I initially had a negative experience here with one of the staff members. Â I thought it was unusual to have such a off-putting experience at a boutique music shop -- having travelled to many boutique music shops across the country I almost always leave feeling like it was a great experience -- great instruments, great atmosphere, and great friendly helpful staff. Â I figured maybe it was a bad day or something.
Since my initial experience here was surprisingly negative I contacted the owner, David. Â My comments and concerns were all well received -- in fact we were both in perfect agreement about what went wrong and how the situation should have been handled.
Having said all of the above, the rest of my experience was perfect. Â Another staff member who I spoke to was helpful and answered questions I had about mountain dulcimers as well as high end guitars. Â The instrument selection is vast and the staff seem knowledgable.
(This is probably 4.5 stars to me.) Â I haven't come across anywhere like this before with such an eclectic mix of instruments. Â This is excellent for ukuleles, banjos, guitars, and drums. Â For the latter, I don't mean formal percussion -- at least as far as I saw -- but otherwise drums of all types/nationalities and sizes, as well as numerous 'noise makers' (for lack of a better word) of all variations. Â There are also smallish selections of violins, Asian instruments, harps, accordions [actually a decent-size selection of those . . . as an accordion hater, a far larger selection than I think necessary . . . anywhere . . . :-) ], and other wonderful things. Â The prices aren't exactly friendly on the instruments, but for the those I saw I don't have much background in them (yet) to compare them to, particularly not having come across most of them in other music stores.
The House of Musical Traditions has an interesting set up in what seems to be an old house. Â A winding walk through the two floors reveals each room filled with a different selection of instruments. Â I'll definitely be back, probably for too many intriguing purchases over time.
Interesting selection of instruments here, as well as musical accessories (some very nice music stands hand-carved by a local guy). Â I'd visited a few times before locating the stairs to the second floor. Â
A strong point of this place is that their selection of new, entry-level acoustic guitars is well chosen- almost uniformly good sounding instruments, often in the $200-300 range. Â The rambling layout of the place means that there's often not a staff person around, though that's a good thing if you just want to test out an instrument or do some good old fashioned shoplifting (I kid).
We recently bought a guitar for our son here. Â The service was excellent and they seem to have a good selection of stringed instruments as well as percussion. Â Not sure if we paid too much, but we know we bought the right thing from a local business. Â Worth it for the service. Â If you're lucky, one of the employees will pick up an instrument and play. Â An impromptu concert that's always welcome.
Review Source:where to begin?... this place is so awesome that we moved to takoma park just to be close to it...
the sad part is, that isn't very much of an exaggeration! Â the other reasons for us moving to takoma park are actually tied quite closely to this place's existence, namely through the institute of musical traditions and all the awesome musical events and musical people surrounding them.
imagine how refreshing it is to walk into a guitar/music shop and not be bombarded by a wall of 'flying-V' guitars, ten kids trying out overdrive pedals, or basically anything with "blood-dripped skull" inlay...
though this place is as dangerous as it is awesome. Â if i walk in unsupervised in the morning, i probably won't leave until closing. Â for me, it's even worse than a trip to the hardware store, where i am also guaranteed to spend ten times as much money and time than initially intended unless my girlfriend is there to serve as a pair of horse-blinders.
we walked in last year to just pick up a $100 mandolin transducer on the way home from the farmer's market and somehow walked out with a pair of brand new instruments, a $1,000 credit card charge to worry about later, and no clue as to what happened to the five hours that had somehow disappeared from our day.
none of that is a reflection of them being pushy salespeople like many other music shops. Â yes, it is a salesperson's job to sell the merchandise, but in comparison to many other places in which i've had far less favorable experiences, HMT is populated by good fellow musician folk who all seem to just be happy to help you hook up with an instrument you like and want on your own. Â ... after reading other reviews, it seems to me that they probably also saw them and took heed...
but anyway, bottom line, go check the place out and you'll be happy you did.
Im so torn.
On one hand, they have instruments you cant find anywhere else or, at least, items that arent worth paying shipping fees to get and this fact requires a premium price tag. On the other hand, they also sell easily accessible, mediocre merchandise at exorbitant prices.
