Small but nice shop for the string instruments! Staff was…read morehelpful and nice. It is small but everything is around and you can find all you need Good spot to repair or consult on your internment. Parking is extremely small.

Expert repair, sales, selection. I have found my archetier!…read more And next to delicious food in Japantown.

Everything you might need or want at a very reasonable price. The equipment is well kept for…read morerentals.

Not sure why the sole bearded (goatee) attendant chose to be surely towards me. No one else in the…read morestore but he and I. Came to pick up a repair and either he did not like that I was a person of color or he was just miserably depressed. Either case, he does not need to be dealing with the public with such an ugly demeanor. If you are the owner, hire somebody that can smile and show appreciation for your business. If not, owner needs to rid themselves of this dark cloud. I know a lot of musicians and will not refer them to this business.

Walked in one day to get an electrical cord for my amplifier (unfortunately mine broke earlier that…read moreday) and walked out with... an electrical cord and acoustic guitar. I do have to say, I walked into a Guitar Center earlier that day and tried out a bunch of guitars, but couldn't find *the* one. The staff at West Valley Music were so incredibly knowledgeable and checked on me as I was playing around with different guitars. I really felt like I was at a personal shopping appointment with the way they spoke to me and answered all my questions. Not sure how busy they get regularly though. However, I'm definitely trusting them with my future music needs. Thanks!

Great service and selection of sheet music is extensive…read more One of the few music stores left.

We have been using the professional services of Mr. Norio Kawato of San Jose, CA since February…read more2010, when our new Yamaha Disklavier DC6MK4 was due for tuning. He was recommended to us by the Yamaha Peninsula Music Center where we bought the piano. Our first impression was quite favorable and we decided to do the second free tuning offered by the vendor with the same specialist. The second time around, I gave him an unusual challenge when I measured with a force-meter the force applied on the damper pedal. The force was larger than the one measured in vendor's shop on other pianos (my own research) and the pedal made a louder noise than the standard. I had addressed the same question with the official Yamaha support technicians and had they had sent me a replacement spring, which was softer and expected to create a smaller force in the pedal.These people knew Mr. Kawato because he had been trained by Yamaha Corporation. Mr. Kawato promptly accessed the respective place in the piano and determined that I already had the right (softer) spring there. Then, in a matter of 5 minutes or less, Mr. Kawato made the piano in pieces (which scared my wife and me!), spread them around the room and reached deeply into piano's internal mechanics where he found a loose screw from the factory. He tightened it and that did the trick. Then Mr. Kawato quicky made the piano back in one piece (which calmed us down!) From that moment on, we settled to Mr. Kawato as our preferred piano tuner and will call him from wherever he might be in the future. Further on, my wife and I discovered that Mr. Kawato is a fine person, with whom we can talk various subjects of mutual interest, Japan being the preferred one for us - while he continues to do his job. We hope we have not bothered him too much with our conversation. Last time we had him in our house, Mr. Kawato upgraded our piano's operating system, which took about one hour due to the low speed of our connection. He did everything on his own time and to our satisfaction. In conclusion, if you are looking for a professional piano tuner - any acoustic piano or Yamaha disklavier - you have him in Mr. Norio Kawato of San Jose, CA.

Norio has tuned our Disklavier several times over the last 4 or 5 years. I first got his name from…read morethe South Bay Yamaha store. He knows his craft and the instruments very well. Quiet, meticulous and looks over the instrument for any other issues to be addressed. If you talk with him, you find some very interesting stories if you happen upon a common intersection. Besides a variety of businesses who have piano tuning needs, he has tuned pianos for concert performances by some fabulous professional piano players and musicians with very exacting demands and top tier very large grands. I found this out only because I mentioned being at a particular performance to him--sold out crowd of fans; well known name; pianos keyboards and vocals; Paramount Theater. Meantime, he is very low key and not at all promotional. Charges also seem reasonable for time he spends, in home service and the like. I recently called him and he graciously gave me a referral to a tuner in SF, since it is outside his normal travel area; nothing in it for him besides goodwill with a customer, but he responded promptly with an on point referral to meet my needs.

A great little shop that will set you up right. I got my daughter a very nice mid-range KoAloha…read moreconcert ukulele which they outfitted with an electric pickup for live performances. Sometimes busy, but very friendly, and they have supported my daughter well.

Awesome! The owner (Smiley) changed the strings on two of my Ukeleles while we waited. He was…read moreextremely detailed oriented and changed the strings that were way over due to be replaced. He also let us know that new strings require a lot of tuning every time you pull your Ukelele out of the case as the strings need to acclimate to the change. He did an absolute wonderful job. I recommend that you go to his shop Ukelele Source, he and his wife are very friendly and knowledgable. If you are in need an Ukelele or accessories, we highly recommend that you drop by his store (San Jose J-Town) to get yourself the equipment and services need to keep your Uke playing as it should.

