Guitar Center

Walked in here close to closing time and in search of some basic information regarding DJ mixers/​controllers. Gio was knowledgable without being arrogant and answered my questions in a way that made sense to a beginner. It was past closing time when we finally left, but not once did he rush me. Thanks!

There is a lot of things to say good but I was happy with the customer service I have a fog machine Acting funny One phone call with no time to insurance company the nice really helpful I to tell on my Family in my friend and how nice they so I will be back

This place is such a mixed bag, depending on the person who happens to help you.
Sometimes you get someone knowledgeable, efficient, professional… And some other times you get, well, white hairs, waiting for a mumbling, slow, dopey assistant.
I’ve bought and sold stuff here. One time I came with what I expected to be a super complex trade, and it took literally 25 minutes from the moment I crossed the door to the moment I walked out with a new instrument. And other times I’ve come with what I thought would be a straightforward transaction and spent over an hour with a guy who spent most of this time smiling at other customers and packing other stuff. Ugh!

Acoustic inventory in the long time makers (Gibson …) seems to be going down. Inventory seems to be increasing in the low $ guitar area in both acoustic & electric. Acoustic questions? Make sure you deal with «Mike» in the acoustic room.

Called ahead and got the low-​down on getting my acoustic guitar professionally setup. I get there and the luthier asks me to leave the guitar for him and to come back in a bit, as he was doing some work on a guitar while another customer waited. I play some guitars and keyboards on the floor and come back 45 mins later. He’s still doing work on that guitar, work that did not appear to be something that could be paused for a few minutes to write up a simple ticket so I could leave. I wait another 20 minutes near the service station, read an entire book on guitar strings, and then finally let him know I had to leave, as I was going to miss an appointment I had. He asks me to come back to write up a proper ticket, which I do about 2 hours later (mind you, it took me an hour by bus to get back). Find out he had gone home and there was no one there who knew how to write up a service ticket. Super frustrating.
I will say their prices ($ 60 for professional setup) are significantly cheaper than High voltage in Capitol Hill ($ 100) and American Music ($ 95) in Fremont.

Went into Guitar Center as a complete guitar-​newb last night and was blown away by Stephen’s attentiveness and willingness to help me pick the «right» acoustic guitar (that’s a pun because I decided to get a left-​handed guitar). He worked with me on making the decision to learn to play left-​handed even though I’m right-​handed. I’m thankful for his encouragement to play what feels natural.
In addition to Stephen’s stellar help, the guitar I was looking at was on super sale for the President’s Day sale. I’m excited to learn to play the guitar and look forward to coming back in the future for my guitar-​needs.

Really outstanding guitar center, we travel and when we are in the Washington area my husband likes to shop at this store. They have a great selection and really good salsa personnel. We have dealt with Michael the last few times and he does a great job and has lots of knowledge of guitars and amps.

Yup… This Guitar Center is as good as they come. I lived in Issaquah for about a year and a half and during that time I spent many many hours here testing out different things in the guitar area. The staff is great: Kenny is a very friendly and helpful manager, Aldo is an awesome repair guy and if you ever need to buy anything at GC and I do mean anything then ask for Beens. He is a very talented guitarist and the most reasonable and helpful salesman I have ever met. Check this place out!

Like the selection and enthusiasm, but, unlike an earlier reviewer, I DO think they’re on commission given staff member’s over-«attentiveness,» repeated hawking of items and requests to pay through them. A little over the top. Please back off, GC.

Best guitar center I’ve been too. Mike in the guitar room is amazing! They also have my fav guitar center manager transferred from Lynnwood. His name is Kenny. Awesome location and the roof parking is great.
Will buy my next guitar here and whatever other drum parts I need.

This review is for the Rental Dept.
Christian was EXTREMELY helpful and provided EXCEPTIONAL customer service. We had a last minute gig come up and were in need of lighting. Christian took alot of time to understand our project and make some great suggestions for our gig. He was really flexible and easy to work with even when we had to come back a few times for cables and cords (being the nubes that we were). Best of all the prices were very fair and the equipment was in great shape. The crowd and venue owners loved the show which really complemented our DJ set nicely. All in all the gig went well and much gratitude goes to Christian and GC for helping us make it happen!

