The owners are musicians, Luthiers, teachers, and know the area and its venues very well. On top…read moreof that, their instrument selection is very strong, and they stock the gadgetry to go with it. I go pretty regularly (except this year with Covid) to both the Spring fest, and the Bean fest. The group I jam with have set up diagonally across from the music store, and it is rare that I don't pop in for some supply or other. I cannot remember a time when they did not have what I needed.

A pretty good music store for a town this size. But then, Mountain View bills itself as the folk…read moremusic capital of the world. There's jamming in the squares all around, and sometimes even on the front porch of the music store. If you're into the traditional music of the region, you'll find all the instruments you need.

very layed back, friendly with amazing instruments. Dennis the owner very helpful advise. Went into…read morestore yesterday looking for music stand and left with stand and scheduled guitar lessons. These people are not pushy and appear well known in the area for equipment and their teaching skills.

Great instruments, very good service. Accommodating sales staff. easy returns. They sent a gift…read morecard with my purchase.

Back in town and you know I just had to swing by again. This time I took an Ibanez AW I've had for…read moretwenty years with me. I've owned Martins, Epiphones, and so on during the last twenty years but my Ibanez is by far the best, not because of the way it sounded (but yes it sounds awesome) but because of the way it feels when I play it. I have small hands and finding the right neck is something I've always struggled with. My Ibanez always felt just right though. So after years of struggling I just said screw it, I'm going to do it the easy way. Walking into the Acoustic Shoppe with my saddest puppy dog eyes on I walked it over to their luthier Liz. I asked her if she could measure the neck shape, radius and nut width and point me in the right direction. She was more than happy to take some time off of her current project to do so and when she was done because the salesmen were all occupied she pointed me in the direction of five different guitars by Breedlove and Eastman, and suggested I start with them. When an associate became available she snagged him and gave him a brief explanation of what I was looking for. Step in Corey. Man that dude rocks! He saw that I had narrowed it down to three guitars by the time he showed up, and spend the time to go over the pros and cons of them. He's one of those musicians who can show you what a guitar can sound like, without making you feel like an idiot for how you play it after he hands it back to you. That's kind of a rare quality in somebody selling guitars. He was extremely patient and after twenty years of trying to find that perfect guitar he knew I wasn't going to make a snap decision. It didn't matter that I wasn't looking for a $3,000 guitar. He just wanted to see me walking out the door with a guitar I was going to actually want to play. So not long after that I walked out with my new Breedlove Discovery S in mahogany. I've only set it down long enough to eat, sleep and write this review. Man I finally own a guitar I love as much as the first one I got twenty years ago!

I paid Palen music center $250 dollars for a PLEK. I asked for a plek a setup & a problem with the…read morebridge to be fixed. Danny the Luthier there i guess called & left a message saying No problem me & my associate will have this done in a couple days. I returned there call for two days & never got an answer or a call back. Called the store, Your guitar is here & done. They were doing a pod cast so it was very loud. & by the way they started making people pay for repairs & plek up front. They never offered to take me to another room or plug in to make sure I was happy with my guitar. They were super nice when I came in the first time but when I came to get the guitar they were rude. So when I got home, he did plek it I think but no setup at all. The neck had way to much relief. I took the strings off made sure my neck was level started checking it with my fretrocker 6 out of 24 frets were high. No wonder they make u pay up front. Nothing was done to the bridge either.Danny close enough strikes again. I nick named him that because I spent two days with him at the Palen shop watching him take people's guitars & be doing setups like action, neck relief nut height & being off quite a bit & say closed enough. lol I even saw him do that on one of the pod cast & then say , r u recording? ,Yes, whoops... He is very rough & disrespectful to other people's instruments. Several months ago I talked to Danny close enough on the phone. He was very nice to me & offered to help me with some things I didn't know how to do on my guitars. I had just gone through a heartbreaking divorce. Being able to learn from a real Luthier was a God send. I got to the shop & he scanned me & looked at me like I was a bug that needed squashing & never invited me to came in. I guess we were going to stand in the parking lot. Can we go in??? Yeah ok he finally said. Then he started to make fun of me for have my Jackson in a bag. It's all I've got bro... My emotions are already all over the place & this guy. So my fender needs a nut i just don't know how to cut one right & perfectly as possible not just close enough. Anyway he plek it & then tries to charge me for it. I had hard tailed the bridge so when u loosen the strings the bridge likes to come up on the posts so u have to make sure when u tune it back up that it's in the right place. So I tell him to watch for that. He tunes it up & just hits the bridge with his palm & it pops down. My USA fender stratocaster. He treated my 1990s Grover Jackson the same. None that ever got repaired. This guy had me crying to the point of suicide & mad enough to hurt him badly. Thank God I did not do either one. But I got over my divorce & Danny close enough being an ass. But I wouldn't ever do any business with Palen music center Springfield. Because this is how they treat people. Sincerely Brian Jacobs. Ps The frets were not polished. The nut slots were not cut to the string gauge I wanted. intonation wasn't set It wasn't tuned right. Nothing. Thanks alot Danny close enough! I will tell everyone how bad of a Luthier u r!

I recently purchased an amp head from Palen Music Center. Their website was easy to navigate, and…read morethey have a diverse selection of music gear. I received a quick response from Nash after the sale as a thanks and to let me know he'd follow up after the sale (which he did). Item was shipped out immediately and packed up well. Overall, great customer service ! I will look to Palen Music Center next time I need music gear.

Great shop and kind owner. Sold me a nice used guitar after ensuring that it worked flawlessly…read morefirst.