This place is rad. One of my favorite spots to find parts and stuff that other shops don't usually…read morehave on hand. There's always interesting guitars, amps and pedals to check out. I like the atmosphere of the place and Carlos seems like a cool dude that is always happy to help you find what you're looking for.

Warning to anyone buying from this seller through Reverb. Please do not let what happened to me…read morehappen to you. Guitar Wars knowingly bait and switched me on a Roland JC 120 amplifier. The price seemed fair enough and the picture seemed to match the description, however, the amp I received was a far cry from either. It arrived in an unsalvageable old furniture box, poorly packed, and absolutely beat to death. The model JC 120 that was delivered was not the same amplifier as the one advertised. It was hardly functional, the cabinet was cracked and tattered, channels popping and fizzing and knobs mostly not functioning. On top of that, it was filthy. Anyone who has ever played through a JC 120 knows that these are heavy amps that require casters to move them in any reasonable fashion. While pictured with the clean amp in the listing (the one that I did not receive), the tattered and battered model that was delivered to me did not have them. So here I am, essentially stuck with a useless burned out shell of a JC 120 that's basically immovable by one person without a hand truck. See pictures below. Guitar Wars knowingly scammed me out of $800+, don't let it happen to you. Please keep in mind, this did not happen in shipping. This was very much orchestrated intentionally. The amp was listed in "Good" condition. Please find a few images of the actual listing they posted below the images of the box. **please see Google reviews for pictures mentioned above**

Rex has been working on my guitars for over 30 years. He is the absolute best! He is very honest…read moreand detail oriented. He will explain exactly what he will do, step by step, to make your instrument the best it can be. Rex is extremely knowledgeable with all kinds of guitars, and I would trust him wih any guitar.

I feel like everyone knows Rex. Rex is the guitar guy in the Bay Area…read more He's done work on 3 guitars of mine over the last 20 years, and his work is top-notch. He really works with you to help identify what you're after, and offers creative solutions you might not have thought of. Recently he swapped pickups (stock pups for Air Norton + Tone Zone) on an Ibanez RG 7-string, and when I explained I was after tonal options, he suggested we throw in a half-out-of-phase push/pull pot. The end results just sounds perfect. He got his start doing military-grade electronics in the Navy. His work is clean, and it lasts. I have an RG 570 he swapped pickups on, and a Fender Strat, and both still just play and sound like a dream. He's busy, but it's worth it, especially if you need any work that's out of the ordinary. Rex's breadth of ability is pro-level.

If you are learning guitar, or maybe just looking to advance your playing to the next level, look…read moreno further! I bought a guitar right before COVID and really wanted to learn it right (not just from YouTube and IG). Jerry had the highest reviews on Yelp, so I signed up. We do sessions once a week and it's been an AMAZING journey. What I expected it so get better and better at guitar. What I didn't expect (as a trumpet music major back in college, I thought I knew it all) was to deeply learn about music. Jerry is well respected Bay Area musician and has played for decades in amazing band as well as releasing his own album and has a YouTube channel. His grasp of technical guitar playing and music history is crazy (check out his YouTube videos!) While journeying through rhythm, rock, funk and jazz guitar; rock and blues solos, Jerry showed me that what I've learned about music is missing a ton. The progression of our lessons is to learn artists and their history, some theory, and step-by-step how to play influential pieces starting with the early days of blues and rock and roll and who influenced who and why (fascinating stuff!) As a result I've learned a TON of great songs (way too many to list here) from Blues: BB King to Jimi; Rock, Pop and Heavy Metal from Zeppelin to Clapton; Jazz from Charlie Christian to Pat Metheny; Modern music like Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift, Black Crowes, Pink, Ariana Grande; we've even hit up J-pop and K-pop! It's been 3 years now and going strong. Jerry has instilled in me a sense of curiosity about what makes music sound great and why some of the best music in history came from the 60's to 90s (he even wrote a book about it). Jerry has taught so much about the guitar and music in general. Every day is a journey.

I took both bass guitar and guitar lessons from Jerry in high school, and I will always consider…read morethose lessons to be one of the most fun things that I did during my otherwise studious and extremely nerdy teenage years. As his student, you will discover very quickly that Jerry is not only passionate about teaching guitar, but also about teaching music. This goes beyond just teaching music theory (which he doesn't skimp on, by the way, thank you Jerry!). I always loved hearing him talk about the backstory of each song I learned to play; not just the what, but the how and the why - the lifeblood of music itself. His teaching curriculum is very structured and intentional but never feels restrictive or impersonal, probably because Jerry as a person is very chill and relaxed, and you will immediately want to be friends with him. If you are looking for a guitar/bass teacher who is not only insanely talented but also has a true gift for teaching and makes lessons fun and exciting, look no further, because Jerry is your man!