This store is a treasure. A small business with people who care deeply about guitars. I got to try…read moremany older guitars, and was helped by a very patient and kind person. Unfortunately the model I had come in to try was not in stock, so I did not end up purchasing a guitar, despite wanting to support their business. I hope others support this shop - we are lucky to have them in our region.

It's a great store with tons of vintage acoustic guitars. Also, the owners are super friendly. Was…read moregreeted by Nicolas and had a great conversation about the guitars they have in stock as well as the custom Schoenberg acoustic Definitely coming back!

I feel lucky to have found Larry. He did a set up on my new mustang, and I couldn't believe the…read moredifference his work made. The guitar sounds 1000 times better. You can read all of the reviews, he's a legend in his own right. I can't recommend him enough.

Larry is simply the best there ever was. No other compares. He handled my fender telecaster plus…read moreand was very helpful

Saved By The Magic Flute!…read more My newish Nord Electro 6 took a major tumble and several of the lower keys were mangled, ugh..I thought I needed to plan a keyboard funeral. Needless to say, I was DEVASTATED when I discovered my baby at the beginning of a gig.. The Magic Flute repair rep didn't guarantee a successful fix, BUT TOTALLY DELIVERED IN LESS THAN ONE WEEK!! My keyboard funeral was canceled. THANKS MAGIC FLUTE!

The Magic Flute has been providing solid instruction for a myriad of instruments for decades…read more Currently, Chris Collins is an insanely talented musician who is a wonderful piano teacher. He is able to tailor his lessons so the material is relevant and age-appropriate and engaging. His ability to not only play music by ear but to create sheet music from that is brilliant. Highly recommend!

J-B Piano went above and beyond! They coordinated pickup of my grand piano from El Dorado Hills to…read moretheir store. Then kept in touch with me until they re-hiked it to just the right new owner. Very pleased with everything they did for me. Special shout out to Glenn who was very patient with me throughout the entire process. Definitely earned 5 stars!

We wanted a piano that would look great, fit in our space, and most importantly, sound great. After…read moremeeting Glenn and Cameron at their shop, I learned a great deal about pianos that I would not have known otherwise. It seems like they have been in business for a long time and are quite knowledgeable about their craft and trade. After they assessed our needs we ended up with a 1935 Baldwin M baby grand piano in great condition. We couldn't be happier with our purchase. The price was great and Glenn even threw in a free tuning to go along with it. I was lucky enough to get a tour of the back of the shop where I saw skilled craftsmen, with specialized tools, working on various pianos in different stages of restoration and stringing. The mover they used to bring the piano into our house was professional. Those guys had no problem getting it through our tricky stairs and doorway. You never know who you might meet in their shop, as top level musicians would drop by to play classical music on their Steinways and Mason & Hamlins. I saw some amazing impromptu performances just by being in the right place at the right time! Thanks again guys, we love our piano!

Christopher was fantastic! I have a 2000 Young Chang Baby Grand Piano and Christopher brought…read moregreat balance to the sound on my little grand. His attention to detail was fantastic. I had recently purchased the piano when Christopher works don it and the piano had just come out of 3 years of storage. He did a fantastic job and was great to work with. I highly recommend him. As a side bar, I am a music teacher, so though I am not a piano expert, I do have a good understanding of how the instrument should sound and play and Christopher exceeded my expectations.

We recently purchased a grand piano from Chris. Chris was patient and full of good information…read morewhen we visited his workshop to play his different pianos. We chose a used Grotrian Steinweg, whose sound we liked, price was quite reasonable, and didn't seem to need work for the next 20 years. Chris was accommodating and agreed to let us return the piano if the movers could not get it upstairs to our new music room. The hardest part of buying a used piano (for us) was knowing the true quality of the piano; Chris wrote up an assessment, and we shared that with the piano technician we worked with who personally knew Chris and said he is "honest and reliable". We have had our piano now for a few months, and enjoy playing it. The piano looked more washed out in Chris' workshop, which he explained was due to the fluorescent lighting. Sure enough, in our home the piano has a warm look.

I know negative about guitars. I have a nephew graduating from high school this spring and I…read morewanted to get him something meaningful and useful. He plays bass in one of those School of Rock type places and is passionate about it. I called my sister to see if there was anything he could use and she sent me a blurry photo of some kind of board he uses and told me he needs a carrying case. I went to Bananas at Large because of their reputation for being kind and knowledgeable. Their reputation is well deserved. I was greeted right when I walked in, I decided to look around a bit before asking for help because while I don't know anything about guitars, some of the instruments they had on the wall were works of art and I enjoy looking at art. When I was ready, I found the first employee, showed him the photo and explained the situation. He knew exactly what it was and where to find what I was looking for. He then took the case over to where they had the exact thing in the photo to show me how well it fit and other features of the case. He explained the 14-day return policy if it turned out to be the wrong thing and let me decide what I wanted to do. I wound up purchasing the case. I loved that I was nicely greeted when I walked in but left alone to browse. I loved that I didn't have to hunt down someone to help me when I was ready. I loved the general vibe of the place. I loved that they had what I needed and clearly a ton of things I might need if I ever decide to get into playing. I loved that parking was easy. I loved that they were excited to help someone who had no idea what they were doing in a guitar shop, were in no hurry to get me out of the store and patient enough to answer all my questions. I even loved that they accept Venmo for payments. Great place to go if you don't know anything about guitars but love someone who does.

This place is everything a music store should be. Yes they have great selection, and yes their…read moreprices match anything you can find online (even Reverb, often) but it's their service and relationships they build with you that's special. True stories of what they've done for me even in just the last month: My guitar needed some repairs before a gig, and they fast tracked the service and ordered an uber to bring the guitar to my house! I wanted a tuner pedal that was out of stock basically everywhere in the country, and they took their last one from Santa Rosa and shipped it to San Rafael store for free for me to pick up the next day. Best of all, I was unhappy with my guitar tone and Dan spent nearly 2 hours sitting with me trying different pedals and setups, before settling on showing me some different settings on my own amp, some different plectrums and swapping a pedal I'd bought recently for only a $10 difference! It would have been so easy to have sold me another pedal or 2 that I didn't really need, but the fact he didn't builds complete trust and makes me a customer for life!

Took MONTHS to wire a brand new Stewmac drop-in Les Paul harness on an old guitar. Completely…read morebotched the wiring job. Improperly grounded, input jack noise. Charged $500 for the time and parts, didnt even bother to reply to my messages telling him the job wasnt done correctly. Guy is a fraud. Take your gear someplace else. Not worth the time and trouble.

Great experience tuning up our son's guitar. Friendly, quick, and can tell he loves music…read more Definitely recommend.

Just had an early 2000s Tacoma acoustic bass repaired there that we picked up for a screaming deal…read moreat a local pawn shop. The top was lifting and the action was in desperate need of a setup (to the point where they had to shim both the neck and saddle a bit). I can't say the repair was blazing fast or i'd be misleading (around 3 weeks turn around), but frankly I would rather the repair be done well than fast. You cannot even see the seam where the top was lifting, the action is phenomenal, and the interactions with the employees were always jovial and pleasant. You can tell the techs working there absolutely love what they do, and that's always refreshing to see in artisanal jobs like luthier work.

Have had 3 of my guitars worked on by Geoff and his crew and have been very happy with how my…read moreguitars have played afterwards. I like that they offer classes on how to work on your guitar and they are all friendly and ready to help. Thanks, guys.