought in the '60's and it had held up for decades. read more

just wonder how the shop is still running. How they can pay for rental... I think is should be renovated for shared rooms.. dont ask for sell your guitars there. read more

Not sure how I didn't know about this shop that's been around since the early 70s but here it is. They have a large selection of acoustics, classicals, and ukuleles. There's a small handful of electrics here too. Full selection of strings and tons of instruction books at the ready. Couple of shop keeps who were friendly enough to me and the others in the small shop. I'll probably come here to get strings (instead of mail ordering from corporate institutions) and would send people here who are looking for the instruments they specialize in. read more

Great little shop with fantastic owners and a great selection of very nice guitars. I bought a Taylor for my daughter and she absolutely loves it. read more

GSP used to be the KING of your guitar-goodies shop when it was on Clement Street Aeons ago. Now, it seems inaccessible being downtown. Traffic with the gentrified influx makes it even worse to get to, park in an ideal spot, and not worry about your car and the goods you left in it. read more

Do many guitars to choose from. Fenders, Gibsons, Ibanez...... The staff is very knowledgeable. My only quip is the prices. They are on the high side. read more

If you receive a guitar shipped to you, please make sure to examine is closely. If you find issues later, they will not take your word for anything you find afterwards read more

Was able to get in and out with "Secret Santa" gifts for two people on 12/22/24, gift cards for one or more books, and adorable stickers to mark their pages. Staff person was efficient, kind and thoughtful. In and out quickly, so I didn't burn all my money on the amazing books there. I will be back (even though I live in Oakland.) read more

What an awesome place for musicians in SF! My boyfriend is a lifelong musician and used to get his sheet music sent to him (in another state) from Guitar Solo. They pretty much have "all the sheet music," to quote him. Service was knowledgeable and friendly, and street parking was easy on a weekday afternoon. They have a lot of awesome guitar-related stuff (of course), and supporting small business is super important. Highly recommended! :) read more

I was at the store yesterday and the owner Dean could not have been more helpful. They have a large selection of acoustic guitars and many other offerings. He pulled down many a guitar for me to try and explained the features and benefits of the ones I was most interested in. His backstory was also remarkable. Many great and famous guitarists visit his shop for reason. I will no doubt be back. read more

Great store, had a good time checking out instruments & enjoyed chatting with Dean. He offered helpful advice on issue I had with my uke.

I put my guitar on consignment with Guitar Solo SF and for nearly two years heard nothing from them. So called them to schedule a time when I could take it back, and left a message. The owner called me back a couple of days later and told me, "It's been sold." "When?" I asked. "Must've been in the last month or so." I made my skepticism clear and he kept making excuses about how they're operating on a skeleton crew. Maybe he was telling the truth, but I think there's a good chance they were just trying to pocket the money they owed me. read more

Quick and high quality repair of my acoustic guitar. Good value, and an overall nice shop!

I started my day really poorly, I was fired. I wanted to cheer myself up and do something with my musical instruments, and my Circuit I just bought broke on me. Mike went above and beyond what he needed to do to help me out today. I came in needing to return my Novation Circuit because it was faulting and was going to replace it. After discussing the nature of the return, we both discovered and came to the conclusion that the Circuit was causing issues with my workflow anyways, and that I should try something else with my store credit. After Hours of hard consideration, he helped me work out a SUPER sweet deal for the Push and Ableton Live 10, I literally felt like I was walking out the store with everything I got for free, amazing experience. Thank you Mike, and thank you for working so hard, you were also helping multiple employees and other customers all at the same time, a skill set not capable of most people. read more

The man who helped me was super unhelpful and made it a miserable experience. The guy came off kinda pretentious. Would have bought something if he showed even the slightest bit of hospitality. Don't go here, the atmosphere at Guitar Center is much better. read more

So I went there the other week. I'd broken a guitar string. Background; I'm a novice new player and didn't even know how to tune my guitar properly. That's how the string broke. Anyway the gentleman serving me didn't suffer novices lol. It's obvious this is a pro place. However, he was incredibly polite and although nonplussed with my "green-ness" he even installed the string for me super fast and efficiently. It was everything I needed to help me get back to learning again. Super grateful. Thank you Mr Guitar guy! One day I will impress you....we will talk about cool guitar stuff But for now I will continue learning how to tune my guitar without breaking my strings read more

Great customer service and provided us with care, can't get any better than this. A bunch a guitars to chose from and a bunch of starter books. Guitar cases too! There're are a lot of things to look at in here, I would say that anything you're looking for is in this shop. read more

I LOVE THIS STORE!! I've been buying guitars from them since the mid to late '80s when they were located on Clement street.

Came in to try a slew of guitars. I was treated with respect and the employee was very knowledgeable about Taylor guitars. I did not buy a guitar but I'll be back when I'm ready to purchase. read more

These guys always seem to have good deals on used items in the shop when I stop by Great shop Good service I always come back! read more

Have used their mail order service for close to 20 years. Before the advent of the internet, they were basically THE place to get sheet music, strings and many other classical guitar related things. The shop itself has moved a few times within that time but I was fortunate enough to live in the area for some time to be able to stop by and try some fine guitars that they always had at the shop. The last time I visited was about a year ago and I purchased my beater guitar there for not much more than $200! It sounds far better than much more expensive ones you get at national chains. Of course, they carry some of the best luthier built guitars you can buy in the bay area other than going directly to those luthiers. They also carry some rare and out of print guitar recordings. They may be a bit overpriced but over the years, I found some real gems there. Speaking of price, you can probably get strings cheaper at other internet based shops but for fine guitars, I think their prices are fair especially considering they're pretty much the only place in the area that carries good selection. If you're in the market for fine classical and flamenco guitars (even steel string acoustic), you won't regret visiting the shop. It's somewhat near AT&T park but hard to find if you don't know the area so you might want to googlemap it or call them ahead. read more

