Tempo Music Center — Local services in Hendersonville

I was recently visiting the Asheville area and found myself waiting for the rest of my party to arrive at Hannah Flannagan's bar/grill (across the street from Tempo Music). It was 6PM on the dot and I decided to walk over and check out Tempo while I was waiting. I noticed what appeared to be a NS Design Electric Upright bass in the corner as soon as I walked in. I am a bassist in a very well-known band that tours the East Coast and I have been in the market for an upright electric bass for several months. I was pretty excited as most stores do not stock many basses (especially uprights that run upwards of $3k). I made up my mind in an instant that I was going to walk out of this store with that bass! However, I was immediately confronted when I walked into the store by an older gentleman who asked if I was looking for something. I played off my interest in then upright bass by saying all I needed was a set of strings (working a deal on an instrument is like buying a car, you don’t want to act too excited). He immediately told me they were closed and the only reason people were in the store was for lessons. He then backed me towards the door and locked it. This man just lost out on a sell that would have earned the store a couple of thousand dollars at least (even used NS basses are not cheap). Fast forward a week - I just finished purchasing this exact same bass online via a large music retailer (it cost me just short of $3k after shipping/insurance). One day this small business will learn it has to go above and beyond to earn it's customer's respect and subsequently their business. They're already fighting an uphill battle against the myriad of internet retailers out there in the music supply industry. I understand it may have been a minute or two after hours, but I walked in the door ready to spend money - and a lot of it. Maybe if the associate would have known I was ready to drop several thousand bucks on a quality instrument he would have entertained my company for fifteen minutes. If I’m ever in the area, I will not visit this...

My husband and I were down for the holiday and wanted to stop in because of the signs saying vintage gear. We should have kept waking. It was a dump, lights are brunt out,stuff everywhere and nothing organized in the least. Only a small path to walk anywhere. Only cheap and over priced gear, Yamahas, ibanez's and few other low end brands. We continued on and only saw a handful of "vintage guitars" worth playing. One of them being a 1964 semi hollow body Gibson with a cherry finish. We walked over respectful and asked if we could get it down to look at it and the owners response was the most insulting remark we have ever received. He said he would rather us not,(if he would have left it there it wouldn't have been a problem, we are musicians and understand the investment gear is but he took it to an inappropriate level) He said he only wanted people that were able to pay for a higher end guitars to touch his gear and people who are really serious buyers! What he didn't know is are both life long Charlotte musicians 15+ years and my husband dose it for his career and we travel a good bit to buy the gear for our jobs. As a experienced musician you never buy gear without playing it. NEVER. He judged us on our age and our clothes and he missed out on a life long customer. This is probably why your business has not grown in 20+ years and why that cherry Gibson will rot in your old decaying building instead of being played by someone who loves it. I feel sorry for...

So glad to see other reviews who had the same experience. DO NOT take your instruments here for repair or setup. I took my guitar here and was told it would be ready “probably about three days but we will give you a call”, never received a call, went in and asked the older gentleman at the counter about the status of my guitar, and he didn’t even know what I was talking about. I showed him my pickup ticket and he went for what seemed like forever, most certainly just trying to FIND my guitar let alone work on it. Came back and said “we haven’t gotten to it yet but I can have it done in an hour” which I agreed to. Came back an hour later, he handed me my guitar back and I can PROMISE you that they did not even touch it. Had the same old rusted strings on it and the action was absolutely unchanged. I literally got ripped off for $40 here and will never ever shop here again, and will steer as many people away as I can. I was robbed by...