McCabe’s Guitar Shop

In contrast to Dwight B.‘s rather scathing review about being bothered, I had the opposite happen in that I had to go out of my way to find someone to help me. I’m finally getting serious about my ukulele playing and signed up online for a series of 8 lessons and showed up early on the first night to browse around as I’d heard a lot about McCabe’s, but never visited. I was there 20 minutes wandering around and no one even said «Hello!» Then, when I tried to apply a credit I had for a one day lesson to the preferred 8 lesson series, I got the run around from the staff that I couldn’t do it until some dude showed up the next day. They took my number and assured I’d get a call from this mysterious authority figure, but, as you can probably figure out, no one called. The next week when I showed up I asked if I could simply pass the one day lesson on to a friend and again was met with bewilderment. I said I’d just have my friend show up and use my name and they said ok. We’ll see. Let me emphasize that no one was rude or impolite; they simply weren’t «there» for my needs. Maybe this place is more geared toward serious players?
So why am I giving this place four stars? For all the problems with my initial encounters, the lessons have been AMAZING!!! The instructor, Steve Rose, aka «Mr. Ukelele,» is one of the best I’ve ever had in ANY subject. I can already play five songs and know enough chords to churn out a bunch of tunes and be semi dangerous at parties. Crazy. I’ve become so infatuated with the ukulele that I’m thinking of buying a much better one than I currently have. McCabe’s has a great selection, but I’m just not sure I’ll plunk down the money with them based on my customer service experiences. Classes, though, are top notch.
UPDATE: Ok, I went back to McCabe’s to have another uke I own stringed and was helped by the most friendly person EVER — Nancy. She strung it like a pro (flipping the strings upside down for left-​handed players is no easy feat) and I’m beginning to warm to the place. The vibe is definitely night vs. day and you should go during the day if you want the best experience (and ask for Nancy).

My son plays guitar and he has been looking for a guitar place that he can really enjoy himself. Well he has found it here at McCabe’s. He really enjoyed playing the different guitars and even thinking about taking up the banjo. He also loved the venues that tend to be available. He told me this will be his go to store when he needs anything for his guitars.

A gem. I first heard of McCabes while in college in NH in 1970 as this cool guitar store where you might just hear Joni Mitchell or Neil Young playing an acoustic guitar. They even have their own specially made Taylor Guitar with their logo on the head stock. Saw Rhett Miller there last night (from a band called Old 97). He’s found in the same channel with Wilco on Spotify. Great venue! Like going back in time — a real safe haven and intimate space! OBTW I don’t give out 5 stars much for anything!

I bought my first banjo here just 1 year ago and have been taking lessons with John Rosen weekly at McCabe’s. I can’t speak highly enough of John as I’ve been progressing very quickly. Being in there weekly I can say that the staff is friendly and helpful and I look forward to stopping in. When I purchased my banjo I felt the staff was truly looking for me to get the best value for my money. I didn’t feel pressured but rather like a friend was making a recommendation. This place is great and I have memories of driving past it when I was a child. Lastly, if you’ve never been, the talent that performs at McCabe’s is incredible. The concerts are one of West LA’s best kept secrets.

Anyone that has visited knows it’s special! It’s a gem in LA. I’ve taken harmonica lessons and it was very good. Very easy to follow. This shop offers an amazing selection of world instruments. But I wish they had more Gypsy Jazz guitars! Only recommendation!

a total delight – there’s a reason that even the decent quality Martin and Gibsons at Guitar Center are only average – it’s because the really high end instrument invariably go to McCabes Guitar Shop (and other high-​end owner-​operator joints, like Truetone). They have the much-​coveted Austin-​based Collings guitars as well, and each and every one, from the baby Collings (impressive for it’s size) to the cannon-​like Dreadnaught (like a piano in guitar-​shape!) were knockouts… a simply lovely store, and yes, I bought a great guitar there, a beautiful Guild 12 string. and need I mention, they did setup on the Guild for free? Terrific repair guys, great attitutude… I’ll be back, again and again…

I have a weird issue with my ukulele a design flaw they identified it pretty quickly guitar center couldn’t figure it out gave it a temporary fix that I’ll have to keep maintaining to keep it I stable wish there was a better solution but hey they did it for free great store totally happy with everything they did

McCabe’s has been around forever. It’s always a treat to walk around and play some of the beautiful guitars hanging on the walls. They have fantastic, intimate live shows too. I got to see Cat Power play for a couple of hours with about 50 other people! Now you can see her at the Hollywood Bowl! Music lessons, gear, shows are all available from helpful and very knowledgeable folks, unlike GC and the other big box store.

