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    John Wallace Custom Guitars

    5.0 (22 reviews)
    Closed 10:00 am - 5:00 pm

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    Aria Pro II, new archtop bridge
    Silvio C.

    Highly recommend John Wallace for any of your guitar needs. He is an experienced, professional luthier with a fast turnaround time. I took two guitars to him as I needed some repairs and settings to be done. I have a high-end Furch acoustic guitar that needed the action adjusted. After watching me playing he explained what and how he was going to make it better to fit my playing needs. (for the record I have been playing guitar 20+ years, so I know a little). Frets were leveled, nut and saddle adjusted and TWO days later he called me saying it was ready for pickup. I cant stop playing this guitar now.. it feels great! My second guitar is a 40 years old Aria Pro made in Japan. I requested to make a new nut, repair the binding on the fretboard and to custom make a new rosewood archtop bridge. The result is spectacular! John did an outstanding work on both my guitars and I am very happy! If you are looking for an experienced and affordable luthier.. no need to look any further!

    The cleanly routed pocket.
    Chris S.

    This guy knows his stuff. I brought in my newly-assembled Partscaster to file down the nut grooves, install string trees, and set it up. John noticed a gap between the neck and the body that was throwing off the angle, and said he'd take a look. He found significant overspray, and since he builds custom guitars, he was able to cleanly route out the neck pocket, creating a perfect fit for the neck and body. Customer service is top-notch; stayed in touch with updates, found issues, and photos of progress. Highly recommended.

    I needed a Stratocaster put together. John did all the work in record time and with attention to detail. He took the time to get the frets right and the neck in adjustment. Now it plays like my American Vintage Strat. He completed all work on time and within budget. A true professional who can take on any guitar issue. Very easy to talk to and explains all work in detail. A great experience compared to other shops I went to in the past that basically don't care unless you bring in $$$ and play professionally. John is not a snob and can help anyone with their guitar issues.

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    John W.

    Thanks Tom. Was a pleasure working on your guitars.

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    Review Highlights - John Wallace Custom Guitars

    I requested to make a new nut, repair the binding on the fretboard and to custom make a new rosewood archtop bridge.

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    Bertrand's Music

    Bertrand's Music

    (103 reviews)

    $$

    Rancho Penasquitos

    We've rented a cello from Bertrand and have been very happy with the service and maintenance. For…read moreexample, one day before a concert, a cello string came off due to normal wear and tear, and we reached out to Bertrand for help. Mr. Dennis G. understood the urgency of the situation and kindly assisted us in repairing the cello. In addition to the prompt service and kindness of the Bertrand team, our daughter's cello teacher, Mr. Elliot R., has been wonderful. He does an excellent job balancing encouragement with allowing each student the space to develop their own self-motivation to learn the cello. Overall, our family has been very happy with Bertrand at the Carmel Mountain-Rancho Peñasquitos location.

    Bertrand's Music is a music store focused on "school band & orchestra sales, rentals, lessons, and…read morerepair," as stated on their website. Our middle school band teachers works with Bertrand's Music exclusively and I understand that they trust them. The store itself looks nice. They had some instruments for sale displayed, along with music books. They have rooms for lessons in the back. The parking lot is usually congested though and parking is not easy. Our experience is only with getting an instrument repair quote from them. I'm sure the lessons and rentals are just fine here, but we would not exactly recommend Bertrand's for repairs, especially if you weren't even referred to come here by your school band for an instrument that belongs to the school. They have to ship out the instrument somewhere off site to even give us a quote, and we had to wait ten business days just to hear back that the instrument was unsalvageable and not worth repairing. They were unable to provide us with any written detail of what exactly needed to be repaired and what the cost would be. I'm not sure why they do it like this, because it appears a bit unprofessional. If you're looking for someone to repair a specific instrument that you own, we don't think this is the perfect place to bring it. It would probably be best to find someone who specializes in repairing that instrument to do it on site. Repairs were just one aspect of their business and it's technically a relationship between the school band and Bertrand's, so it didn't bother us. The staff were very nice and accommodating, and we appreciated that. They provided us with a receipt that the school needed, and it was as simple as that. Thank you!

    Guitar Center

    Guitar Center

    (265 reviews)

    $$

    It has been years since I've gone to Guitar Center. All I can say is that there is a noticeable…read moreimprovement all across the board. Much larger selection of higher quality instruments than they used to have, guitars and amps were accessible, staff was knowledgeable and courteous, and pricing was excellent.

