The Baltimore Music Company is an essential resource to me. Not only have I purchased high-quality,…read moretough-to-find guitars and amps from them, including a 1961 Gibson Falcon amp, I rely on their luthiers for the maintenance of my guitars. I entrusted them with my 1965 Fender Jazzmaster to add a Mastery bridge and tremolo, as well as Curtis Novak pickups, in addition to a setup using their state-of-the-art Plek machine. The guitar now plays and sounds perfectly. Steve Blake and his team are far more interested in helping a musician sound their best than making a sale. More than once, they've talked me out of purchasing something from Baltimore Music Company. I've also enlisted their perspective on purchases I've made from the likes of Gruhn Guitars, Matt Umanov, Wilcutt Guitars and others. They've earned my trust again and again and again. Finally, in a world where most music stores are strictly an online thing, the Baltimore Music Company is a great place to hang. You can noodle guitars, basses, amps and stomp boxes in what is easily the nicest, most well-appointed music store I've ever been in. More than once, I've visited the Baltimore Music Company with a friends to shoot the breeze with the gang there before grabbing a beer at Union Craft Brewery a few doors down.

Wow! Check out the over 6,500 square of heaven on earth for musicians!…read more Does your instrument need a repair? Are you in the market for a new guitar? Or do you want to design one and watch it being made! Or do you just need a feee lessons? Then THIS is the THE place for YOU! Come to the Baltimore Music Company, Located in the Union Collective ~ 1700 W 41st St, Suite 445, Baltimore, MD 21211 ~

Baltimore Brass is a fantastic music shop. I sold a tuba though consignment and sold them several…read moretuba mouthpieces. The staff there are easy to work with, quite knowledgeable, and professional. I highly recommend them.

This is absolutely the coolest brass instrument shop that I have ever been to. They have an…read moreincredible selection of new and high quality used instruments. You want Tubas? They got them. You want trombones? They got them. You want euphoniums? They got them. You want trumpets? You know the deal! And the staff is super helpful and friendly! And apparently, Catonsville is known as "Music City, MD".

I want to start by saying how sad I am to leave this review. Teds is the closest music store to my…read morehome and one I came to for years as a student. I consistantly ordered a particular brand of reeds from them during my middle and high school years and had two buffet clarinets serviced there while martriculating and preparing for collegiate auditions. This is why I trusted Ted's and brought the parent of one of my students here. We purchased his first professional clarinet, a used Buffet from here. While his parent was happy to buy a new professional clarinet, the quality and richness of older Buffet clarinets matched the beautiful tone my student achieves. Ted's gave us a good price and I played the clarinet briefly to make sure it was functional. They even offered a 6 month warranty. During lessons, my clarinet student started to have issues with one of the keys. I noticed some very small pieces of cork were missing. We took the clarinet back to Ted's and instead of picking up the clarinet, I had to send it back for a more complete fix (the pad was now not closing correctly). I was told they did an overhaul of the clarinet and after some time, we tried the clarinet and picked it up again. Because an overhaul was done, I visually inspected and tested the clarinet again. All seemed well. A few weeks ago, my student had to send his instrument to the repair shop for an overhaul after pads in the right hand joint became loose and fell off. This time, at a different store, we were notified there was no way an actual overhaul was done because of the condition of the pads. I can no longer recommend, nor do business with Ted's, which is really a shame after all of these years.

I've purchased a toner harmonica from Ted 40 years ago. My grandson plays with it today. Mike…read moreSchatz parked in Maryland .

Farrell's--more than just violins! Come here for violins, violas, basses, and 'cellos…read more My dad brought me here back in 4th grade when I first decided to start playing the violin. We teased him because he was only saving $100 by going there versus the other music stores, and it was a bit of a drive for us . . . but it saved a lot more in the long run! They used to have a deal that whatever money you spent while renting went towards your future violin that you would buy. I rented for about 8 years before buying, and I ended up not having to pay for anything except for maybe my case. They will let you play on instrument after instrument, talk to you about them, describe the sounds . . . needless to say, I spent hours here. : ) They do excellent repairs with excellent service, and even though I think they dropped the rental deal, their prices are still good. My violin was valued at somewhere around $1000 there, but it would cost so much more anywhere else. They're not after selling you the most expensive instrument, just the one you like the most. (Of course, the one I liked the most was the one the owner was making, but it was going to sell for $5000--boo!) Bonus throw-in . . . I'm apparently related to Mr. Farrell, and to his nephew who also works/worked there. It's like third/fourth cousin or something, but still random fun!