From the owner: Open Now at 209 south main Berryville Arkansas 72616 My…read morevision is to be the premiere provider of high-quality instruments, supplies and services for my community and surrounding areas. My desire is to put my vast years of experience and knowledge to work to support my target area. Customer support, service and satisfaction are my #1 priority.

I am guessing it must be pretty tough to make a living in a music store in 2023. I live in…read moreMountain Home, AR and the music store we have sells mostly used equipment. I would love for West Plains Music to move to Mountain Home and set up business so we had a selection like West Plains does now. I went to West Plains Music about 6 weeks ago and talked to the owner about buying a new Fender Guitar. He was very nice to me, but I could tell that his stress load was at 400%. I agree that a store owner should never show their emotions like described in another review here, but we are humans and not machines. I plan to go there tomorrow to buy a new guitar, and I am thankful I only need to drive 45 minutes to get there. If West Plains stops doing business at West Plains Music, then we will all be forced to drive to Springfield Mo to actually touch a guitar we are interested in buying. Just my view of the situation.

The owner of this store has a terrible temper and is unable to control himself. He loses his temper…read morewith his customers and shouts at them as if he were their angry father and they were his angry teenagers. He is out of control. I have seen other signs of this, but today was the worst. I saw him yelling at a woman who was with two obviously disabled adults. She tried to calm him down, and he just started yelling at her. He shouted, "DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?" at her, as if he had some right to speak to her that way. Here's a clue: Nobody has the right to speak to anyone the way he spoke to her. She calmly took the disabled adults out of the store as quickly and quietly as she could. She told him that she would not answer him and that she was leaving. He followed her out into the street and continued to shout at her. As soon as I could, I slipped out of the store without buying anything. When my kids need band instruments this autumn, I will be getting them elsewhere. I think he is deranged. What kind of man cannot control his temper in his own place of business? If he feels free to shout at a woman he does not know at all, how is he treating his wife?

With sadness I have to say that I had a frustrating experience with The Dulcimer Shoppe, the maker…read moreof McSpadden dulcimers. It was the first time that I dealt with this company. I ordered a Ginger short scale dulcimer, and the instrument that was shipped to me had two nicks-dings on the top. Ok, just cosmetic, but it bugged me. I wrote to The Dulcimer Shoppe and added photos. The owner answered that when they check an instrument before shipping they "do not use a magnifying glass"... which I think it is not the right attitude towards a customer who has a problem. He also said that he offered to fix the dulcimer, or that I was free to return the instrument, as long as I was going to pay for the shipping cost... Again, I am not sure this was right because I was not returning a perfect instrument just because I changed my mind, but I was returning an instrument with a cosmetic issue. Anyway, before deciding to return the instrument, I asked the shipping department how much they were going to deduct from my refund because of shipping costs. The answer was: $25.81. So I shipped it back. Today I received the refund, and they deducted $84.25 from it, for shipping expenses... that is more than 3 times than what I was told. I wrote to them asking to explain. Response: " Sorry for the misunderstanding. When I replied to you I was focused on the return shipping and not the previous one. Due to the fact that you are returning and not exchanging, our policy is that the customer pays for the shipping both ways. If you had elected to exchange or have it repaired, we would not have charged you the shipping". I would have much appreciated if they had given me this detailed info upfront, which they didn't. If I knew that I was going to lose 85 dollars, I could have chosen a different option, as having the dulcimer fixed or having it replaced. I am sad to see that they didn't do any effort to put themselves on the customer's side and understand my frustration. It looks like, for the Dulcimer Shoppe, a few dollars are more important than losing a customer for life. I am sure that there are many customers who have been very satisfied with their experience with The Dulcimer Shoppe and McSpadden dulcimers, this is one of the reason why I decided to go with a McSpadden. But in my case, unfortunately, It looks that I had bad luck. My frustration is not that I received an instrument with a cosmetic issue (it happens). It is the way I have been treated when I tried to resolve the issue. Confusing information about the amount of refund that led me to believe that the return would have cost me just 25 dollars, when instead I discovered a return policy that establishes that even if a customer receives a defective instrument, he has to pay both shipping charges if he wants to return it. Something that I have never seen applied by any other reputable maker. And something that it is not mentioned on The Dulcimer Shoppe web site...

Any musician, of any kind, must stop! Hand-crafted goodness! Mountain and Hammer Dulcimers made…read morehere. Walked in the door, within a minute a woman asked, "Do you play?" And when my husband said no, she said, "Then take one down and try it." Who says that about their hand-crafted babies?! My husband was in Ozark-music heaven! Everything about the Shoppe made him feel warm and fuzzy inside, like if grandma's chocolate chip cookies were a place. And even for a non-musician like myself, you'll appreciate what happens here. Their workshop is a separate room in the back, but with giant windows so you see the magic being made. Impressive through and through!

I posted a negative review yesterday and within minutes the owner publicly responded with a comment…read moreand included an email address to "resolve" the situation. I emailed immediately, ready to work this out privately, and have received no response. It appears communication only happens when it's for public viewing. In my email, I asked whether they record phone calls. When I spoke with Candace, she clearly told me that if I paid $206.97, the warranty would cover the instrument repair. I wrote down her exact words as she was speaking. Less than five minutes later, while I was on the phone with Amanda, Candace denied ever saying that -- essentially implying that I was being untruthful. I sent a follow-up email and still have not received any reply. At this point, I have contacted the Better Business Bureau and informed our band director of my experience so he can consider using another company in the future. Consumers deserve transparency, accountability, and consistent communication -- not responses only when the situation is public. WARNING: Please consider this experience carefully before choosing this company.

Only and I mean Only place to shop !!!! Great guitars , great service Helpful finding what you…read more want ,Not what they would like to sell and always respectful