The Music Place — Local services in Berlin Township

Just now getting around to writing this review, after having my electric guitar set up a couple of months ago.

I am a fairly new guitar player, and thus had never gone through the process of having the action lowered on my guitar, having it intonated, etc. I have a pretty nice Ibanez, but the strings were just a BIT high off of the fretboard, and my instructor recommended I either lower the action myself, or have it done professionally. When I pictured myself doing it, I got this mental image of a gorilla swinging a pipe wrench around, so I decided to go the safe route and bring it in to The Music Place, where people actually know what they’re doing.

The process was easy, and Ken, whom I believe is the manager there, explained everything. They have a gentleman who comes to the store every Saturday morning. He picks up instruments that are getting set up, and drops off the ones he worked on during the week. That is to say, if you have it done here, you will likely be without your guitar for a week. I did not really mind, since I had an acoustic at home to play with in the meantime. I am also not sure how that compares to other places; that could be the norm around this area.

Anyway, I dropped my guitar off in a gig bag that I have (though I play no gigs, of course). I don’t believe you need to have a bag when you drop off, but it’s a little bit of extra protection, and I’m the paranoid type. A week went by, and I went back on Saturday morning to get it. I got it home, took it out of the bag, and plugged in. And “Wow” at the difference. It was easy for even a novice like myself to tell the difference between what it was before, and what it is now. The strings are just SO close to the fretboard now, I barely have to press at all; just a very light pressure gets the string where it needs to be. There is no buzz at all on the low E, either, which can happen if it’s set too low. He also replaced the strings (standard procedure, I think), and he appears to have used the best strings for the guitar and price, because they feel like angel hairs or something, and have a great sound to them.

Simply put, the Ibanez just plays dramatically better after its visit to The Music Place (and in turn to their subcontractor). Finding the right notes is easier, slides are easier, hammer ons/pull offs are easier, and, very importantly, barre chords are easier. I was enthusiastic about playing before, but now, I am even moreso, because the guitar is just that much more fun to play now. I would especially recommend this service for anyone who is a relative beginner like myself. The typical beginner will likely not have a $1,000 guitar, so the chances are good that his/her instrument would benefit from a proper setup. The proper setup makes the guitar more fun to play, and will thus increase both actual practice time, and the beginner’s chances of sticking with it through the tough stuff like barres...

BOTCHED INSTRUMENT REPAIR IS COSTING US HUNDREDS, leaves son without instrument. Huge disappointment!

Be warned: although they may seem friendly, if something goes wrong or if you are unsatisfied with a repair, they will not guarantee your satisfaction and will not refund your money! They turn nasty quickly.

Our sad story follows, if you're interested:

My son's clarinet needed a "complete overhaul" (new pads, cork, cleaning). To shorten our story, I will just say that when all was said and done, we'd spent over $150 plus a new case and wound up with a non-functional instrument. My son's teacher confirmed the instrument's faultiness, we sent the instrument back to TMP more than once, and they insisted there was nothing wrong, as apparently their "expert" never makes a mistake. They blamed everyone but themselves for the problem, from my "inexperienced" son to "inexperienced" teacher, and then it got worse.

Not getting anywhere with TMP, I finally took the clarinet to another music store more than an hour from them (therefore not a competitor), thinking it needed a minor repair. Music store 2's tech reported that he'd never seen anything like it; there was excessive glue, the pads were not seated properly, and the instrument was leaking air and could therefore not produce sound effectively. Music store 2 said TMP should repair the thing or give us a refund. "Don't they guarantee their work?" they asked me. Otherwise, Music store 2 would have to strip the thing and start from scratch. Bringing the instrument up to playability would cost us $250.

I contacted TMP (manager Ken) and they disbelieved the report from music store 2. I urged Ken repeatedly to connect TMP tech ("Dave") with the other tech, so they could talk, but TMP refused. In the end, TMP was very unprofessional, very rude, accused music store 2 of trying to turn a profit, implied I was fabricating the whole thing, and more. Not nice.

Bottom line: I urge you to STAY AWAY from this business, especially for the purposes of instrument repair. Go somewhere where they know what they're doing, have respect for their customers, and are willing to concede that once in a while, a tech messes up. In the meantime, I've filed complaints with multiple consumer watchdog groups and am buying a brand new clarinet (in installments). Save yourself the money and the trouble and find a more...

Old school, mom n pop type feel but with good prices. Most merch, particularly guitar, bass and guitar and bass amp wise is mostly on the beginner end, with some exceptions of course. A few decent off brands like Jay Turser, low end Ibenez's, low to decent Wasburns and a ton of Squires (i.e. mostly Chinese or Indonesian made intro Strats and Teles. But quite honestly, bring someone along who knows their axes and you can find a few that'll really surprise you. At least comparible to a true Fender MIM Strat [MIM=Made in Mexico]). People trade and sell and the guys very fair. I mean house always wins but I've seen a couple used guitars he had i was glad to trade a PRS SE and a Taylor 110 for. Still not a regret to this day.

So in summation, great, friendly service. Trades accepted or refused with the same respect. Awesome beginners' selection and a few mid to high end axes floatin around. Only reason i withold the 5 is rare if any tube amps. Bugera (specially the g5 and lil hybrid n5), Orange has the 20 watter with a built in attenuator that brings it down to 1 watt output. They're making more and more "beginner" (beginner that sound sweet to a vet) tube and hybrid tube amps. It'd be nice to see even 2-4 in there. Other than that, awesome old...