Music One Workshop?

[Zman]

Anyone deal with them? I spoke to them and they seem very legit. Please let us know.

[bj]

I bought my 52ri over the net late last year. It was shipped to Texas and brought back to Oz by my 16yo son who'd been on a student exchange program. Larry at MusicOne was great - very responsive to my endless queries and concerns. I had to depend on getting a good deal, a quality set-up, a well-packed shipment etc. etc. all from thousands of miles away. Larry did it all - even giving my non guitar playing son instructions about checking for shipping damage and how to re-pack it for airline travel. He sold me a great guitar. I'm still in tele heaven 6 months later.
Why did I choose MusicOne... no, I'm not related to him - just heaps of TDPRI recommendations. They were right of course! :D - bj

[dean]

. . . that gets universal praise around here. And rightly so. Larry does excellent work and is meticulous about the setup of your guitar. Most everyone who has purchased a guitar from him (and who has reported back) has been very pleased. I took my '52 RI custom made Tele to him last December over Christmas break, and he did a rush setup for me in a few days (I had arranged this with him ahead of time). Whenever I am back in my home town, I try to drive the 50 miles to visit the shop, buy some strings or music, and shoot the breeze for a little while. Larry and his brother (they took over the store from their father) are skilled musicians and learned their craft from some of the legends in the New Jersey area. If I was going to buy a new guitar from someone without getting the chance to play it first, I'd order it through Music One. They will take your request/order and look for the one that fits your needs. These guys really do deliver an honest product and service. I'm looking forward to stopping in the shop again this summer.

Dean

[Mark Davis]

Music One is the best place to buy anything with the Fender name on it.

Best service best setups best people on earth.

[Tom A.]

I have bought parts and my '52 RI from them.
100% satisfied. Can't beat them.

[chipl]

Yup, I second all the emotions above. Larry Militech and the folks at Music One are all first-rate folks, not only in terms of guitar sales and service but in terms of being friendly and truly dedicated to their customers and the guitars they sell. Larry gets good stuff from Fender and sorts through it. If he feels the axe isn't good enough for him, it's not good enough for his customers and he'll send it back to Fender. I'm convinced that he would never try to foist a guitar off on someone if he didn't think it was up to par. I've dealt with a lot of musical instruments stores and sales people and Larry is among the most trustworthy guys I've ever dealt with.

I bought a 52 RI sight unseen from Music One in 97 and had Larry install a Parsons White B and G bender. Larry picked out a really light, fine playing 52 RI and did all the work in a first-rate way. Everything he said about the axe was true and it was shipped perfectly. Everytime after that when I had a question I would call him up and he would treat me like an old friend. I've bought parts and videos from him (he's a killer double bender player, too.) and it is such a pleasure dealing with him and George.

You cannot go wrong with Music One. It's lucky I don't live anywhere near the store. I'd probably be broke from buying guitars.

[John E]

OK, I have kept quiet about this, but now I have to give my honest opinion here. I bought a 50's classic from Music One. They were very nice to deal with, spent some time talking to me on the phone, etc. BUT They are very expensive IMO. I ended up paying quite a bit of money on that guitar, so I took quite a beating on it...

Here are my gripes:

1) Guitar listed for about $625 new, which they did not discount at all. I could've gotten one quite a bit cheaper new from a local store, but I was sold on the "they pick you a good one, and setup it up the way it should be." They charged me $125 for a "Gold level Setup" - I still have yet to figure out what the heck that means... when I got it the truss rod needed tweaking... I guess I can't be to upset about that as they are very far from CT, but the Nut was not even close to optimally cut, so the thing played like a bear... and so after paying $125 I was pretty pissed that I had to go out and pay more to get it setup again. I called Larry after a couple of months of trying to "love it" to tell him I wasn't digging it, especially how it played... He told me that "your ears get tired of things" and that's probably what happened to me...

2) They charged me another $25 to "Satin the Neck"... essentially which I know now is running a scouring pad over it.

3) Total cost of the Guitar - $925!!! Granted I had them pop in a Nocaster bridge and TX special neck pups, but you do the math... I feel I got pretty hosed.

I learned an expensive lesson here... I can't totally fault them because at that point, no matter what, I was sold on buying a guitar from Music One. A better way to go would have been to look around for one that spoke to me and have my own guy do a setup... would've cost me a lot less.

Just my own Honest experience and opinion, YMMV.