For example, i went in asking for an accordion. The salesman trumpeted, "This one is a morelli!" It was $385, $50 for a case, with tax my total would be $461.00. Sounds great if you dont know what the internet is.
Morelli is a chinese instrument sold "factory direct" to anyone for $199 including a case. Â Who ever buys that accordion will soon feel cheated and they will spread discontent about that store for a long time. Â
They are valiant to sell the non-mainstream merch, but they need to pick their battles; that accordion wasnt the place to do it and the ill will isnt worth it. On the upside, they provide a list of teachers to help musicians on their journey.
I left a hammered dulcimer for refurbishment and tuning, and it was sent to an outside contractor for work although the payment was to HMT. Â The piece was wrapped up when I picked it up, so I didn't check it, but when I got it home and fully unwrapped, the instrument appeared to be in the exact same condition as when I dropped it off, complete with dust streaks and dry wood portions. Â It did not appear to have been cleaned or refurbished, and was completely out of tune. Â I called the contractor, who said he'd worked on it for hours, and refused to acknowledge that perhaps he'd mixed up instruments and never actually worked on mine. Â When I called HMT to find out what to do, the staff person said that sometimes dulcimers needed to be tuned 5 or 6 times and that it was normal for an older one to go out of tune quickly, and suggested that I bring it back in and pay to have it tuned again. Â It must have gone out of tune in the 15-minute car ride home. Â I think this is a great store for promoting traditional music, but if they won't stand behind the work they do nor make up for contractor errors, it doesn't mean much.
Review Source:The staff is really friendly, the gear is very cool and the prices are fair. Recently I had some repairs and trades with them. I was really impressed. The repairs were done perfectly and for a fair price and the trade-in was handled very professionally. I have been really happy with this place and try to make it my first stop.
I just wish this place was bigger. I really like what they carry and would like to see more of it.
I got a guitar here. Â He came with a name. Â Ripley, destroyer of alien foes. Â If you know anything at all about D&D, you'll appreciate the power of Names. Â Heck, you might even if you aren't a fellow geek. Â That name alone will probably wind up being the only thing that keeps me playing regularly, because otherwise I would want to learn but wouldn't practice enough.
Moral: Anthropomorphize your guitar. Â And get it at House of Musical Traditions.
The people in the store are friendly as well, and it's a cozy, bright place with really good vibes. Â Go there.
You can find things here you can't find anywhere else. It is the local go to place for musicians. Need a sitar? They got it. Want to get hooked up with penny whistle lessons? Give them a call. Need your Auto-Harp tuned - bring it on over. The only reason I give it 3 stars instead of 5 is the staff talks down to be people a bit and can be very condescending if you aren't someone they consider in the "know". They also have ahigher mark up than a lot of other places.
Review Source:This place. THIS PLACE. I haven't been to the House of Musical Traditions in years, but this was a grand visit. I made it a mission to try out all the weird instruments, and gosh was it fun! They have most instruments you'd never expect to see in a store - sitars, erhus, and a few far weirder items I cannot identify.
Of course, if you're after the more mainstream, they have a fantastic selection of acoustic guitars, banjos, and mandolins. I've been investigating picking up an acoustic pickup guitar (made famous by Django Reinhart) and they've got several!
The joy of my visit though, ended up being the humble accordion. It's not that nerdy if you don't play polka! Anyway, I bonded with it rather quickly and rather wish I could have gone home with it...maybe another day. It shall be mine.
I stopped in the House of Musical Traditions last night just to browse. The store seems to focus on local music (it sells CDs by local artists only), guitars, and world instruments, although I did see a few trumpets, trombones, and violins for sale. There's a small selection of sheet music and an array of fun shakers and other things for kids.
Postings around the store advertise music lessons, although it wasn't clear whether these were for guitar and drum only, or other instruments as well. I wasn't there to buy anything in particular, so I can't review the service, but this store is definitely a fun place to browse exotic instruments and local music.
This is a great music store. They have a decent supply of guitars, and they're content to let you play as long as you want. I wish they had more banjos and I wish they didn't try to pressure sell you - but it's a great place to browse. The people who work there are knowledgeable and friendly enough... and the store is involved in the community. It's a great independent store for you to support and feel good about yourself.
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