I had a really great experience with these guys.
My house was burglarized earlier, and I had to buy a replacement guitar. Trey was super patient, knowledgable, and stayed well past closing hour without guilting me for it. And Mike made sure I got the last remaining guitar of the model I wanted kept on hold.
The 15% coupon for labor day on top of it was a great bonus.
Perhaps «serious musicians» may be more demanding than I am — but I couldn’t have asked for a better experience.

Oh, the prices. I love guitar center, you just can’t beat the prices.
Sure, I probably can’t go in there asking about the inner workings of a Fractal Audio Axe FX or which factory their Ibanez RGs are made in, but I wouldn’t expect to. Do your homework, come in and get great deals.

I came in today looking around and Trey helped me initially. He showed me a few guitars after asking me what I’m looking for. Later on, he had to help another customer and Andy, a friendly curly hair guy there came by to check on me. He too was super helpful and I ended up with a very nice guitar, a Fender Malibu. I got some good discount and he was accommodating.
I really like this store and appreciate the help I got in selecting a quality guitar. When Andy discovered some unusual stains/​spots/​blemishes on the top board of the guitar, he assured me there’s a 30 days returns policy if I don’t like like it, I could return it.
I’m pleased with the purchase so I didn’t ask Andy to give me a discount for these blemishes, and he has been so helpful.

This review is long overdue!
I visited this Guitar Center in Sept. 2013.
I had gone in with the intention of buying a Martin Backpacker for my boyfriend’s birthday, I just wanted something small for him/​us to travel/​hike/​take to the park and play with.
I spoke with Adrian Ladelia. He suggested I look at the Baby Taylors, instead. I did, but told him that was out of my price range, since we had just moved to Seattle, and money was tight until I found a job.
While he was grabbing me a new Backpacker from the back, I noticed a used Baby Taylor for $ 199. I immediately grabbed it and played on it until Adrian returned.
We spoke more, he told me a bit about the Taylor vs the Martin… I love Taylor guitars, so it wasn’t hard to decide that I wanted to purchase the taylor, instead.
Adrian went to ring me up and discovered an issue– the guitar had a 30 day hold on it, and the 30 days wasn’t up, yet. However, he told me that I could still pay for it, and simply pick it up that weekend. I loved the guitar, so I agreed to that.
When he scanned the taylor, he noticed another problem… Someone else was already making payments on it, so It wasn’t for sale. I was crushed.
After holding and playing this Baby Taylor, there was no way I wanted the Backpacker anymore. I thanked Adrian as he looked to see if another store had the Taylor for around $ 200. No one did. I thanked him, again, and prepared to leave.
Adrian asked me to wait, and went to find a manager. When he returned, he told me that his manager was going to let him sell me a NEW Baby Taylor for the price of the used! My mood immediately changed. I couldn’t believe the kindness, empathy, and awesomeness of Adrian and his manager.
I didn’t want his kindness to go unnoticed. He was very friendly and knowledgable, and did this amazing favor.
Thank you Adrian, and thank you Guitar Center for hiring people like Adrian!

Boring, uninspired and steeped in the tepid sauce of mediocrity. Don’t fool yourselves, Guitar Center is a sham and a scam. Shame on that store! You get 3 stars only because your parking lot is great.

There are a couple good people who work here, although they don’t stay for very long – mostly the staff are salesmen that will try and up-​sell you to equipment you don’t need. They don’t really know the products or use them themselves. On the whole, the Seattle store’s customer service is poorer than the one in Kirkland.
The only reason to shop here vs online is that their regular 15% off sales are a better price than the tax-​free, free shipping sites out there.
Basically this store has the reputation of saying anything to make a sale, even if it is not accurate. My advice is to read reviews from sites like: MusicRadar, SOS, MusicTech, etc, and then when you know what you want come into this store to get it on sale.
One thing that might bump this rating up a star is when the Seattle store starts renting equipment.

