Laconia Music Center

A very friendly and attentive staff. I had a unique situation, and the guys set me up with a great violin in no time. Go here for solid quality and a personal touch!

The owner of this place is super nice and everyone who works there is very professional.
My daughter left her instrument at her school and needed one for her NYSSMA audition. They were a life saver as they let us borrow a viola instrument that she can use that same day. They were nice enough not to charge us since it was only for one day. Will definitely recommend this place to anyone.

We were I the market for a saxophone rental and it was recommended that we go to this place in New Hyde Park… not knowing what we were in for. So it was June and the school year just finished so we called and asked if they had the saxophones ready, Chad answered the phone and said they would be ready in mid-​August and we should call back. We called back in Mid-​August and were told to stop in and they had them ready. My wife drive 25 minutes to get there only to be told when she did that they didn’t have any available and Chad told her to relax, who tells you to come get one and then doesn’t have it is beyond me. So afterwards we called and called and called and called only to be told every time that the technician wasn’t there and they needed to get serviced before being rented. Today I called times as I was told to call back by guess who, Mr. Personality Chad. He told me they didn’t have them ready and then when I called back he said he didn’t and then he wrote he did. Rather than just drive I called and asked to be 100% sure that they had one ready, he was by far the rudest person I have dealt with, a total non-​friendly employee. When I called he said they didn’t have them ready, I was dumbfounded I left work early to get there because they said they had them but I would wait for them, and now he doesn’t have them, and he didn’t care, while I did curse once on the phone before I did that he told me to go somewhere else and get one, if I was in front of him I would have spoken my mind but I was on the phone. He didn’t care about service, and the people that recommended me will definitely be hearing from me about it. Very poor customer service, attitude is terrible. Well I took Chads advice to go «somewhere else» to get the saxophone I need, Great job I hope you make your bosses mad, I should have known when another mother I sent there complained about him as well.

Got some dent work done on a saxophone neck today and Ray did a beautiful job. Also had a great conversation to boot. Will definitely be returning to Laconia.

Having done business here in the past, Again I go in to Laconia Music, where the owner Ray is always on the job! The store is always busy but I am always greeted with a smile and a kind word! I have always been able to go in pick up a guitar, play a little and decide on my next purchase. I have always gotten answers to my band instrument questions and always had repairs done right the first time! When I am in New York, Laconia Music is my place to shop!

My husband brought his clarinet to Laconia for repair and general tuning, as it had not been serviced for a very long time and our grandson was going to use it for his music lessons in school. Ray was very friendly and seemed to be informative and told my husband that he would let him know what needed to be done in a day or two. After about 3 days, with no contact from Ray, my husband called to find out the status. Ray said to call him back in a few more days, and that he should have it repaired. This scenario played out for approximately three weeks — call me back, it will be fixed and ready in a day or two, repairs should not be too pricey, etc. Finally, when we could not be given a definite answer as to when the clarinet would be repaired and ready for pick up, my husband went to reclaim the instrument. No surprise, it had not even been touched, no less fixed! We knew that this was a busy time for the store, but they should have told us from the start that they would not be able to repair it or even tell us what needed to be repaired within the 3 weeks that they had it in the shop. If Laconia is on such overload, they should have the courtesy to turn away new customers since obviously, they are not able to handle the work load.

High turn over of teachers. By the time your child gets to a certain level, the teacher changes and back to square one. We have had 6 teachers in 10 months for 3 kids. They are not apologetic or accomodating. Other staff is polite except for one particular person, who seems to own the place. Very rude, disrespectful, no concept of customer service. Every interaction with her, in the past year has been nothing but trouble. Not just by me but other three referrals (7 kids) sent by me have left due to frequent changes and exceptional service. I just bought my brand new instrument at much cheaper price to avoid dealing with them.

Highly recommend this place for rentals or lessons. Impeccable service, knowledge, and pricing? My kids rent and take lessons here and I wish I knew earlier. I wouldn’t have gone down the street to Catalano.

Laconia is a great local music store. The owner, Ray, does all the repairs for the instruments and does an awesome job. As a music teacher, I send out a lot of instruments out for repairs and no one is as detailed as he is.
In addition to repairs, Laconia also has a very knowledgeable staff. Many music stores try to sell you, and sell you things that would profit them more than you. But, in all the years I’ve been going to Laconia, the staff has always been honest. It’s the way good business should be!
While Laconia may not match up with the glamour of big name music stores, what they lack in presentation, they make up with honesty, fair prices, and knowledge that’s only acquired by experience.

I contacted the shop by email as I had a special instrument that needed repair (a Chinese fiddle that got broken during shipping), and they responded kindly within hours. I left my erhu there on a Saturday afternoon, and it was fixed the same day! Maybe I got lucky and they weren’t that busy at that time, but I am very happy with the results, great quality, professional work.

I wanted to like Laconia Music Shop, I really did, unfortunately I regretted coming here. My daughter is learning to play violin for the first time and we wanted to get her a rental violin. I called several shops and decided to choose a mom and pop shop over a large retailer such as Sam Ash. We figured we would be in a friendlier atmosphere and get a warmer experience. We got the opposite. Perhaps it’s rental season? But we were completely rushed and received no advice on our rental.
There is another, larger music shop close by, but we went with Laconia because their rental price was slightly cheaper and they said all their violins were made in Europe.
That night, we went in at 7 PM, an hour before closing and there some customers but the place was not packed. We were assisted right away. We told the young man we needed a rental violin and an older gentleman who was helping another customer looked at my daughter and said she was a ¹⁄₁₀ size. They had her hold the ¹⁄₁₀ violin and said it was the one. Then the boy proceeded to put the violin inside the case and closed it. He asked me to fill out the forms and asked for payment. I felt completely rushed. I opened the case to examine the violin, just to have him close it up again. I asked if I could see the next larger size and see how it would «fit» my daughter. I had estimated her as a ¹⁄₈ or ¼ size based on what I measured at home. But the boy just said, that’s too big for her without even having her try it. From the time I walked in til I left, we were there no more than 5 minutes.
We called my daughter’s violin teacher and told her she was fitted for a ¹⁄₁₀ violin, to which the teacher said, That’s way too small for her! The next day we went back to the shop and this time a young girl helped fit my daughter. She spent a few more minutes than the previous day and said she was a ¹⁄₈ or ¼, but closer to ¹⁄₈. If the boy or gentleman had just spent a minute longer with us the previous day, we would have avoided the second trip all together.
If you want a cheap rental and don’t need anyone answering ANY questions, then this is the place for you. Otherwise, I would suggest you go elsewhere.

Laconia Music is more than an average music store. Ray, the owner, is a virtual font of musical information as it relates to instruments both large and small. One gets a sense that there is a true love of music as well as the desire to share a passion with potential buyers. Ray spent a tremendous amount of time educating me without the slightest push to make a purchase with his store and I was left with the impression that I would never be misled in this business. They have a small footprint on Jericho Turnpike but a large ability to house rentals in a basement location. This is a great place to rent & purchase musical instruments with the feeling that you are truly receiving a quality instrument!

Friendly local music store. Needed to repair a tuner on my very decrepit acoustic guitar about a year ago. They fixed it in about two days, restrung it and gave me a set of electric guitar strings all for 30 bucks. Labor usually kills you when it comes to a repair on just about anything, but these guys were very reasonable. If I have future problems with musical instruments, I’ll definitely go back to Laconia.