The Fret House

Found myself wandering in downtown Covina and decided to check out some of the little shops. This place caught my eye first. went inside and there were a few dudes talking took in the various stringed instruments that lined the wall up and down and literally hung from the ceiling. Was greeted by Brian (Bryan? Brion? everyone spells their names funky now a days). I was peeking at a glass display full of cool pedals for guitar and bass. He told me to let him know if he wanted to try any of them (in my head I heard Leonardo DiCaprio say, «You had my curiosity, now you have my attention. see link for reference lol:
)
I asked Brian some questions about some of the pedals and told him I was looking to start building a nice pedal board for my bass. He seemed to have some solid knowledge of the stuff and I asked him if I could try this Bass Innovations envelope filter they had. Offered me to pick out a bass from the wall to try it with and I went with my trusty Fender Jazz Bass. took me into what I assume is the test/​amp room. it was small, but then again so was the shop so I don’t blame them. helped me plug in and also asked if I was looking for a good bass cab/​amp and I told him I was and he showed me a few of the Fender Rumble series bass amps they had boy were those things light. anyways, tried out the pedal and loved it. ended up not buying but I did buy a tuner that I sorely needed and a set of new strings that were just as needed. Brian was great and he helped me out a great deal, asked for my name, made conversation, just great. The best thing is that Brian was not the pretentious gear snob who sought to use big, technical words to try to convince me that he was the all-​knowing musician that you find at guitar center. down to earth people and a surprisingly plentiful selection of a variety of stringed instruments and accessories. I wish we had more shops like this down in San Diego.

Thank you to Tom for working on my prized bass. Tought me a few things about luthier that I did not know. Very informative and insightful. There are not many places that do this. That give you a personal account and basically a lesson on working on instruments. He is very knowledgable in what he does.
Also a thanks to rich for making me feel welcome and his assistance is finding a part that I wanted to to add to a bass I am upgrading hardware on.
This place is great !! I will be coming back. They will work with you on your budget as well. Awesome people here.

Was looking for a place to have my first guitar lessons since watching Youtube videos and reading tabs wasn’t working for me. Wanting also to properly learn how to read music. So I Unilocaled and found the Fret House. $ 20 per lessons with Mark. Must pay for a block of 4 up front. Seemed reasonable and would make me motivated to continue to go :-) Much like registering and paying for a race to keep one focused on training.
So I talked to Bryan on the phone and set it up. Upon entering for the first time Bryan greeted me and introduced me to Mark. He led me to a small telephone booth sized room where lessons would take place. A little uncomfortable at first lol. But once I got used to it so it’s cool. I have nothing to compare it to though so. Anywho. Staff is pretty helpful and my experience thus far has been good :-)
Lot parking in the back and some street in front.

I took my Simon and Patrick acoustic here to repair a gash below the sound hole. Henry called to quote a very reasonable price to repair the damage. I asked him to take his time and not rush the repair. I picked up my guitar today and was amazed at how beautiful the repair turned out. One can’t tell a repair was made unless I reveal the repaired area. I even looked at the guitars on display and was impressed with their inventory of acoustics. I’d like to upgrade to a high-​end acoustic one day and I will make sure I visit this shop. The staff is very friendly; independent shops like this are difficult to find these days so pay them a visit. Thanks!

Walked in to browse and spoke to one of the guys there and asked some questions about guitar maintenance and setting up guitar action. I must say they are extremely helpful. Gave me good advice on working on my own guitar. This is top notch customers service former people that are passionate and no their stuff. I will definitely be back to purchase gear. You won’t find this kind of attention and help for the bigger store’s like guitar centre.