    I normally don't write reviews, but my recent experience with the Guitar Center San Marcos Lessons…read moreDepartment needs to be shared, especially for parents considering lessons for their children. My son has been taking guitar lessons here for months and absolutely loves his instructor, Tristan. Unfortunately, the issue isn't with the instructors, it's with the front-end communication and customer service. After two of my credit cards were compromised, a number of auto-renew subscriptions needed updating. At no point, phone, text, or in person--did anyone from Guitar Center notify me of a declined payment, despite the Lessons Lead repeatedly claiming they "called" and "spoke to me in person." I checked my call history. The last call I received from Guitar Center was October 16, and it was simply Tristan confirming my son was running two minutes late. That's it. No billing conversation. No declined-card conversation. No warning. Nothing. Beyond that, my son (a minor) was physically in the store for his lessons throughout November. If someone had truly spoken to me "in person," as claimed, I would (1) remember it and (2) logically update my payment method on the spot. That's basic common sense. But no one--neither Lily nor Greg, the two people supposedly escalating the issue--ever approached us. In fact, I couldn't identify them if I tried, because no one ever actually spoke to us. The most upsetting part? My son was left sitting alone, waiting, because his lessons were suddenly canceled without any communication. No one told him. No one told me. That is not acceptable treatment of a child. When I reached out for clarification, I received a generic, copy-and-paste email insisting they had reached out "multiple times." They hadn't. And when I pointed this out, with dates and call records, the response doubled down instead of acknowledging the missteps. I pride myself on honesty and integrity, especially when it comes to my children. Being told that things happened that objectively did not happen is frustrating, dismissive, and frankly unprofessional. To be absolutely clear: No calls were made. No in-person conversations occurred. No texts were sent. And my child should never have been left unattended because of an internal communication breakdown. The instructors are great,but the lesson administration needs serious improvement. Parents deserve transparent communication, accountability, and accuracy, especially when the wellbeing and experience of a child are involved. I hope management takes this feedback to heart so other families don't have the same experience. My son loved his lessons and his instructor, but the customer service side made what should have been an easy fix both stressful and disappointing.

    US Music Lessons - At U.S. Music Lessons, we believe in the transformative power of music to inspire, connect, and uplift.

    US Music Lessons

    (31 reviews)

    $$

    My son has been taking 45-minute 1-on-1 weekly voice lessons at US Music Lessons for 5 months so…read morefar. His instructor, Mona, is wonderful with him. She is very positive and gives him lots of good coaching in a way that isn't overwhelming. Because of his lessons here, he had the confidence to sing in his school's talent show, which has further boosted his confidence in general. He also joined a US Music Lessons rockband that has an instructor. A convenient factor is that you can do lessons online if your kid is feeling under the weather or you are out of town. Cody is a very friendly administrator who helps with scheduling and is always pleasant. I highly recommend the team!

    Our 7 year old is taking his piano classes almost a year now. He is happy here and having fun…read more This facility is at a convenient location, especially if you are from Rancho Bernardo area. The office staff including Edison are very professional and helpful. They instructors are very knowledgeable and kid friendly. We had worked with Ms Sarah and currently with Ms Heather. Ms Heather is very gentle and nice towards my 7 year old. My son loves Ms Heather and very keen to attend her class. They recently, few months back, opened another building in the same location. This is one stop music class, DRUMS, GUITAR/BASS, PIANO, UKULELE, VIOLIN, and VOICE. They also offer ONLINE LESSONS. I would recommend this place whole heartedly. My heather is awesome.

    American Music Store - Our new logo!!

    American Music Store

    (36 reviews)

    $$$$

    This is the best music store i've ever visited! Super knowledgeable employees who always take their…read moretime to help you find exactly what you need! The Best!

    Parts that belonged to me that "got thrown out", brand new parts on my brand new guitars missing,…read morewhich the required service was not compensatorily offered for and I am sitting with yet another job on that exact same guitar. Electronics installed in cavity that don't fit as well. I mentioned whether they would fit and he just installed that instead of ordering a part or backing off. Multiple extra visits for pickup height adjustment on pickup installs also included surprisingly my going out to pick up parts for my jobs for him. Requested a cavity photo for reference and did not receive the photo at all nor any acknowledgement of that. This is not a full list of the issues I experienced. Guitar Center fucks up just as bad unfortunately. I didn't say anything about this dude technically made some really uneducated commentary and I bought extra guitar strings to add to business (cheap online). I feel like I really came through while suffering from side effects of my cancer treatment and I still have work to do that was created by carelessness and negligence, if I pay for those services somewhere else my guitars will be in shop for months and I will be paying hundreds of extra dollars. Tech/owner was also extremely condescending and inaccurate, maybe he was religious I saw him with crosses on his shirt and some religious music playing on his low-end stereo. Happens all the time.

    John Wallace Custom Guitars - guitarstores - Updated May 2026

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