Guitar Solo - find handmade guitars - Musical Instruments & Teachers Near Me - San Francisco, California

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I purchased two very nice classical guitars here, one top-level professional and one mid-level that I could travel with. I also was able to find most of my sheet music, they had a lot of classical pieces of music I could not find elsewhere. Nice guys that work there, and overall a great experience. read more

Found GSP based on my teacher's recommendation. I wanted to support a local business during Covid. My intentions were to purchase a nice guitar and ended up walking out with a sweet Taylor. Enjoyed: GSP has a cozy shop vibe and staff was very attentive and was willing to work with me financially + more to make sure I walked out not regretting my purchase. There are some really nice guitars and I was able to try as many as I'd liked. Wish: I've played an instrument before, but just started learning guitar a few months ago and would've liked more handholding and a warmer welcome with finding my first guitar. I can also understand reviews where customers felt the shop came off as a bit pretentious. Overall, I definitely recommend GSP because they're a local business and can give you a decent deal. read more

Super helpful man at the counter, didn't catch his name. Gave us a lot of information and answered all our questions, even though we were complete newbies. Thanks! read more

Guitar Solo is an outstanding resource for acoustic guitar players, with a knowledgable and friendly staff, an excellent selection of instruments, sheet music and accessories. They also do repairs. For classical guitar players, there is no place like it in San Francisco. Independent music stores have been largely wiped out by the internet, so we are very fortunate to have this place. read more

Thank you to Guitar Solo owner who served me at the shop. I had never played before but was feeling that the holidays would be very isolating and rainy, it seemed like a fun way to pass the time and I've been trying to learn to sing lately as well. I know nothing about guitars so was expecting to feel like an idiot with an eye-rolly hipster dude judgy-pants clerk (as a woman who goes to bike shops this is not unfamiliar to me) and getting myself prepared to not care (or pretend to not care!). That wasn't my experience at all! He let me try some of the lower end guitars so I could get a feel for them and explained the differences. I ended up buying the cheapest one they had because the next one up (cheapest with steel strings) was too big for me. I have had so much fun trying to learn and when I buy my next better acoustic guitar I will definitely go back so I can give them a better chunk of money. read more

Top notch! Bill asked what I needed and what price range I was in and was able to bring out multiple options for me to try out. The place is calm, and nothing about my experience felt pushy/upsold. I left with with a guitar I really love. If you need an acoustic guitar in the bay area, this place is highly recommended. read more

This is the place to go if you're a serious classical guitarist. Great assortment of new and used instruments,. Knowledgeable sales people.

Before today I would have given them five stars. I bought a Guild G 5P classical guitar from them in 2009 for $1000. Included was a banged-up case, which didn't bother me. I went there on a friend's recommendation. He had gotten an amazing guitar for $4500 a few years before. To this day, it is the most beautiful sounding guitar I have ever played. But my budget was $1000. I didn't expect to get anything like his, just something really nice. I went there, told them what I was looking for & price range and the guy showed me the Guild. I don't recall being shown anything else. While the guitar is very nice & I've always liked it, I've always found the neck to be a little wider and flatter than prefer. I know, I should have noticed at the time. Today I was doing research on recording classical guitar & on a whim, googled my Guild. I discovered, in a forum, that someone had bought one for $400 in 2012. And someone else got one at an online auction for $145. My guitar was a consignment at the Guitar Solo shop and the price was set by the owner. Maybe that was my mistake: I should have looked a guitars sold by the shop. I know I should have looked at more guitars, in hindsight. All this to say, I wonder if the guy thought I was some kind of mark (the answer is obviously yes). I'm old now, been playing for 52 years and I love a beautiful instrument. I completely trusted the guy. And feel a little bit like I was played. In the intervening years, I've been there to buy strings, etc. I've always found the staff to helpful and friendly. Would I buy another guitar there? Yes, but I would do some serious research and then push for the absolute best price I could get. Because they do have some amazing guitars. So, I guess I wish I hadn't googled my guitar today. read more

For a guitar player,this is MECCA! You can find just about anything relating to guitar here at this store:books,dvds,cds,instruments,accesories,and even teacher referrals.Been buying from this store since 1995 and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to beginners thru professional players.Though not an electric guitar shop,there are some materials related,but pretty much all acoustic instruments.Check it out! read more

Very poor customer service experience. Its amazing they have survived this long with their snooty attitude.

Having shopped at a few other stores for acoustic guitars, I thought I'd give GSP a try. They did seem to have great rating. I left in about fifteen minutes feeling a little bummed out by the staff's lack of enthusiasm and weak variety of the inventory. It might be just me :) read more

I just started taking a beginner classical guitar class at City College. One of the teachers there recommended this place. The salesman was friendly and not at all salesy as I have experienced elsewhere. He seemed like more of a guitar player who happened to work at the store than a salesman who happened to play guitar. I was shown three different beginner classical guitars here but only one at the other place I checked out. I also needed a case. The sales guy offered me a free used case, but it didn't fit my guitar. Instead he sold me a new case at half off and threw in some extra strings and cleaning cloths. read more