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Guitar Center
4.1 ★★★★☆ 784 Google reviews · Guitar & music store in Colonie, New York
Chain music shop carrying guitars, amps, drums, and keyboards, plus repair services and lessons.
Plan your visit
- Repairs & setups a repair bench comes up in reviews and the store's own info — call ahead for turnaround, since good techs run a queue
- Buys & trades used gear they buy, trade, or consign used instruments — bring the case and any original parts, and expect trade credit to beat the cash offer
- Lessons lessons come up in reviews and the store's own info — call about openings, instruments taught, and rates before the first visit
- Instrument rentals rentals mentioned — the usual route for band & orchestra season; ask about rent-to-own credit
- Today see hours ·
- Phone (518) 446-1500
- Website stores.guitarcenter.com
Hours
| Monday | 11 AM–7 PM |
| Tuesday | 11 AM–7 PM |
| Wednesday | 11 AM–7 PM |
| Thursday | 11 AM–7 PM |
| Friday | 11 AM–7 PM |
| Saturday | 11 AM–8 PM |
| Sunday | 11 AM–7 PM |
What's on the wall
“My wife ordered a Fender acoustic and a gig bag on line as a Christmas gift.”
“Got my ukulele serviced and signed up for lessons.”
Brands they deal
“My wife ordered a Fender acoustic and a gig bag on line as a Christmas gift.”
What players say again and again
“Super knowledgeable people.”
From the reviews
Great team of people there! Thank you for an amazing experience. I brought my son for his very first guitar and the guys at GC Albany gave him an experience of a lifetime! Big Jay was amazing and the other store associate (forgive me for not getting your name!) taught my son some basics.
I rarely leave reviews but did feel the need to mention how well I was treated by the staff at the Guitar Center in Albany, NY. You see I am in a treatment center and have my guitar but needed some maintenance tools.
New store manager is awesome, killer DJ section and cool store overall. Some great synths, neat guitars and excellent salespeople...James is the man!
Easy peasy. Dropped off a quitar for a tune up and cleaning. It was ready the next day. Everything was great. Very friendly staff.
Selling or trading gear at Guitar Center
Guitar Center comes up for buying and trading used gear — confirmed on their own site. Two things make the trip go better. First, bring the whole package: the case or gig bag, the original tremolo arm or bridge parts, the paperwork if you have it — a complete rig is worth real money more than a bare instrument, and it saves the back-and-forth of "can you bring the case in?" Second, know that trade credit almost always beats the cash offer, usually by a healthy margin — if you're upgrading anyway, price your old gear as a trade against the new one before you take cash. Either way, expect the offer to be below what the gear sells for on the wall; the gap is the store's margin for setup, warranty, and sitting on it until the right buyer walks in.
Lessons at Guitar Center
Reviews and the store's own info mention lessons at Guitar Center. If you're signing up a beginner (or restarting yourself), a quick call ahead answers the three things that matter: which instruments they teach, whether the schedule has openings at the time you actually need, and what a first lesson costs. There's no wrong first guitar — a good teacher will happily work with whatever you walk in with, and a shop that teaches usually keeps affordable starter instruments and rentals on hand for exactly this reason.
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