[astro]

Neck tweaking and a bad nut. Did they make restitution? When I was service manager of a bike store that would have never flown. You say its setup. It better be. Especially if you are gonna charge for something that really should be part of the deal. Especially when buying over the web, because customers haven't played what they are buying.

I've never been convinced about this shop. Sorry people, satinizing? Come on.....

Oh yeah and ever since Bewitched I never been able to trust anyone named Larry!

[John E]

Originally Posted by astro

Oh yeah and ever since Bewitched I never been able to trust anyone named Larry!

Larry from bewitched... that's a good one...
When I bought the guitar it was a couple of years ago, before I really became a tweaker... I was really just a player at that point, it was right before I really became informed on the hardware setups, etc.(Thanks in large part to this site). I just kind of lived with it for a couple of months... I never really made a big stink about it with Music One so I don't know how they would have handled it... As I said I did call and got the "Your ears get tired of things" statement... that really aggravated me as I felt like he was treating me like a little kid, like I didn't know that something wasn't right with the guitar, like that the "newness" had just worn off. Don't get me wrong it wasn't a bad guitar, and after I had it setup it was a decent guitar... I just feel like I got burned and has really soured me on Music One and buying Online in general.

[Silverface]

FWIW...in my experience reputable shops do a quality setup on any guitar. No extra charge or precious-metal marketing claims should be involved.

To me it's simply good service on the part of the seller, and the advantage of dealing with an independant shop on the part of the buyer.

When I buy a car I'm not charged for a tune up...or more for an "even better tune up"...or even more for a "really, really good tune up by our best mechanic". The thing is supposed to be tuned up when I buy it.

I have the same feeling about guitar purchases.

[Mik]

Originally Posted by John E

As I said I did call and got the "Your ears get tired of things" statement...

Wow. sorry JOHN (I've edited: I previously posted "Eric" no idea why!) , but LOL. After a $150 set up on an undiscounted BRAND NEW Tele. well it was "cherry picked" with Gold Level perception precision and axepertise...and a poorly finished nut. Your ears get tired of things. And people p' n' m' about GC and MF.

Any neophyte can set up a new Fender with a little Gold Level patience, info and a few hours.

Thanks for letting us in on the Gold Level customer service.

Mik

[Silverface]

Any neophyte can set up a new Fender with a little Gold Level patience, info and a few hours.

LOL - Well said, Mik. I've always found the "Gold" or whatever "setup level" stuff to fall into the "hype" category...especially since it's not a Fender-mandated term, just one used for a single dealer's marketing purposes.

[Bob Rogers]

I've only dealt with Music One once. (I had them install a b-g-bender in my AS tele and do a setup.) I felt the quality of work was outstanding. The fretwork was the best I've ever played. It really inspired me to learn to dress and polish frets. (I can't afford to send all my guitars out there.) The nut was a great fit and perfectly polished. I'm a very satisfied customer, but as I say, it's only one experience.

To comment on Eric's experience, I'd say that complaints about the nut are surely justified (Music one charges top dollar for their work, you should expect top quality), but complaints about neck relief probably are not. Neck relief is a matter of taste determined by individual playing style. Two players idea of "perfect" neck relief can vary considerably. Unless you specify the relief to the thousandth of an inch and the guitar is shipped in a temperature and humidity controlled environment, you can expect to tweak the relief on any guitar shipped by mail.

[John E]

Originally Posted by Bob Rogers

To comment on Eric's experience, I'd say that complaints about the nut are surely justified (Music one charges top dollar for their work, you should expect top quality), but complaints about neck relief probably are not. Neck relief is a matter of taste determined by individual playing style. Two players idea of "perfect" neck relief can vary considerably. Unless you specify the relief to the thousandth of an inch and the guitar is shipped in a temperature and humidity controlled environment, you can expect to tweak the relief on any guitar shipped by mail.