I was in the market for another turntable, but was looking a very specific one: Technics SL-​1200MK5. It has not been in production for a few years now, but plentiful on the used market. It was a matter of finding one at non-​inflated prices. There were several routes I could have gone, but I know that buying from Guitar Center used items they sell go through rigorous checks. Plus it helps that they have a 30-​day warranty on used items!
I found my turntable online at a store in Boston. I placed the order and within the hour I got a message from the store that the item was no longer available. Apparently, someone bought it in store ten minutes before me! Long story short, Guitar Center’s customer service rep help me locate another turntable out of their Ohio store and I had it shipped the Seattle store! Upon arrival I was impressed with the packaging. Turntables are not very large items, but it was seriously bubble wrapped along with a bunch of airbags as well as being double boxed! This didn’t add too much weight to the already heavy turntable (31 lbs.).
I like that the Seattle store has that upstairs parking lot since parking in South Lake Union can be quite a challenge!
Picking my turntable up at the store with receipt and identification in hand:
I’ll grab the package and meet Sounds great!
you up front where you can sign out. |
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SALES REP ME
Here you go! HOLY CRAP! All that for a turntable?
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SALES REP ME

Like anything and everything in the world there is something shinier and more impressive next to the thing that *you can* afford. Or maybe that pink 12 string really is for you. Who knows? That’s when you have to figure out how you’re going to afford a $ 3k guitar that you are just going to hang on a wall, and when you do play it the thing sounds like an old tick hound caught in some jagger bushes. Betcha wish you would’ve done a million other things with that money. Tastes even more bitter when you drag your tired bones back to that job to pay off your guitar center credit card. You’re really rockin’ now, man. Gail and Steve from the break room at work have heard all about your plans to make it big in music. Your boss can’t wait until you go restock the milk in the cooler. Clean-​up on aisle 7, too, by the way there, Johnny Ramone.
Guitar Center has been filling closets from coast to coast with guitars and piles of other shit you don’t need for 20 years. Along with shot to hell rock dreams that you could only corporeally make manifest.
Their business model is something like this:
Customer comes in to purchase a $ 1.98 pack of Chinese guitar strings?
Do everything you can to sell them $ 50,000 worth of recording equipment also. Along with a drumset that has «tribal art» on it. Plus 3 editions of Beatles song books. And one of those death star things to collect all your stupid f*$king pedals that make stupid noises. Plus a t-​shirt of Sid Vicious smoking a joint. And a onesie for the baby that says «GUITAR CENTER» on it.
Just like in Vegas, it’s not their job to tell you when to quit blowing money.
In a building somewhere they have meetings. Double greased pizza is ordered, they point at charts, bang away at some algorithm, and figure out how to get money from you by being the intermediate for a boatload of garbage from China. Then comes the personalized mailers that beg you to come in and buy. More. Junk.
Don’t be like me.

I needed fog fluid. For a fog machine.
Not for a band. Not for a show.
But for a bunch of engineers.
I have a weird job sometimes.
My company does these tests that require fog and fans. Guitar Center is a place to get fog fluid and fortunately it’s right by my work. So I ventured forth today, a little worried that I would look foolish or be frowned upon or feel out of place. It’s been a long, long time since I’ve been in a music shop.
But the guy helping me was great. He searched all over the store for the fog fluid, went in the back to find the exact item I saw online, and then price matched what I found online as well.
Though I was not looking for a musical instrument today, I can tell you that Guitar Center: 1. is huge and most likely has what you need in the way of instruments, and 2. lives up to its name and does in fact carry a ton of guitars. There was a guy trying one out while I was there.
4 Stars for my experience, but I don’t think it’s fair to go all the way since I wasn’t looking for the kind of help or product most Guitar Center customers would come in for. So 3.5 Stars.
There is a parking lot up top, but I have no idea how you get a car up there. You can catch the SLUT across the street. You can grab a beer next door or a coffee at the end of the block. Or wait five minutes and there’s a 75% chance Tom Douglas will open a new restaurant right where you are standing!
And so concludes my non-​musical adventure to Guitar Center.