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February 2024 by Deja Entendu
I've been a musician for many years and have seen many music stores. This store is great, not sure what the negative reviews are about. I live about 10 minutes away and I come here frequently, never had an issue. The staff are always chill and available to help. I've bought a drumset, amps, strings, accessories, etc and everything has been great. Yes, sometimes it takes a little to check out..take a breath and wait your turn. Everyone these days is so inpatient, just wait a minute, you'll get checked out.
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February 2024 by Patrick Loureiro
Purchased a guitar online and it was delivered to this location. All the staff was incredibly helpful to get everything unboxed and make sure the guitar was properly set up and ready to play. I'm a wheelchair user and the staff is always quick to open the door for me and greet me on arrival.I've also been taking guitar lessons there (Elijah is awesome!) And been having a truly excellent experience.
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February 2024 by Tachikoma
The number of 4-5 star reviews is insane. The only redeeming quality this store has is the really nice and chill employees, which is probably enough to get it reviewed well by people who don't know any better. Here's the issue: The state of the equipment.Every guitar I tried was either broken in some way or filthy. When I say filthy, I mean the amount of dust and dead skin cells caught in the pickups and bridges of the guitars was insane. There was grime, grease, and dust all over EVERY guitar I picked up. I understand cheaper guitars or even used gear that has seen its fair share of play, but even the brand new $1.5k+ guitars were filthy or in disarray. There was an American Pro II Strat I tried that had razor-sharp frets and janky switches. There was a PRS S2 custom 24 that had janky pots that were scratching. Another Strat with frets that were so dirty that the nickel was gold and cruddy. The rosewood fingerboards were so dry, you would think we lived in Arizona. I was considering buying a guitar with a budget of $2k. If I had bought one of those guitars, it would have cost me almost $200-300 to get those guitars back in playing condition. Unfortunately, this is part of the reason why no one takes GC seriously as a reliable store anymore. No semi-serious musician would ever consider buying a guitar here, getting anything fixed, or even buying strings for that matter.The only redeeming quality of this place was the floor sales guys. They all seemed genuinely interested in getting people into music, which is the most important thing. All the other stuff can be fixed, but good employees are hard to come by.Hire someone to come and take care of the instruments; it was appalling.
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February 2024 by Charles F.
Tried to buy a simple set of acoustic strings. Looking specifically for ball ends and 3 nylon and 3 steel wound just like I have now. Clerk up front was on the phone when I walked in. Could not find a clerk to help me, none of the packaging gave me the info I needed. After 10 minutes walked into the back & found someone working on a desk top who tried to help me, (nice guy) but had to keep stepping into the back to ask someone else questions. Walked to the front desk (now 15 or 20 minutes after entering the store) and clerk at check out was still on the same call with someone who was going to come in and pick up his guitar. Stood there 5 - 7 minutes with strings in one hand and credit card in the other. He never even acknowledged me and kept jabbering on the phone. Left the strings on the counter and left wondering how they stay in business. Never again.! Would rather drive 30 minutes from home than watch these people slow roll toward their going out of business sale.
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February 2024 by Outlaw-jack Haake
They called me a bad bass player, granted I probably am, but still that hurts my feels :( no bueno
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February 2024 by Denny C
I'm not one to leave bad reviews typically, but....This place...the staff was nice, when they bothered to be present, not much experience though, so if you have any kind of technical question, I'd skip it....But let's be honest, if you're looking for high-end gear or any kind of technical assistance, you won't be at GC anyway.
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February 2024 by Jacob_ Krause_Official
I love this store, but it takes almost 20 minutes to check out every single time I come here, regardless of how many employees are around the registers.There’s way too much talking going on and not enough of actually serving customers.Also, the same homeless guy comes in to play everyday. Super loud, and repetitive riffing. Makes it hard for actual customers to try anything out. And they never do anything about it :(
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February 2024 by bobbie cullen
Great people, great service. It's my happy place. Sam IN Madison is my go-to guy, He has helped me choose my new guitars, answered my questions, and completely helped me along the way..the entire crew is friendly and professional. Beginner to pro..it's a great place to go get your 'stuff'!
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December 2023 by Michael Bunte
Seemingly very competent, pleasant people. They have a big collection of 2nd-hand electric and acoustic guitars.
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December 2023 by Samantha Rae
I recently purchased a guitar as a Christmas gift and the staff and service were phenomenal. Sam helped me and he did a wonderful job and was very knowledgeable and personable. Tom the manager is amazing for helping me out with the deals they had going on. 100% recommend.
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December 2023 by Glor Marohl
We were here for a total of 10 minutes. Told the salesman what we saw on the Internet. He went & got the guitar and we paid for it & out the door we went. LOTS and lots of people there! Very cramped feeling in the store.So if you call ... it will take a while for a human to answer.LOTS of items to see & choose from and many different kinds of musical instruments with tons of accessories.
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December 2023 by Daniel
Had a great experience and received wonderful service from Jrew and Sam.
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December 2023 by Sam B
Its Guitar Center, they are like McDonald's with Guitars. I have been to many stores in the USA, the mecca being Hollywood, the Canton Michigan has the Best Bass Luther.The Madison store has a technician that can fix most whatever you need!It's not Nashville, or Motown it's Madison Wisconsin, the hub of the Electric Cheese and Beer guitar! Overall its a good store with good people working there. Its worth a visit just to say high and take a look at the New gear.
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November 2023 by Kelly Niesen
I signed my son up for drum in September and after 3 months he only had 3 lessons. Instructors don’t show, they go on vacation and no one tells you. Tonight I was informed our new instructor was fired! Again, no one told us!The last 4 lessons we’ve driven from Waunakee to Middleton for only to find out the instructor isn’t there. I asked to speak to the store manager tonight as it’s our 4th consecutive missed lesson and waited for 15 minutes for him to come out of the bathroom… never happened.I could not be less impressed.
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November 2023 by William
Will never visit there again. Paid them $70 to install LR Baggs Anthem pickup system on my acoustic guitar. They did it pretty unprofessionally and refused to refund: Wires were not fixed, making collision sounds that could be picked up by the mic. Battery was installed at a wrong place and detached when I'm playing (luckily I'm not performing...), bumping into the guitar's back. The tech was a bit unwilling to thin out the guitar's saddle, arguing that I should pay extra for this. Their manager even suggested that these wires should not be fixed and it's normal that they swing. This is UNPROFESSIONAL. Though a guitar dealer might not be a guitarist, I guarantee that no guitarists would leave the wires unfixed. Take this to any trained luthiers and this can be evidenced easily. Actually, one of their employees admitted that the wires should be fixed but weren't. I paid but received unprofessional service. This is unfair.
