Golden Age Fretted Instruments

Great guitar shop with an incredible collection of boutique instruments. I picked up a wonderful guitar there that is among the best I’ve ever played. Highly recommended.

Great inventory, great treatment, fair prices and a wonderful atmosphere-​this is one of the foremost guitar shops in the world!

I gave up playing the guitar years ago, but the arrival of this shop in my home town inspired me to take it up again.
John has a large inventory of acoustic and electric guitars, basses, and amplifiers, both used and new. Although you will find vintage Fenders and Gibsons, the emphasis here is on high-​end, boutique luthiers: Benedetto, Bill Mitchell, Bourgeois, Breedlove, Brent McElroy, John Suhr, Sadowsky, and a number of others, with an interesting selection of solid body and arch-​top electrics.
If you are a beginner, this is probably not the place for you to shop. I bought a used Martin for four figures, and it was one of the least expensive instruments in the store. I wondered how such an esoteric shop could make in this small suburban town, but, evidently, most of his customers are accomplished musicians who know what they are looking for, and they buy instruments by mail. There is a 2 – 3 day approval period, so if you are not satified with your instrument, you can return it.
John’s demeanor is very laid back, almost indifferent. He did not condescend to me, even though I know about five chords, and he left me alone to play anything in the store that I wanted to. A very cool shop.

***Hmm I noticed Unilocal changed the address of what I originally typed. There is also another golden age listed on Unilocal,but that’s not the correct address either. This is what’s posted on e-​mail instrument updates:
Golden Age Fretted Instruments | 309 South Avenue West | Westfield | NJ | 7 090 ***
John Reynolds is the man that runs this place. I don’t know where he is able to find all these rare vintage instruments, but I am glad he does because he sells them off his site at fair value prices. Go browse the site because the collection is immense and the total value of all his instruments combined here could probably match most jewelry stores.
I bought an epiphone J200 Elitist from here that has turned out to be my favorite guitar. I can’t afford to buy the gibson version, but the japanese epiphones are pretty much an exact replica with all solid woods and top craftsmanship. Problem was that they were discontinued. However, John just happened to stock one and I was on a race against the clock to secure one before it disappeared.
Service was quick, to the point and professional. The whole transaction took maybe 5 minutes. My guitar arrived exactly as on the date specified with no major damage. However, one thing that I will dock him for is that the guitar came with an half inch crack along the finger board — it’s only in the poly finish and not the wood so its not a big deal to the guitar. However, John had told me that the guitar was *mint* with no blemishes. He’s gotten great reviews from other guys at the
so I’m just going to assume he failed to see the finish crack and made a mistake with his words. So other than that, the guitar plays wonderfully.
So give him a call, browse his instruments and get ready to satisfy your vintage instrument cravings. I originally had his rating listed at 4, but docked a star for my guitar being listed as *mint* whereas it really had a small blemish that I’m thinking he failed to see. Despite this, I wouldn’t mind ordering from him again and will update my rating to a 4 if I get a guitar from him with a more accurate description.