I have been here several time lbs they have always been very helpful and kind I recently took my acoustic in the other week to get it setup and a pickup installed I was nervous because my acoustic was worth well over 1500 but they did an amazing job it plays great and the pickup sounds great I even had my guitar finished before the date Ty told me although I haven’t bought a guitar from them their quality in repairs and service is great

To preface this, my experience with this shop was many years ago, maybe 7 years now.
I went in because I was in the area and I was wanting some replacement guitar strings. So I picked up a set and headed out the door. I didnt grab my receipt because I figured it wasnt going to be a big deal. Unfortunately I was very wrong, about 10 min. later I went to taco bell to get some food, and a guy from the shop comes in and starts yelling at me and accusing me of stealing the strings. He must have thought that I was some punk kid, but I explained that I did pay for them. He said I was a liar and asked where my receipt was. I told him I didnt have one, and we could go back to the store. We get there and the guy who checked me out verified that I had made my purchase.
Then the guy who yelled at me just kind of said OK and didnt even really apologize.
So to sum up, never will I be back here and I will definitely recommend others to avoid this place as well. To act so rudely and then not to apologize vehemently is absolutely unacceptable for someone who runs a business.

Great staff great gear I first started going right 1993 I bought a Mesa boogie Mark III I still have that amp this place has the best of the best equipment what you’re looking for they carry Mesa boogie amps and make curious finger guitars rest guitars and on acoustic their top the lines probably Marmer Taylor but these guys have really nice stuff they got a great staff they got great guitar teachers my son’s going to go here and have guitar lessons

I wish i could give no stars, or even negative stars, my husband has been in here a few times and always gets the worse the service. Tonight a guy named emillio (not sure if that’s how he spells it) was the person who «helped» him and he was soooo rude! That man needs to lose his job. we love to support small businesses, so my husband wanted to come here instead of going to guitar center, and totally regretted it. they make you feel like if you ask a question your an idiot. but isn’t that their job to help people with questions, not make you feel like «duh».worst place ever, don’t bother wasting your money here, drive the few extra blocks to guitar center where atleast you’ll know you’ll get good service with a smile.

The two star review is misleading because it implies that I’ve experienced better. But that isn’t the case, unfortunately.
I took my guitar in to Beach music to get it set up. The neck was apparently twisted. The action is either too high at the 12^th fret or buzzing at the nut. Also, action too low on the high end equals too high on the low end. And when the low E is in tune open it’s sharp at the G third fret. I paid $ 48 and he gave it back to me the same way.
Someone suggested I take it to The Fret House so I did. $ 95 later The low E is in tune but sharp at the third fret G.
Do I have the only guitar in the world that no one can fix?

I’m not a musician, but I enjoy going to the concerts on Saturday night. I’ve seen quite a few great performances, and the open mike nights are a lot of fun too. The concerts are held in the cellar of the guitar store, so it’s intimate and you can interact with the performers. The entertainers are often far more talented than the over-​hyped «stars» you see on TV.
Go, see real musicians, have a great time. But get there early.

Excellent Service, Excellent Selection, Excellent Knowledge! I brought my daughter in to pick out a acoustic electric guitar. Brian went out of his way to make sure all our questions and concerns were answered. We must have tried over 18 guitars before selecting a Taylor 314CE. To satisfy my daughters curiosity we went to Guitar Center to look and make sure we explored all of our options. We saw the same brands but not the higher end models that The Fret House had to offer. The big turn off for me was the high pressure sales pitch used at Guitar Center.
I believe in supporting the independent little stores who help give back to the community the way The Fret House does by supporting young and up and coming performers with their open mic night.
Thank You Brian and Erine for making sure my daughter got what she was looking for and more importantly Thank You for allowing us to take our time, try several brands and models and finally for not applying a high pressure sales pitch!

they gave me a killer price on a great Martin guitar
great guitar place for strings and such also,
beats the heck out of Guitar Center

