Foggy Mountain Music

My experience hasn’t been so good. Having recently moved to the area from Southern California, I was really happy to see a small music store thriving.
On my first visit I found a 1968 Bandmaster Head with Cab sitting in the back. These are one of my favorite amps and I immediately asked about it. The owner seemed rather dismissive, and proceeded to lecture me about older amps, how she went about selling them, the fact that there was a no-​return policy, etc. etc. I just got a rather uncomfortable feeling and left. I guess it was for the best because two days later I found a great Dual Showman that I immediately grabbed.
This last week I dropped in to purchase some drumsticks for my granddaughter. Since I am not a drummer, I had a couple of questions. However, the owner was far too involved in a phone conversation, and continued the call throughout my entire transaction. I guess she settled the deal on «not renting one of her harps,» but I left feeling totally ignored.
Mind you, I am not a young guy who is just in the store to play and abuse instruments that I cannot afford. I just retired, and have a lot of disposable cash to spend on my hobby/​obsession. And I would love to help out local «mom & pop» stores instead of the giant chains.
However…I will not be back…

I come to this place often, the staff is helpful knowledgable I have gotten some gems from this place for sure. Music is my passion feels so good to be facilitated in this, excellent customer service and information given keeps me inspired every time I go in. Really love the vibe and definitely recommend this place! keep up the good work guys!

The staff in this store are knowledgeable and friendly! I would recommend them to anyone who wants an instrument, supplies or repairs.

Only Martin dealer in Nevada county

mary ellen (owner) is a genuine original. I’ve known and been doing business with her for over 25 years! Great gear, price matching anything the internet warehouse companies advertise and did i mention… PERSONAL service!
Foggy has been around for so long because she and het team do a great job making you feel like you are a valued client and part of our local community family.
5 enthusiastic stars.
Greg Whatley– owner Mountain Event productions (recording engineer and Video editor)

I recently moved to the area and had stopped by Foggy Mountain on multiple occasions while walking down town. The staff all seemed friendly and the shop looked like they had a fairly large selection. I had done a lot of research online for an acoustic guitar since my daughter, who is 12 and LEFT handed, was interested in starting to play. I had a hard time finding a reasonably priced left handed acoustic online.
I decided to go inot foggy Mountain to see if they could help. We did a little browsing a found a beautiful LEFT handed Fender. It was beautiful!!! One of the two women helped my daughter and i with getting everything she needed to get started. The other women, wish i got their names, helped make sure the guitar was tuned perfectly before we left. They were very helpful, friendly and NOT pushy to sell me things i didn’t need. Something i truly appreciate!
As we were about to leave we got a chance to talk with a gentleman by the name of Steve. He works with Foggy Mountain by providing guitar lessons. And maybe other things. Oh, i forgot to mention a FREE lesson was included with the purchase of the guitar :) Steve was very knowledge and friendly! Im looking forward to my daughter working with him and helping her with her passion. I will totally recommend Foggy Mountain and Steve!

Okay, so before reading my review, please know that I am being completely honest with my experience, and am not fabricating it in any way.
The first time I went in there, I was going to buy my first Acoustic-​Electric guitar. As soon as I took a step inside, I was bombarded with questions about what I was looking for, what is my price range, etc.
Before I even got to look around, a woman hands me a guitar and sends me in the back to try it out. Now even though this is a nice gesture, it would be great if she would have let me actually look at the guitars, instead of pressuring me into buying one that SHE thought was great.
Long story short, I ended up buying the first guitar she handed me. It’s a great guitar, but I bet there would have been better (in my opinion) if she would have let me look around.
The second time I went there, I brought my guitar (that I had bought there in my previous paragraph) to get the strings changed. For them this included, getting new strings, taking the old strings off, and putting the new ones on.
For this I was charged $ 25, just for the labor– not including the $ 25 for strings (which I expected for a good pair of strings).
A few days later, I went in to go pick up my guitar. It took them awhile to find it, so I stood waiting. Eventually, they came out and handed me a guitar in the case. As I begin to walk out, I notice that this guitar in the case seems a lot heavier than mine. So I open it up and discover this guitar is not mine at all. It is an electric guitar, with the wrong case.
So I go back in and tell them what happened (at this point Im not mad, just irritated they could get something so wrong). They bring back a case, and I’m assuming the right guitar in it. So I check the guitar and its the right guitar. As for the case, not so right.
In my case, I had my amp cord. This case that they gave me still had the new tags on it, without my amp chord.
By this time, I am very agitated. I tell them, and it took them at least 15 – 20 minutes to find my case.
Even with all this trouble, they did NOT say sorry! And they didn’t give me any kind of discount (which is fine– but would have been great for such trouble).
I come home and my guitar is NOT tuned, and the strings aren’t even put on the bridge right.
This is an extremely arrogant place, and I would NOT recommend going to it. Please, take the time to go somewhere nice and roomy.
Savannah Greer (resident of Grass Valley for 10 years)

Had to go here for Fender warranty repair, drop off was fairly straight forward, called 10 days later (‘warranty work may take a week or 2′) just to get an update and make a «if possible can it be done by the following weekend») Owner (Mary?) said she would call to check, tech called said no problem. This is where it gets weird: wife goes to pick up with our three kids (all under 12) in tow (we live 20 miles away) Owner says its not there yet and then proceeds to shout obscenities about how blanked up Fender is how she doesn’t want Fender or their customers in her shop, and on and on. In walks the tech who apologizes that he miss heard which job was which and ours was not the one that was ready. More swear words from the owner, more apologies from the tech (my 6yo is freaked out by this point) my wife leaves with a ‘free rental’ due back the following Wednesday. Wednesday comes round and we call to see if we can make the swap ours for theirs and mine is still not done. Considering that my wife and I work 45 miles away she calls to see if at all possible we can do the drop of Saturday instead of Wed. when we are in the area owner says, «no problem». I try numerous times to reach the tech («mailbox full») when Friday we get a msg on hm machine «shame on you for not returning the rental… you’ll be charged $ 50/​day… you are a coward having your wife do the negotiating (?!)…» and more and more. Basically my unit is held hostage.
I can understand to some degree having one bad day, even two, but foul language, character assaults, and thinly veiled threats are ridiculous. Neither my wife nor I ever raised our voices nor showed anything remotely hostile, frankly our only concern was timing the drop off an pick up do to the long drives and incompatible work schedules.

This appears to be a cool, funky music store packed with all kinds of instruments. We went in looking for an auto-​harp and they had several. We also were interested in a couple other things. The clerk was too busy chatting with a regular who was obviously not buying anything to give us the time of day. This is why small businesses fail to Walmart. She should have recognized us as new blood with money to spend. Instead, we left empty handed to go somewhere else where they want our business.