The Music Emporium, Inc. — Local services in Allegheny Township

This past week was my daughters sweet 16, with that in mind, I wanted to get her a "dream guitar" level of instrument (she plays acoustic) . I went down to the Emporium hoping to find "the one". She's already got a pretty nice little Yamaha that she has been playing a couple of years, but I wanted something that would WOW her.

To make a really long story , a short story...I ended up finding an absolutely BEAUTUFL Breedlove Concertina. Rick (owner of the store) did me solid #1 with the sale....but that is not why I am writing this review. I am writing this review because of what happened a couple of days later when I gave my daughter the beautiful guitar. Which is that we realized that something was not right, the neck had an ever so slight warp in it down by the body (not the bow that is common and fixable with a truss adjustment) this was a legit ,really weird warp. I should have caught it when I was playing it, but to be honest I didn't look it over as good as I should have.

At any rate, the neck was warped and I was SICK about it. I took the guitar back to the store....no BS, no fuss, nothing but apologies and class. The guys at the store agreed that the neck was warped, apologized for the issue, told me to come back and talk to the owner (he wasn't in). 2 Days later I went back in and talked to the owner, he was apologetic. Gave me a refund, again, no fuss, no BS, nothing but class.

I don't write reviews as a general rule and I don't really make a judgement on things when a transaction goes smooth....I make judgements when things DON'T go smooth, that is when you see the true nature of a business, that is when people show their true colors. I was bummed about the guitar but I don't hold that against the store, they sell a pile of instruments, I don't expect them to go over every guitar they sell with a fine tooth comb before they sell them. Stuff happens....it's how a business acts when things go wrong that make them a stand up business, a class act.

Rick and the guys cemented my business by handling the whole deal with class. And as a side note...I ended up saving the day by finding another Breedlove dealer who had the EXACT same guitar in stock, so I went and got it....for a hundred bucks more than what I paid at Emporium the first time.

Emporium has been and will continue to be my "go to" spot....

Considering this is the absolute only music store in Altoona, PA I couldn't give it less of a rating because they do try. I do like the fact that they offer a variety of Orange and BOSS as far as amps and effects are concerned and I am not a huge fan of the line of Schecters sold there. They also have a contract with Fender and Dean. As far as price is concerned I'm going to say it's $$ out of $$$$$. Things are reasonably priced but often times when I go in there the parts I am in need of are often not in stock. They also have a repair shop for amps and guitars and have a guy that comes in every week or two weeks to pick up work orders and materials, proceeds to repair the item(s) then promptly return them to the store. I believe his labor price/hour is between $30-$50/hour. Check it out! All and all, not a bad shop!...

I went into the store looking for my first intermediate level guitar with a budget of about $500-700 and was pretty sure that I knew what I wanted from my own research. However, when they took me back to their guitar room I was blown away with the selection. There was a great variety for such a small local store. I was able to find a Yamaha that was originally over $1000 for just over $700. Unofrtunately, within a month, I had dropped the guitar and cracked the top. I took it back to get it repaired and was given back my guitar in stunningly condition within two months! I love these guys and when it comes to guitars especially, they know what they are talking about and are willingly to haggle a bit which is super nice! I will always buy my...