I would have to say my experience here was kind of awkward…
First off they weren’t friendly towards me. I felt like I was bothering them when I went in.
I went in on a Monday. There were two men in there, one at the register and another walking around the shop, which was the owner. The owner greeted me and helped me. I told them I was looking to buy a six string acoustic guitar, and my budget was around $ 400. I liked that he showed me a bunch of different guitars and all of my options. He also let me play them to see which one I liked best.
When I finally picked out a guitar, the man at the register quoted me a low price (I wanna say about $ 270-​$ 280– and by the way, I bought an A&L Cedar Dreadnought). I told him I wanted to buy it a few days later and not that exact day, so I wanted to put it on lay away. Also, the man I talked to said that when people buy guitars here they do the first two restringing’s free. So I was like YAY!
Things started getting awkward for me because the man at the register started saying stuff under his breath to the other employee that had just walked in. Not sure of the exact words but I know the gist of the conversation, I guess what happened was they quoted me a really low price when he could have charged me a lot more. So apparently he got upset and told the guy they needed to update the price tags or list (whatever it is they go by). It got really quiet and awkward and I had no idea what to say to break the silence haha. And then he finally said «But we cant do anything about it. We have to honor the price we gave her since that is what we quoted her with.» The whole time I was thinking, «really, you can’t have this conversation after I leave?»
I picked it up two days later, and they checked it for me and everything to make sure it didn’t need any adjustments. I asked the guy about the free restringing’s and he was like «Uh No… we don’t do that.» So at this point I feel really awkward because well, ONE: I feel like I’m a burden and that I’m bothering them, and TWO: I feel like they think I’m trying to low ball or scam them…
Overall, I kept my business here because I like the fact that they specialize in acoustic guitars, so they are really knowledgable about them. They only carry top of the line guitars and they do so at a good price. I WAS gonna get lessons here, but after experiencing unfriendliness I will look elsewhere. However since this is the only guitar shop in my area I am going to continue to go here for restringing, and other guitar stuff I need…
Mehhh. I wouldn’t say don’t go here at all but I would say if you go here don’t except them to be nice or friendly towards you. :(But the owner is friendly at least…

This place ok. Decent guitar selection. I’ve had both type of experiences here that is why I’ve given them a ³⁄₅ rating. I bought a guild acoustic from them that I was very happy with before selling it (tough times), the younger guy who help me select it was cool and broke down what the differences between the guitars I was considering. He was great to deal with.
Then I took my amp in for repair and this is my bad experience. The amp took a little long to fix but they warned me it might so no big deal and they did fix the issue so no problems there, but while it was being repaired or sitting on the show room floor waiting for me to pick it up a pretty big hole got ripped in the grill cloth. When I told an older gentleman working that day about how I brought it in without any damage like that he just shrugged his shoulders as its no big deal offering no solution. I had to ask what they can do to make this right. I left it there and they agreed to replace the grill cloth. Overall I guess it was ok but it was two months or almost about two months to get my amp back.
As for the staff I’ve been happy with the help I get from the younger guy they have working there, but when I’ve gone it to look at their stock and he’s not there its like I don’t exist. The older dudes working there didn’t even say hello or bother to help even when no one else was in the store the last time I was there.

OK, so my tech has one of my guitars for many months and is unable to fix a problem with a piezo transducer. I contact the manufacturer, who refers me to the Fret House, so I drop my guitar off so they can have a look. Two days later, my axe is fixed, and the price is downright cheap. No complaints here, great job Fret House!

I recently took the one week electric guitar building class with Mark Geiger. It was a great experience and I have nothing negative to say. Mark knows his stuff and is great to work with. Highly recommend!

I come here for guitar all the time and have been coming here for a while now and currently learning classical guitar. I really like this place and the staff here are nice, friendly and cool to talk to. I also bought my classical guitar here and got a really good deal here and am still using it today. I recommend getting lessons here and also purchasing a guitar here because of the good prices they have!

