Rainbow Music — Local services in Bellefonte

The store has a great selection. But while I was trying to demo a few models, the dread-locked shop associate picked up several guitars to tune them and play random riffs over me as a pretense for monitoring me. A very bizarre vibe indeed. The fact that nearly every guitar was out of tune should have served as a bad sign alone. And the owner had a strangely gruff attitude. He didn't have what I came in to look for, but acted like he'd do me a favor to sell me something in which I wasn't even interested. It wasn't even close to the model I was looking for. To be polite, I told him I'd stop in again from time to time to see if he might eventually have in stock what I was looking for, but he acted like I had asked him to order it just so I could demo it. I said nothing of the sort. As his demeanor grew more gruff (all the while he was ringing me up for a t-shirt I didn't need but purchased anyway out of good will) I simply said I don't buy musical instruments sight unseen--neither online nor in stores. The real insult came when he quoted me a price to order it and attempted to pass off the MAP as some kind of discount off the list price. And then acted dumbfounded when he realized I knew the true street price of a Martin or Taylor was 40% off list. I won't be back. Too many other professional shops in my travels for me to choose from to waste my time with the wannabe Woodstock throwbacks...

This place has a good selection of gear but the staff is almost invariably rude and unhelpful (i've been there probably 7 separate times). I only buy strings/straps/small stuff there because it's in a pretty convenient location, but I've never made any sort of large equipment purchase from them mainly because their customer service sucks. My friend told me that they actually do pretty good tech work, but I've had a couple of brief conversations with the older guy who works there (I'm pretty sure he's the guitar tech too) and some of the stuff he told me sounded highly questionable/made me suspicious that he was going to try to rip me off for what should have been some pretty basic guitar wiring. There is another place right down the street called Alley Cat Music and it's owned by two dudes who are much more friendly (albeit with a much smaller selection of gear) ... If you're looking to buy a new guitar or bass I would definitely go with Alley...

I have visited there many times to try different guitars. It took until the last time I went for the salesman to suddenly say that I was not to play ANY of the guitars because people "don't like buying guitars that have already been played". Not only was it eventually so abrupt, but he stared at me for at least ten minutes until he actually got to the point. As I was tuning a guitar, he took it from me to tune it himself as if I didn't know what I was doing (which I do, I've been playing for years). I tried to apologize for causing any disturbance, but he continued to relentlessly chew me out for playing a guitar that needed no supervision to try (a $780 Taylor). It's a public music shop. People are going to want to try equipment regardless of wanting to purchase anything or not. I have never been around someone who was so rude and unqualified for customer service in any of the countless music shops I...