Brothers Guitar & Record Shop - Buy, Sell, Repair & Maintenance — Local services in New York

If you buy something here that doesn’t work, you can’t exchange it. I just moved to the city and I’m looking for a local music store to support when I need supplies/repairs as they come. I thought I’d try this place! Neat little shops with a small town feel—or so I thought. I bought a cable from this place about a week and a half ago and used it for the first time this weekend. I had 4 gigs at 4 separate venues and the cable would start cutting in and out after a while at each one. I came in today to exchange it (because it’s a cool looking cable and I just want the same one—not my money back) and had an unpleasant customer service experience. The associate said he would only exchange it if he plugged it in and it didn’t work in front of him. Of course he plugs it in and plays for a minute and it works. But I tried to explain that it was only doing it sometimes over the course of the gig. Even if it’s sometimes, that’s a bad sign for a brand new cable and it can only get worse as I play out multiple times a week. He argued that it’s probably an issue with my guitar or the system I’m using. This is after I already said twice that swapping out the cable fixed the problem and it was on four different systems. Then he said it’s probably just a bad system at the venue. I said again…it was 4 venues. He said, “oh 4 venues?” In my head I thought, “third times a charm, I think we’ve done it!” He came back with “yeah I mean probably bad systems!” Woof. I then said that the likelihood of it being the case where 4/4 venues happened to have a “bad system” would be totally outrageously impossible right? He said “yeah that’s crazy…………. Sorry I can’t exchange it since there’s clearly nothing wrong with the cable.” Now, I’m no Karen. I said thank you and left quietly. I understand that you’re doing your job and there are lots of dishonest people in the world. But I’m not going to frequent a business that will gaslight me, and I’m certainly not going to trust them with my instrument if they don’t trust me. So it’s not a good fit. I’m not angry, I’m just disappointed. On to the next! Cool little shop and close to my apartment,...

Short version: They gouged my brand-new guitar and never finished installing the bridge after two months. Don’t trust them with anything more complicated than a set-up.

Full Story: I wanted a Mastery bridge installed on my 60th Anniversary Jazzmaster. I called ahead to ask Brothers if they could install it, and they assured me they could. They asked when I dropped it off if I needed it in the next 10 days, and I said no. A month later, I got a call from the tech, saying he was about to get started working on it. Two more weeks went by, and I called to check on it. I was told it would be done “today or tomorrow.” Two more weeks went by, and I called again, and they again said “today or tomorrow.” By this time, it had been two months, and I’d had enough, so I told them I was coming to pick it up tomorrow, whether it was done or not.

When I picked it up, I noticed they’d taken the original bridge off, but the original bridge thimbles were still in the body of the guitar. (You have to pull these out to install the new bridge.) Later, when I got it home, I noticed the gouge in the finish about an inch from the thimbles. It’s clear what happened—they couldn’t figure out how to get the thimbles out of the body, and they tried to pry them out with something and gouged the finish. I took the guitar to a real guitar shop downtown after that, and the guys there confirmed that there’s absolutely no reason anything should touch the body when you take the thimbles out, and that the guys at Brothers clearly did not know what they were doing.

The other shop finished the installation in a few days, by the way. But there’s no fixing the gouge in the finish of an otherwise...

What an AMAZING day!! My 12 year old son and I visited the Brothers Guitar Shop early this afternoon because he asked to be present to choose his own guitar since making it number one on his Xmas list. I agreed as long as he did the research and found a reputable retailer and ensured we stayed within budget. Well, he did both! He told me all about how it wasn't too far from where we lived and how the store had great reviews. He sent me the link to check myself, and it satisfied all my prerequisites. Upon arriving, the staff was very knowledgeable, attentive, patient, and kind. Drew led us to the back of the store, where my son was able to try out different guitars to get a sense of what he liked based on comfort, sound, and quality. Jordy gave us a nice 20% Black Friday discount on an Austin acostic guitar. Then he threw in a guitar case, a t-shirt, pics, and an accessory pack. He also installed brand new chords in the guitar. Last but not least, John and my son connected through mini guitar info lessons, musicians, and their passion for the game of chess. Drew showed my son how to play his first E chord, and John showed him some addtl beginner chords F & G. He recommended that he play at least 15 minutes daily to learn how to play. Jordy extended future invitations for my son to stop by after school. We will definitely be back when he's ready to move up to the next level of an electric guitar in a year and 1/2. Possibly sooner when his guitar requires maintenance. This was definitely a great experience, one that my son will never forget. 10 out of 10!!! Don't walk, run to this guitar shop and bring all of your musician friends and family, you...