I love this shop. It’s a great little acoustic shop right off the 405 freeway and it’s filled with many great guitars. I used to come here pretty often and play their acoustics because they have so many. It’s been a while and it guess it’s time I should go back and visit the old shop.
The only reason why I’m giving this shop 3 stars is because of the lack of assistance from the luthiers and repairmen. This is mainly the reason why I stopped coming here. I brought my guitar into the shop to get it set up for a show and I made sure to tell one of the workers that my show is next Friday and the assistant/​Luthier told me, no problem, we’ll have it done. It was a simple task. Speed up to Friday and my guitar has not even been touched. The guy tries to tell me there’s nothing wrong and it doesn’t need to be set up. This was another way to tell me he didn’t have time to get to my guitar or something. He gives me this look like he knows he made a mistake but, he’s trying to cover it up by telling me that the guitar is fine. The guitar had a buzz going on the D string and the action was high; it definitely needed work. I was polite about it, took my guitar back and went to another shop. The thing that irritated me the most was that I had a show in the evening and now I had to use my guitar which needed some work. That’s all I could think about during my set. Also, i don’t live close to the shop and chose to make the drive to Santa Monica just to go to McCabe’s because I was a loyal customer.
Nonetheless, the guitar shop is fantastic. I always recommend my students and colleagues to buy their guitars here and they’re never disappointed. As far as repairs, in the past, they were fantastic but now I recommend other places. However, It really is a great store so stop by at least once!

It has been a long time dream of mine to learn how to play banjo. I saw the classes at McCabe’s and decided to go check them out. The staff was really helpful in terms of helping me rent a banjo from their shop. The rates were affordable, and after a few months of renting when I decided to purchase my banjo, all the rent I paid went towards the full price of the banjo!
I have taken Beginning Banjo and Banjo Two with Fred. The classes are no pressure and informal. You can pay for the 6 lessons all at once, or per individual class. Fred is really good about teaching songs based on what the students want to learn. Parking has never been a problem after 6 pm — you can park in the US Bank lot.
Love McCabe’s!

Great place. I just bought a great guitar yesterday from this place.

Great service. Very knowledgeable. Fixed my ukelele string at no charge. Great old school, lived in, historic vibe. I will be back if I need anything else for my uke. Thanks McCabes!

I recently took a few of my guitars in to McCabe’s for tune ups. The technician (Matt) was extremely helpful and insightful. What I liked most was he gave me the choice at the end of the day and didn’t try to upsell anything. I brought an acoustic Guild 12-​string for a basic re-​stringing. $ 40 for the work + cost of strings, which was kind of expensive, but I understand that stringing a 12-​string guitar is kind of a pain. In addition to the re-​stringing, they oiled up the fretboard and cleaned up the headstock, etc… Before they re-​strung the guitar, Matt showed me the bridge of the guitar was raising a bit, but mentioned that it was nothing to worry about until it was clearly visible. I appreciate the insight and extra information he shared. To be honest (and not to bash Guitar Center) but if I brought the guitar into GC, they simply would have have re-​strung it and sent me on my way, which would have been fine, but again not the service you get at McCabe’s. You can tell they care and really love what they do.
In addition to the Guild, I brought in a Martin Jumbo Custom for a full service and was hoping to get the action lowered a bit. Matt took one look and said that it’s playing fine, but agreed that Martin generally set’s their guitars up with high action. I’ve had this guitar after the service now for about a week and couldn’t be happier! It’s quicker, easier and overall a better guitar to play now. Thank you McCabe’s! The full service was $ 75, which I thought was extremely reasonable, especially for the work produced.
Lastly, I wanted to mention the shop is so cool and has such a positive vibe. A ton of great instruments to play and overall a staff that is incredibly friendly and knowledgeable.

I’ve lived in West LA for many years but somehow just recently discovered this place. I have to say, I’m very impressed. The first time I came in, I had some tuning machines installed. They told me I could hang out and they’d have it done in a half hour (the GC down the street has taken at least a day to get to the work done every time I’ve gone to them). So I proceeded to sit down and play every $ 5K+ guitar I could get my fingers on with zero hassle from the salespeople for the next 30 minutes, falling in love with one in particular.
The second time I visited just to try out some high-​end brands I’d been reading about. The sales staff opened the high-​end case for me with no hesitation or attitude. They very much provide a consultative sales experience, getting to the heart of what you’re looking for. This is the sales experience I appreciate the most. Additionally, during both visits I noticed how friendly and knowledgable the other customers were, which I thought was remarkable. The next time I plan on pulling the trigger on a guitar purchase, I will be doing it here. And they’ve definitely won my repair shop business.
As an aside, they also carry some very cool custom built Taylor guitars with unique tonewood pairings. After playing most of them, I can say with confidence that they really know how to pick their wood combos!

Although I wish I was, I am not a musician, so I have no idea how this place fares as a music store, but it is definitely a GREAT place to see a band/​artist if they happen to play there. It’s a real music store, with tons of instruments for sale and other services, but they also have a backroom with a small stage and a bunch of chairs. VERY small venue, which also makes it so great.

