The owner is not very considerate of a potential employee's time regarding follow thru of time set for an interview. Gave me pause since that may be the way he rolls on regular basis with other things if hired, so I elected not to pursue. Other than the interview process, I have nothing good nor bad to share about this company. So mine is just geared toward potential hires as a heads up. Perhaps he was having a bad several months. ​ read more

Each time I go into this store, I am reminded of why I love music. I cannot speak more highly of this place. Beyond thankful stores like this are still around! -Super friendly staff -Never pressured to buy -Always a transparent experience read more

Purchased a guitar recently. Service and information offered was great, no pressure to buy at all, hand sanitizer available, I wore a mask while store personnel did not however I didn't feel offended or put in danger by their choice. Will shop again. read more

I purchased a $2600 stage piano at JW almost 5 years ago. They weren't very friendly, but they were the only store around who had the model I wanted. I asked if they could do better on the price. The manager, in a cocky tone, said "No, we sell a lot of these, if you don't buy it the next guy will". Ended up exchanging it for being faulty. Roland sent me a brand new one, and when I felt the keys I knew that the first one that they 'sold so many of' had probably been sitting there getting banged on by the public for months. Last October I needed repairs done. They don't have an in house repair guy, so they drove it to their Carlisle store, it took 4 months to get the parts (to be fair, that wasn't their fault). I know the repairman, and I know what he charges. That repair would be $165. When I went to pick it up it was almost $300. All they did was drive it a total of about 40 minutes round trip, and felt that they deserved to almost double the repair price. I could have bought this piano online from the comfort of my home and had it delivered. Instead, I drove an hour to support the little guy. And this is how that kid treats his customers. If he doesn't learn how to appreciate a customer who spends that much money in one visit to his store, he won't be in business much longer. He's already lost me as a customer. read more

I have bought one guitar from JW music and it is amazing. They have great selection and the employees explain the guitars and they will allow you to play them. I also had a guitar get checked after it wouldn't work. They explained exactly what was wrong and told me how they would fix it. It's all around a great music shop. read more

I'm a musician visiting town and needed some drumsticks, when I entered the two employees on staff were eating take out which already is unprofessional, the young man "Michael" I believe couldn't look up from his sandwich or cell phone to ask if I needed assistance picking a pair, needless to say I was displeased and won't be returning bad customer service read more

Very happy with this store and the service. Always friendly. Purchased a youth guitar for my son and electronic drums for my daughter. Price was fair. They took lessons for awhile too and happy with those. My son then wanted to try the trumpet. They have an affordable rent to own program which helped because he didn't stay with the trumpet. read more

Great local business with knowledgeable staff. They're wonderful with kids and easy-going, and they want to make sure they send you home with the right instrument for you with a good fit, tuned and ready to use. The store is everything music and I always leave with a few extra goodies or stocking stuffers. I highly recommend checking it out. read more

I wanted to add to what Matt from MD said. I wouldn't use the phrase "bad customers" as he did. But. One of the things that makes JW great is that if you walk in there and introduce yourself as a professional musician, they are unintrusive. You browse. You approach them when you have a question. If you approach them as a novice, you get all of the help that you want. For example, I play string instruments but recently I bought a piano for my wife from a retailer in Long Island. 5 hours away. JW referred me to a piano mover. AND, since I'm not a piano player, the manager spent an hour helping me find sheet music that would be appropriate for her skill level. They made next to nothing in that transaction but still spent the time to help me get the piano moved and stock it with fun stuff for my wife to play. Music stores aren't like other stores. Sales people in music stores are usually musicians and the best ones try to give some respectful distance to fellow musicians but will totally be up the butt of a customer who is there to learn something. JW is great at this. The Ben F. review is particularly grating. What's the thought? Should they not have lunch? (For anyone from outside of Carlisle; this is a town of 18,000 people. It's not realistic to expect a small town music store to schedule for lunch shifts). Ben's comments wouldn't be so irritating except that he presents himself as a musician-presumably drummer- who needs help selecting drumsticks WHAT? Ben illustrates my point. My guess is that he went into the store pretending to be an expert so they left him alone. If he had gone in and said that he was as clueless as he obviously is, help would have been half a sandwich away. Hey Ben. 5B. You're Welcome. I've bought a few instruments and countless accessories and recording gear from JW. I've been their customer for more than a decade. Ignore the negative reviews. The people who left them are a combination of ignorant and angry. It's my favorite combination to observe but its practicality is limited. read more

Completely unprofessional. Poor attitude. The clerk (wish I knew his name) acted high and very condescending. The bridge needed filed and he told me to change strings. Unreal !! especially after I told him the strings were new but always breaking! He replied he knows people who changes strings everyday...As If I care. Who gives a hoot who he knows? Another time I was test playing a guitar and heard him talking to the owner behind my back. I put the ax down and promptly walked out. Guitar Center or AMS online gets all my business now. Sorry JW you stink and are a bunch of amateurs. read more

