Steve’s Music & Trading Post

Sellers Beware-​!! Good Deals on Buying doesn’t mean good deals for Sellers…
By not doing more extensive research into «Rare Vintage» Instruments, I gave Jamie a REALLY good deal when he bought two items from me recently…
I tried to price these items on Ebay and Reverb sites and couldn’t even find them…(because they’re Rare and Old)…I should have been more diligent and gotten an appraisal or second opinion. I just thought I was giving him a good deal to pass along to the public. Now he says they’re in his «Private Collection».Lucky him!
I guess Jamie has better search options and found the apparent values to be way more than I could have imagined. Congrats on being a pro wheeler-​dealer, Jamie!
A Sore Loser

Came by to drop my amp to fix & it was diagnosed and fixed before I could walk out the door! Cool place to visit to check out awesome vintage amps and guitars too. Nice people with lots of helpful info.

Best Music/​/​guitar/​/​amp/​/​odds/​/​ends shop for many miles. Jamie and Steve hold it down! Good deals, rare stuff! Major Variety! There’s always something new in there. They’ve always got something you can’t live without. I’ve been doing 90% of my gear purchasing at Steve’s and I’ve been happy with every transaction. Don’t park in front if you’re getting ice cream. REPEAT, DON’T PARK IN FRONT IF YOU’RE GETTING ICE CREAM.

I convinced my bride to let me stop in for a casual look-​see. Ha, you can imagine how that turned out. I walked out with a lovely 1979 Yamaha FG-​350W acoustic. What a great player it is. And, at a fair price. They have a lot of cool and weird stuff to feast your eyes on.

I was passing through town and realized I’d forgotten my vibrato pedal for my amp. The owner set me up with an old he had laying around… for just $ 10! If I’d gone anywhere else I probably would have been forced to spend $ 40 on a new one. Glad I swung through Steve’s instead. He has some pretty cool guitars and funky old amps too. Probably a reasonable place for repairs and setups too.

As a vocal coach locally here in Santa Cruz it’s hard for me to find a place that has vocal pitch pipes. This place has them! Plus if there’s anything else that I need or my students need they can easily order it from here. I really like how small and intimate of a place it is and Jamie behind the desk was a great help.

Awesome shop, a really refreshing assortment of instruments for such a tiny place, I’ve been playing bass for 10 years and have seen what most shops have to offer — this one is unique. I saw basses I’d never heard of or seen before — Vintage Kays, Ovations, Ibanezs, and more with real character. You will not find a wall of standard Fenders like you do at Union Grove, much, much more interesting stuff and tons more bang for the buck.
Fantastic prices, the bass strings I usually buy were $ 10 cheaper than just about everywhere else I’ve shopped (25 $ down from $ 35)
Anyways, go in, check it out, the guy who was working was really down to earth, is happy to talk, and point you in a good direction.

Love this shop. Good new & used gear. Bought a great used ~ 1992 era telecaster style electric and a Fender tube amp this past Sunday June 9, 2013 and really enjoyed the experience… Great shop; great staff; super enjoyable, and they are happy to educate you!!! Didn’t plan on buying a tube amp, but it was soooo awesome I had to pay the $$$$ and the shop is so cool, so i didn’t mind. Love stoppin in here whenever im in santa cruz. I recommend u stop in too… it’s super convenient and enjoyable.

One of the last bastions of shopkeepers – vs sales managerialism.
Tthe new location is a hideaway next to the ice cream shop. Look for all the signs telling tourists not to take up all the parking spaces. (lol)
It seems like a tiny shop, but is packed with good stuff. Every piece of equipment looks like it has a story. I’m bored of cookiecutter music shops, and steve’s is not one of them. Also the shopkeeper has been nice everytime I’ve been there, not a jerk like other shops. He seems like an electronics whiz too, cool guy.
I took an old setup I wasn’t using anymore and got a good trade for a bass I had my ear on. I think it was pretty even. I tested out a few odd instruments, plenty of diversity. Plenty of other good looking ones that I personally don’t care for.
Would highly recommend – the small shops are a dying even in SC

I ended up at Steve’s Music when I first moved to Santa Cruz. Another local music store had burned me. Steve and I became friends and the rest is history. That was 1994. I was thrilled when he came back and opened his new store. Best equipment and deals in town. Steve’s is the best and Steve is the best.

Hands-​down the best selection of used amps and guitars in town, and probably in a 50 mile radius. Steve’s got a really wonderful selection of used amps, none of them new-​fangled junk, lots of them somewhat weird, lots of them really classic and sweet sounding. Prices are not really low on amps but it’s not ebay, you can play them, and make sure they are killer. I played at least three that I would have bought on the spot if I had the money. Also, they’ve got used speakers, which you can’t find anywhere else in town. And nice guitars at good prices. You won’t find an American Strat anywhere nearby for $ 700, but Steve’s has several. Nice vibe too, it still feels like a hidden treasure, not crowded, no legions of shredders tossing out their Guitar center licks. You can play an amp or guitar in relative peace.

I remember when Steve had the spot that’s now occupied by «The Starving Musician» — I was in high school and Steve’s was just the coolest music shop ever! You could find things there that were incredible, rare, weird and just plain fascinating. I was dismayed when they closed up. Now, Steve (and Jamie) are back down the street and though the current shop is smaller, it’s chock full of cool stuff. It’s a down and dirty used guitar gear shop with a revolving cast of crazy locals — but it’s wall to wall cool stuff and you can find some very rare weird guitars. Jamie is a cool guy and their pricing isn’t bad. Definitely worth checking out!
I’ve bought a few things here, most notably, I found a vintage Ibanez MC-​924 fretless bass which is a total gem. The bass was only $ 350 or so because the body has a crack, but it doesn’t affect the stability or playability and it’s just the most amazing bass ever. I can’t afford $ 7,000 for a Wal. .. this is my substitute!

Great place to buy a used guitar or amp. He does repairs too. Steve has the normal Gibson and Fenders and basses and stuff, but he has good quaility stuff that is unusual: Yamahas, Teiscos, Danos, Burns, etc. I had been searching three months for an obscure American made Peavey and I found it at his place at a good price.
I just wish he would put some of his stuff online.
I will be coming back.
Its a cool, funky, nice place.

We just shopped for Christmas gifts at Steve’s, and the service was wonderful. Steve is the owner and attended us with knowledgeable, friendly, non-​rushed service. I am not a musician, but I could tell that this would be a great place to go for an acoustic guitar, an electric guitar, speakers, mikes and other music related stuff. It is right by Marianne’s Ice Cream, very easy to get to.
You won’t get this kind of service elsewhere!