I really really wanted to give this place 1 star after my most recent disaster of an experience, but I contacted the owner Tom, who tried to make things right. Because of that and some cool fingerstyle guitarists I got to see perform here in the past, I’ll give them 1 more star. But beware, if you ever go here, I’d be wary of dealing with anyone other than Tom. Some of the workers, especially the older ones I’ve encountered here were very condescending, inappropriate, and disrespectful.
The first time I came here couple years ago, Tom worked on my guitar (set-​up) and it went just fine. However, when I brought in another guitar I had recently purchased for a set-​up, it was a start of a nightmare. I didn’t get a call back for almost a week, and when I called, I was told it hadn’t been worked on yet. Then about 20min later, I get a call saying it’s ready for pickup. That was quick I thought, but went to pick up my guitar the next day. As I left the shop with the guitar, I noticed a very deep scratch on my brand new guitar; so I took it back immediately. That’s when things became interesting. They didn’t deny the scratch took place there, but they blamed me for not buying a case! Then the guy working there started rubbing some car polish compound on the scratch, all while making inappropriate comments about how a scratched up guitar gives it personality, or once you lose your virginity, you can’t get it back, how they sell deliberately scratched guitars there, etc. Not funny at all.
Anyhow, I had to leave so I took the guitar home. He told me to bring it back another time because he needs few more hours of polishing to work on the scratch. When I brought it back home, I noticed the guitar was not set-​up right, and 2 of the strings were buzzing. So the next day, I called and spoke to the guy who worked on my guitar. He told me my week old guitar cannot be set-​up well because of a flaw. Which is odd, because the guitar played just fine before I took it in. He also told me he saw the major scratch too after the guitar sat there for nearly a week and he usually tells the customer about these things but forgot to. Then he says he wouldn’t accept a guitar without a case but doesn’t know why he did. He apologized for those two things, but yeah ok…
So I took back the guitar back so they can correct everything they messed up, and when I called back to check up on it, I was told it will need some major work. All this on a new guitar! Honestly, I didn’t believe them; if anything was wrong with it, it’s probably because of the awful set-​up job they performed. I had enough dealing with them so I went to pick it up. While I was there picking it up, I saw the worker that was previously acting inappropriately and he was doing it again. Except he was being more condescending and almost hostile towards me, like questioning the existence of the scratch on my guitar he previously told me he would work on for 2+ hours. Wow…
Luckily in the end after a lot of negotiating, I got the guitar exchanged from where I bought it. But my decision to bring it here in the first place resulted in wasted time and money. I contacted the owner after a few weeks to voice my complaints and he ultimately refunded my set-​up cost. I was still out a brand new set of Elixir strings but I decided to just swallow it. I just wish I never brought the guitar here in the first place as it resulted in a loss for me.
I never thought you can devalue your guitar by bringing it to a shop for a set-​up, but now I know it’s quite possible. Add to the fact they have some workers with really horrible attitudes, I really think 2 stars is being nice. I know this is a famous place with some history but c’mon, treat your customers with more respect!

I just want to take a minute to spread the good word about The Fret House.
I took my guitar (a fairly expensive Ovation) here on Sunday because the pickup was having intermittent issues. I found The Fret House on the Ovation website which listed authorized service centers. This was my first time bringing my baby in for any kind of service after almost 10 years of uninterrupted musical bliss. Needless to say, I was kind of nervous leaving a guitar that’s worth a month’s salary to some people in a stranger’s hands… but I sure as hell wasn’t going to get ripped off at GC, Sam Ass, or any of those big name stores. It was time to put my trust in good ol’ mom n’ pop.
I’m so glad my faith wasn’t misplaced. They promised that the diagnosis and/​or repair would be done by Tuesday and it was. Relieved that the problem was minor, I asked if they could do a setup on my guitar while they had it as it never had any maintenance done since I got it. They told me it would be done the next day. Lo and behold, it was finished on time again, no problem. $ 25 to solder a bad connection inside the guitar, 45 bucks to do the setup, which includes a truss rod adjustment, changing the strings, setting intonation, guitar polishing, and action adjustments, and about 10 bucks for the new strings, plus tax and I was out the door 85 bucks lighter. Big sigh of relief on my part because I probably would’ve paid $ 200 had I gotten this done anywhere else.
Extremely friendly and thorough service here. Saw a lot of parents bringing their kids in to get their first guitar, which was cool. They even have open mic nights, which they invited me to. Quaint little shop that probably has pretty much everything you’d ever need, and if they don’t have it, I’m sure they’ll try to get it for you. Old time service with a smile. You just don’t see enough of that anymore. Support your local mom n’ pop shops!