After retiring, I decided I wanted a Les Paul jr. I knew they'd gone up in price, but $6K for the…read moresame guitar I bought for $100 50 years ago? The other options didn't appeal to me, so I built one. Doug was just the right person to set it up - you get to watch and learn something. In under 30min. I had a great playing LP jr. I will NEVER go to anyone else!! Off topic - building that guitar was great fun, highly recommended. I started with a body&neck from Precision Guitar Kits in Canada from there, just use parts of your choice. Doug even mentioned I did a good job on it!

Lies about what he sells and prosecutes you for your beliefs that differs from his and by doing so,…read morenegates any ongoing warranty you may have...he'll have your best review until he turns on you... BEWARE so you don't get blind sided like I did...

Hamiltone music resides inside an old firehouse in the heart of Hamilton-Lauraville's Main Street…read more The location was renovated with great community assistance and also huge support from the HL Mainstreet Association. It is a business incubator. Terrific work!! Hamiltone is mainly a site fur music lessons which I'm told are great. There are three studio practice rooms for instruction and a small retail business. They also fix guitars. On the retail side it's small. James, the owner, admits it's a work in progress. He has guitar strings, some equipment and a few guitars. Again it's mostly lessons so don't expect a ton...but do expect knowledge!!! He helped my little boy pick a 3/4 guitar and compare it to full size, gave us advice on cases, and was encouraging. Great little shop. I hope he expands.

Hamiltone Music is a wonderful little shop in the heart of Hamilton. James is so knowledgeable and…read moredoes amazing work on guitar repairs. He is a warm instructor who specializes in teaching guitar to all levels. The shop has a lot of fun instruments for sale, as well as any gear you might need for your instrument. It is definitely worth stopping in! If you are looking for guitar lessons, James is your man! And if guitar isn't your thing, they have many other talented teachers and James will pair you with the best!

This place was so great for renting my son's violin. They had a promotion for $20 for 3 months…read more Then the price increases per month but the opening promotion is a great deal to see if my son likes the violin. They also have all the music books available for purchase. You can tell them what school your child is in and they will pretty much take care of the rest.

I brought my guitar in for repair and they did a nice job. Very professional. I will definitely…read morebe back!

I had a vintage hollow body that needed a re-fret and made the long drive to drop the guitar off…read more The good = the removal of the frets, and re-planing of the fretwork is the cleanest and most conservative I've ever seen. He also pinned the floating bridge in a really neat, clean, and innovative way. The turn time was less than two weeks. The bad = The final charge was over $100 over the estimate, and they didn't inform me of this before hand before I made the long drive to pick it up. The new frets were too high and not crowned properly, so it was painful to play. The frets were squared off and not rounded. I couldn't afford the time and money to make the drive again to have this corrected, so I had to pay somebody else to correct the work (by leveling and re-crowning the frets). I now have to ship my guitars out of state for fretwork since there is nobody good in the DC/Baltimore area aside from a few hobbyist working out of their homes. I've definitely seen worse fret work than this, like I said, I was impressed with the care taken with the removal of the old frets and re-planing the fretboard. But the re-fret felt incomplete to me and the extra unexpected charge was a kick in the gut.

great luthier.pro service.don't be afraid to let him work on your guitar.1st class.also great…read moreinsight to all things guitar.thinking of a new guitar or other guitar gear.he's the man.

Dave's deals is the real deal. He has been around for a long time and always has great prices. He…read moreis very honest and has helped me with things above and beyond

Great repairs done affordably, selection of reasonable second hand gear and guitars, some vintage…read morefinds