Not sure who Eric is, but my main problem with them was the prices I paid. I am really not trying to slam them either, just giving my honest opinion. I paid a ridiculous amount of money for a setup, and for the whole guitar for that matter. And let me go into more detail about the setup.... Playing that guitar before I brought it to my tech was like a WWF cage match(it was hard to play). I tried to gig it once before my tech set it up, played 2 songs and sat it in the stand. The frets were OK, but I have no idea whether they touched those or not, could've come that way from Fender. I don't think the nut was touched at all, but hard to say... I had Music One change the strings from the original 9's to 10's, so I would hope they would check the nut. I brought it to my tech who is the best I've ever used and he said that there was no angle cut for the strings at the back of the nut and the nut relief was way to high, basically not setup. Also there was a buzz on the high E-string from a tiny piece of the nut that you could barely see that was broken and stuck in the nut slot. There was also a buzz from the G-string... My tech got his file and after 5 minutes the guitar played 100x better with no buzzing(And it didn't cost me anywhere NEAR $125). As for neck relief, when I got the axe it was not a question of neck relief, the neck was so bowed it was almost twisted... now granted the thing was shipped more than 1/2 way across the country so I'll give the benefit of the doubt here. Hey, I seem to be the only one with a bad experience, maybe it was an anomaly... but regardless I still paid waaaay to much.

[Mark Davis]

Larry offers a 100% return policy if your not happy.

I sent back a couple guitars I got from him which were setup fine but I just didnt like them I'm realy picky. Larry said ok if you dont like it send it back and we will try something else.

Sent back a 62ri Strat and a 60's Classic Strat no problem got full credit for both no questions asked.

I've never been charged for anything other than the price of the guitar his setups are included for free. There is a Master Level setup thats extra but you have to request that.

You cant buy a guitar and have a bunch of mods done to it and expect to get all your money back if you sell it things just dont work that way.

Lets say you bought a new Camaro and didnt like the engine and had a Vette engine put in it that would cost alot and you would never recoup your original investment.

As I remember it from the old TDP when you got your 50's Classic you loved it then a few weeks months later started asking questions about the neck.

As soon as you received the guitar if you werent happy why didnt you just send it back and have Larry make it right?

Also if my memory is still working didnt you also get the bridge larry fixes up with the compensated saddles?

My guess is you paid $625 for the guitar $100 for the bridge thats $725 now add $150 for the pickups you wanted Larry to install thats $875 he has to charge something to install the pickups usually $50-75 is the going rate for a pickup install. So thats how it got up to $925 doesnt take long when you start to change stuff.

Your only the second person I've seen since 1998 who has even made a complaint about Music One.

[Mik]

We got a lot of positive opinions on Larry's operation on this thread. We also benefited from a detailed, civil and articulate account of a poor experience with Music One from a gentleman named John.

Folks also shared some varied approaches to the retail game.

CAN WE PLEASE LEAVE IT AT THAT?


Mik

[John E]

Originally Posted by Mark Davis

Larry offers a 100% return policy if your not happy.

It took me to long to figure out I wasn't happy. I didn't know enough about setups at that point... Actually you are the main person that got me to believe that most axes could be good with a good setup, and that is some of the best advice I have ever gotten.

Originally Posted by Mark Davis

I've never been charged for anything other than the price of the guitar his setups are included for free. There is a Master Level setup thats extra but you have to request that.

One of the main reasons I am still upset, the guitar was not setup properly, by the observation of more than one good tech, yet I paid $125.

Originally Posted by Mark Davis

You cant buy a guitar and have a bunch of mods done to it and expect to get all your money back if you sell it things just dont work that way.

Of course not, I totally agree. But the only mods I did were a bakelite guard, 2 pickups, and some comp. saddles. I feel that $925 is unreasonable for what I got... part of that is my fault, I never really asked him to total it up so I got a nice surprise when I opened the box and saw the bill.

Originally Posted by Mark Davis

As I remember it from the old TDP when you got your 50's Classic you loved it then a few weeks months later started asking questions about the neck.

You're right, that was a beautiful guitar, I wanted to like it and I tried really hard. After a 3 or 4 weeks I called Larry to say I wasn't digging the guitar, it didn't "feel" right... that's when I got the "my ears are tired of it" line. So that's when I started asking questions about the neck. TDPRI'er Wally told me how to properly sight a neck... I did and there was very obviously something wrong. That's when I got techs involved. The neck tweaked out fine, it was the discovery of lack of/poor setup that really burned me.

Originally Posted by Mark Davis

As soon as you received the guitar if you werent happy why didnt you just send it back and have Larry make it right?

At that point I was totally a player, not a tweaker. I bought a guitar I liked and then gigged the heck out of it, and let the techs do everything else. Pretty stupid of me but I really wanted to like that guitar, and honestly I was unaware of a return policy.

Originally Posted by Mark Davis

Also if my memory is still working didnt you also get the bridge larry fixes up with the compensated saddles?

