Grown Men With Ponytails: Your Guide to Boston Music Shops

The spot of choice for every gross-looking Allston musician (myself included), Mr. Music could actually be a whole heck of a lot worse. They once lied to me about how AC adapters work in the name of trying to get me to buy something, but who can blame them? They’re a music store.

Aztech is, as you might have guessed, strictly a repair shop, but it is so gloriously legit amidst a sea of garbage that I’d be remiss in not including it. Unless you’ve got a buddy who really, really knows his stuff, take anything that breaks to Aztech. They won’t lie about what’s wrong, it won’t take a long time, and the pricing is more than reasonable. You’d almost think that the music equipment business was the slightest bit tolerable.

First Act craft cool-looking custom instruments and amplifiers for crummy popular bands and Beacon Hill yuppies. The guitars are surprisingly affordable, but I have a feeling that unless you are in Guster or Every Time I Die or something, they probably look a whole lot better than they sound.

Harmonix created the Guitar Hero franchise, and are based just across the river in Cambridge! If your real-instrument experimentation doesn’t work out, head over here and maybe they’ll cut you a deal.

Ugh. Don’t go to Daddy’s. Aside from the fact that they’re one of the leading proponents of the myth that rock music has anything to do with barbed wire and tribal tattoos, they jack up the price of everything and then have the nerve to call you “bro” when you act confused.

See Daddy’s. Add the fact that, a few years ago, a used rickenbacker-copy bass was displayed (and eventually, I assume, sold) as the genuine article at this particular GC location, and, well, here we are.

I used to like Sandy’s a lot on paper because sometimes you’d walk by there in the middle of the night and there’d be a group of weird older people jamming on old folk instruments nobody’s ever even heard of. They used to have a cool flying V ukulele in the window. I’ve heard that the owners of Sandy’s are mean and the place is overpriced, but your mileage may vary.