Really disappointed to be honest.
I stopped in with an older Fender acoustic that had been my uncles and had sat unplayed in a closet for years, it really needed a good cleaning top to bottom and new strings. I told the guy at the bench what I wanted done and he said «no problem, we always clean the guitars when we restring them» and asked me if i wanted to wait on it while he asked «one of his brothers» to do the job.
Twenty minutes later the other guy said he was done and handed me the guitar in it’s case. Shame on me for not checking the guitar before i left the store!
I took the guitar out of the case when i got home and it’s just as dirty as it was when i walked into the store, seriously, it looks like it wasn’t even wiped down at all let alone «cleaned» like he said it would be. Same crud and finger prints on the headstock as well as the cutaway and sides.
Granted, I didn’t stop in to buy a $ 4k Martin today, but it’s crap service like this that cements the fact that when I do decide to drop serious coin on a new axe, it most certainly won’t be a McCabe’s.

For the most part, I’ve patronized and liked this store. Recently, a couple events occurred that made me want to go in there less. Granted, I actually think of them as a pretty darn good store and they fill a much needed niche in the Los Angeles area (acoustic instruments and acoustic instrument lessons).
I brought my electric guitar in for a pretty basic tune up — I wanted the buzzing from the 13^th fret on up to be remedied and the action raised just a tad higher so I could play slide. Only a tad. The luthier was a little hesitant to raise it. When I got it back, the buzzing was taken care of but the action was so high that it rendered the guitar basically useless. It was obnoxiously high to the point that I thought he might be making a point. Now I could’ve brought it back in and commented on his work but I decided against it and just reset the action and intonated the guitar myself. I felt that if the luthier did that to the guitar, he didn’t take a thorough look at his work when he was done to see how unusable the action really was nor did he communicate with me if what he did was acceptable. It made me feel uncomfortable to bring anymore guitars in to get them worked on by him. Have to listen to my gut.
I only say this because I’ve had many guitars worked on by quite a few luthiers over the last 25 years of performing music regularly/​professionally. Their work speaks for itself. I wanted to give McCabes a try as it gets good reviews. This luthier I got just needs to take his time or communicate with the client a bit more to see if he’s on the same page. I might try them again in a couple years but will be going to other luthiers I have a rapport with until that time.
But my banjo! The banjo that I had worked on by McCabes was better than great! He communicated with me thoroughly and nailed what I wanted to have done and went above and beyond all the while keeping the price down. Unheard of. He’s also been doing it for a long time. Incredible service.
I don’t want to rail on the younger luthier, I just think it’s a learning curve. So long as he keeps in communication with the client he’ll be fine. But clients won’t come back if you don’t take the time to go through the work they’ve done with them.
Outside of that, this place is alright for the most part. They’ve earned the right to be kind of mellow and take their time, like a music store in a small town. You just have to slow down a little bit when you get there and not expect things to happen NOW. Plus they let you go behind the counter to pick your strings. That’s pretty cool :-)

My husband has purchased several instruments here over the years but my review is for the live music. Most recent visit was last night for the Baseball Project. The employees are very friendly, the theater so intimate (my guess is 50 seats) and the sound quality is amazing. I saw some seasoned veterans bring their own seat cushions for the folding chairs and my mistake last night was sitting in the third row and only because to see the musician’s faces you have to crane your neck to look up for the duration. Bathroom is a single stall, so I usually rush over there first. Bottled water was $ 2 and they also sell cookies/​coffee. We lucked out and got free metered parking almost directly in front of the venue. Pro (amateur?) tip: water fountain is located btwn the restrooms.

I came here to see a show a while back in my pre-​Yelp days. Loved it, btw.
This time around, I brought in a time capsule — my husband’s childhood violin for an evaluation. Over time, the strings had broken, the bridge and chinholder were lying in the case. And it was so tiny, I wasn’t sure if it was a piece of junk worth updating for my 6 year old.
Lo and behold, Doug (the music/​instrument repair guy) helped me out for the next 40 minutes tinkering here, restringing there and, for less than $ 15, this 30+ year old violin was back, baby!
What a labor of love on Doug’s part — he was so patient and thorough. I will always go here first for my music needs.

Add me to the list of unhappy prospective customers.
My friend, who is a wonderful musician and plays all things stringed, suggested I go to McCabe’s to buy a ukulele. So I drive all the way over there, walk in, and see that the ukes are all up high on the wall, no prices visible, and I can’t handle them or give a trial strum. So I keep walking around, looking and looking at them, while the guys behind the front counter just keep talking amongst themselves and ignoring me. Am I really supposed to ask for the help that I obviously need? Am I supposed to ask how much each one costs? They really can’t be bothered to help me, or say hello when I walk in?
And neighborhood stores wonder why people flock to the Internet. Wonder no more!