Recently, I called this store to ask if they had a specific item in stock. I spoke directly with the owner, who confirmed that that item was indeed there. I explained to him that I wanted to trade several pieces of gear for this one item. It is understood in the music store world (and in others) that traded gear needs to be reviewed before any definitive judgement can be made. Having had much experience in this environment, I qualified my proposed trade in detail in order to save me much time and aggravation. I was driving 2.5 hours to go to this store, as they happened to have the item I wanted. One week after calling, and having called twice before arriving to ensure that the owner was there and that the item was in stock, I arrived at the store to find that the item was NOT in stock, and that the owner (and a rather rude clerk) barley gave me the time of day with my trade. I was offered such a low ball dollar value that it went beyond absurd. I went into this effort with full explanations of all things involved, by explaining the full condition of my gear, the distance it will take me to get there, and how I did not want to waste time and energy if my proposed trade was not viable. I am not an ignorant customer; I've worked in music stores and I know the games. I was hoping to avoid that game by talking directly with the owner and stating quite clearly the components involved, and asked specifically if this was a trade that, if all things checked out as they were described, was a viable trade. I was assured by the owner that it was. To have the scenario completely changed on me in the store, and to not have the item in stock, is basically a bait and switch game and an insult to the customer. To give hope to a proposed trade and then use the excuse of 'blue book value' that was lower than what the real numbers are, is inexcusable. It pains me to see locally owned stores closing up because of online competition and big-box stores. But when antics like this are pulled, it sets a bad precedence in the music community. I felt very much let down by the owner, who I first spoke with and qualified my intent to the fullest. I was aggravated by a rude clerk that did not bother to go out of his way to make me feel at home. Regardless of what product or service you are selling, if a customer has a bad experience, they will not be back. They will let others know of those bad experiences. Consumers are being rendered powerless more each day, and episodes like this force the consumer to use the very sources that are putting the small guy out of business. To summarize this experience: -called one week prior to discuss a proposed trade -explained that I was driving 2.5 hours to visit this specific location in search of a specific item -was given the tentative understanding by the owner that this trade was acceptable -arrived one week later to find the item NOT in stock, and that the owner barley took the time to help me out -the clerk came back to me with such an absurdly low ball number on the value of my trade items, and after my visibly clear frustration at how I was told it would be otherwise, the clerk made no efforts to qualify my needs or be of further service -2.5 hours of driving with three large pieces of gear (very much an inconvenience due to the distance) yielded no trade, with a feeling of a bait and switch episode taking place -minutes after hitting the road back home, I felt angry enough to call the store to talk to the owner; he was (again) conveniently not there to take my call. There are other music stores in the area that I would encourage the consumer to investigate. When such shady tactics as this, it is just sad that the little guy is so blatantly trying to screw over a customer, especially one who traveled so far to deal specifically them AFTER qualifying everything on the phone. I will now use an online seller for the item I wanted, and will inform many in the music community to not use this store. If parts of this entire ordeal only occurred, that would be one thing. But when they all occurred together, that goes beyond coincidence and into a calculated effort to try and strong arm a customer and place them at a disadvantage. read more

I purchased rhythm instruments, bass guitar strings, sheet music, guitar stands, and a variety of things over the past five or six years at JW. I have always found the staff friendly and knowledgeable and the prices fair. I write because I think the very negative responses that I've read here may be 'plants' from competitors. I go back each time I need something more and they always are accommodating. read more

The bad reviews on here I'm assuming are just from bad customers. From the moment I walked into the store I was taken care of very well. Do people sometimes eat food here? Yes. It's a small business, get over yourself. It is in a no way unprofessional. The first time I came in was 2 years ago and it was during lunch and everyone working was happy to help. Not only is the selection of equipment incredible for a music store that isn't a huge national chain, but they were super helpful in getting me anything I needed whether they had it or not. I don't piddle around and throw a fit if someone doesn't throw me a party cause I'm looking for drumsticks. I've purchased guitars, pedals, drumsticks, strings, AND had major repairs done to some super expensive gear and have never once felt like I wasn't being taken care of. I've also gotten to know Justin (the owner) over these two years and the guy is always enthralled to be able to help people on their musical journey. If there were an option for 10 Stars I wouldn't hesitate to choose it. read more

I did not have a good experience at JW Music. I went into the store to find out about renting a violin for my elementary-aged son. I had to fill out a long form and when I did not put down employment information, the clerk was extremely rude. He actually screamed at me. Why I continued to rent the violin from him after this-I have no idea other than to say that I did not know of any other places to go to rent a violin. Then, I was one day late with a rental payment, and I was sent an extremely rude letter from a lawyer threatening to take me to court. I could not believe it! I immediately took the violin back and paid the last rental fee. I would not recommend anyone going to this store to purchase/rent an instrument. The actual violin I rented was also not of high quality. I had enough money at the time I went into the store, that I could have purchased a violin. But, the clerk's attitude was so bad that I barely wanted to rent an instrument. read more