No just the saddles

Originally Posted by Mark Davis

My guess is you paid $625 for the guitar $100 for the bridge thats $725 now add $150 for the pickups you wanted Larry to install thats $875 he has to charge something to install the pickups usually $50-75 is the going rate for a pickup install. So thats how it got up to $925 doesnt take long when you start to change stuff.

Well, your prices are off but you are totally right in that I can't expect to recoup what I put into it. However, I still do now and will always be of the mind that I paid way to much money for that guitar.

Originally Posted by Mark Davis

Your only the second person I've seen since 1998 who has even made a complaint about Music One.

Does that make my opinion invalid? I've regularly gigged as a guitarist for bout 15 years. My tech is a well known member of this site(and someone I don't want to drag into this) , and he was apalled what I was charged for the Labor and setup. Mark, I value your opinions and posts, and I held off long on making a derogatory post about Music One, but I can't in good conscience recommend them.

[Mark Davis]

Thanks for the nice reply.

I've just never heard of anyone having to send a guitar they got from Larry to another Tech to make it right.

But guess there is a first time for everything?

I'm sure if you would have just returned the guitar Larry would have made it play like you wanted it to.

I kept my 62ri about 3-4 weeks and sent it back for a fiull refund no questions asked.

Oh well its not the end of the world.

Didnt mean for it to sound like your opinion wasnt valid either cause complaints about Music One are very rare as you allready know.

[astro]

You yourself are saying that you have sent guitars back to Larry for personal tweaking.

Why you do this when you know full well how to do it yourself I guess is your business.

I have no complaints about Larry, because I have never dealt with him, but frankly expectation is probably what hurts him here. The whole GOLD thing implies perfection. A sloppily cut nut is far from that. We could go on but why.

Secondly, I and others believe that this sevrice should be standard with any guitar you buy from anyone. If I buy a guitar from Joe down the street and it aint setup up right to my liking, I take it back again and again until it is. Your comments regarding the corvette and the camaro are warranted, but frets blooming and an improperly cut nut, don't qualify as an engine change. The pickups and bridge yeah, but the rest, no..

Regardless, Most of what Larry charges a $125 for should come with the guitar automatically, especially if you are paying standard retail prices. If you pay discount, I would expect that your expectations should be diminished.

And neck relief is not really a matter of preference. The neck should be as straight as it can be without buzzing. The action should be adjusted to taste after that.

[Rob DiStefano]

Originally Posted by Mark Davis

... I've just never heard of anyone having to send a guitar they got from Larry to another Tech to make it right.

I'm "that other tech" that John E spoke of ... and I was really taken aback by all the dollars John E shelled out for a simple Tele that wasn't setup at all (by anyones's standards). I'd never seen a Music One "gold level" setup before - I'll be kind and not comment further about what I saw lacking in John E's Tele. IMO, I agree with John E - he would have been *way* better off (a better Tele at a much lower price) to have shopped at a local G'tar Emporium.

But guess there is a first time for everything?

I truly hope John E's experience was an anomaly - there are so many reasons why his Tele should have never ever left the vendor's store. I hear *SO* much praise heaped on this vendor ... makes me start to compare that to all the "vintage hype" too many folks are esposing as well ... I hope for Music One customers that I'm wrong.

[Shnook]

$50-75 to install pickups??? The shop here charges $10-15 per p'up. Good lord...

Anyway, I didn't buy my Classic '50 from Music One directly, but I did buy it used from a gentleman who did. He left the guitar completely as it came from Music One, and it has one of the best setups of any guitar I've ever played. I've tried a few Classic 50's locally, and none of them have felt or played as nicely as the one from Music One. However, setups are pretty subjective to personal tastes. IMHO, you should have called Larry when you first started to realize the setup didn't work for you instead of waiting a month or so.

[Bob McLeod]

Larry has done all my teles except my 52ri, including a custom Esquire project based on a 50's Classic. He did a 60's strat for me including pups and a blend circuit I sent him for it. Larry has always gotten my setups to a 'T'. He knows what I like and nails it every time.

Last year, I sent him a '72 ES 335 I picked up that needed some renovation work. The guit had great tone but needed to be put right from previous mods. I won't get into all the work he did on it but you just can't tell cosmetically that the 335 didn't come from the factory the way it looks now. I am talking painstaking attention to detail. Now the 335 is killer in tone, playability and looks.

I have no comment on what others perceptions are about 'Gold Level' setup, etc., but I do know that every instrument I've recieved from Larry has been top level professional quality. Anybody who has played my teles knows what I'm saying.

Just my .02...

Bob