Hauer Music, Centerville OH

I came in with a small vintage Disney guitar (1998). It needs the strings replaced and the neck fixed. Other than that, it wasn’t too bad. I was looking to have it repaired so that I could use it for school. (I am a music therapy student looking to work with children). I was instructed to go over to the guitar section and someone would help me. I went over and a man came over to help me. Without even taking a full look at the guitar he said, “yeah it’s unplayable. ” Now yes the guitar is old. However, I played it before I bought it and it just needs to be repaired and it’d be fine. It even had a nice sound quality in its condition. It just won’t stay tuned because of the neck. But Because it’s worth it to me, I’m willing to pay what I need to in order to get it fixed. Anyways, I tried to tell the man what I wanted done and he immediately cut me off and took the guitar out of my hands and told me it was unplayable because of the neck and proceeded to show me what was wrong with the guitar as if I didn’t buy the guitar in that condition and know what’s wrong with it. The neck was the very thing I came in the store to get fixed. I asked him if he could fix it and he shrugged and said, “I COULD, but it’s not worth it. This things not even worth 50 bucks. The repair would be at least $150. I’d just get a new one. Sorry. ” I hardly got two words in. I came in requesting a service. Not his personal opinion on what he would do or what he thought the guitar was worth. But before I even got to ask, he just started talking about how the guitar was basically trash. It wouldnt have been as bad if he was at least speaking nicely. But he was so aggressive and rude. I also didn’t appreciate him mentioning the price to fix the guitar as if I couldn’t afford it. Never estimate your customer’s spending power. Overall he was rude and aggressive. I came in needing to purchase some other products for my other personal guitar, but decided not to spend my money there because he was so rude.

I was on hold as soon as I got on the phone and I sat there on hold and on hold and on hold and on hold this place don't have no service

I took my bass and acoustic guitar to get new strings and serviced. They sound the best they’ve ever had, should’ve done it along time ago. Great people from the front desk to the service department. Thank you I appreciate it.

The best place and way to acquire whatever you need in the world of music. They worked with us to get a clarinet for my grandson first to rent then to buy after he worked with it long enough to know that was what he wanted.

Jim is so knowledge and always helpful. Great place & greater staff. Excellent musical instruments.of course!

Beautiful store have they have a Lotta nice instruments however, they are Luther isn’t the most personable.as they say, knowledge is power however, It’s unfortunate Some people let that power go right to their head. Needless to say, he walked in the door with cash and walked right out with the same money I had and for me that doesn’t happen very often at a music store I usually always find some thing.

I throughly enjoy my visits to Hauer Music! I generally find what I'm looking for there.they have great stocking stuffers that would make anyone happy! Thanks, Hauer Music!

They really do great work here. This was my first time getting a horn repaired. I needed a valve alignment, and before going to Hauer's I looked up how much a valve alignment costs at other bigger repair shops and got a little worried that getting my horn repaired would be more than I could afford at the moment, but the repairman quoted me a price that was significantly more affordable than at other places, and I was able to get my horn back in less than a week. Now my 70 year old trumpet plays like new again. Thanks, Hauer.

Last week my son needed a new mouth piece for his clarinet. We went to Hauer because this was the store my grandmother bought the clarinet for me when they were still in downtown Dayton.

The experience to purchase the mouth piece was far from pleasant. I want to say which is different than the experience I had previously with the owner some years back to have the clarinet re-padded for my son to use.

The man who works for the woodwind section was very rude and condescending when I asked about the different types of mouth pieces and pricing. He then became argumentative when I told him the size reed we wanted to purchase. If I had not needed the mouth piece that day, I would have not purchased anything from this man.

As we were making our payment, he offered to let us return the box of reeds he insisted were the correct size if the box was not opened for a refund. I left thinking maybe he realized how harsh he was and was trying to show some kindness.

Today my husband returned with the unopen reed box and requested a refund. The same man rudely advised him that Hauer does not offer refunds only in store credit as posted on their sign and receipt. We did see the sign and receipt, but thought the man was offering a concession given our interaction with him. He also denied he made such an offer and made it appear my husband was lying.

Fair enough, the policy is the policy, but given our experience we will not be returning to Hauer, so no need for the store credit. We will donate the reeds to our son's school.

It's not about the money. It just saddens me to see the customer service has declined the way it has. It is important to me to shop and support our local businesses, but not at the price of being treated so poorly.

In the market for an upright piano. ($5000 - $10000 purchase) The sales rep completely blew me off and was extremely rude. They only have about 5 pianos in stock as well. Staff seems uninterested. I’ll be going to BHA for my piano needs.

Great selection but terrible customer service. I was given very short, rude and almost pretentious answers to my few, simple questions. I find this very off-putting as a paying customer and beginner musician…

I would like to preface this review by saying that Hauer has a reputation with young musicians in Dayton for being a gamble when it comes to customer service. I have had good experiences, especially with the drum department, and I have had experiences that felt condescending, but my experience yesterday took the cake for the worst I have ever been treated. My friend and I brought in a 61’ reissue Gibson SG in mint condition to see if they were interested in purchasing it. We would have been content with a simple “we are not interested”, as we knew previously that Hauer does not carry many Gibsons, but we thought we would check with them since we were in the area. We waited for what I assume was the manager or owner to see the guitar, who proceeded to criticize every feature of the guitar (sideways vibrios, action set for slide). He told us in a condescending manner that he wouldn’t even bother to offer anything when we told him the going price for used versions of these guitars was 2000$. To make matters worse, he abruptly left for around 10 minutes with the intention of proving us wrong by finding reverb listings that were selling the guitar for much less (in an effort to buy the guitar for much less than it’s worth) and came back only to prove us right by finding listings higher than we were asking. We were not disappointed to leave with the guitar, as we had no expectations on making a transaction, but we were very disappointed by how rudely we were treated, and how belittled we felt by the end of the interaction. If you want to feel respected during your shopping experience, especially for high end guitars, Hauer music is not the place for you.

I have been to every guitar store in the Dayton/Springfield area over the years and Hauer is just the only one you should go to. Period. Skip the rest of them and save time. They have an insane collection of Fender guitars (and other brands; I'm just a "Fender guy") and they're priced comparably to online retailers (and Guitar Center.ew!), so you're able to actually look at and play a guitar before you buy it and still come away with the "right" price.

Even better, Jim Hauer is essentially the wizard at the mountaintop when it comes to overall knowledge and skill working with guitars. He knows pretty much everything about the instrument and if you want something done to your guitar, chances are he can do it. He's done neck work for me, electronics overhauls, and more that I can't even remember.

Hauer music is very far from where I live and I have used other local music shops' luthier services out of convenience of distance, but either I had to explain to a tech how to do his job (Absolute Music) or had my guitar halfway taken apart before the tech figured out he was over his head and bailed (Kincaid).

I used to live close to Hauer Music when they were downtown and I was there a lot. Then I moved north and they moved south and the distance became significant. That said, I WILL make the 1.5 hour round trip to ensure Jim Hauer is the only one laying hands on my guitars because you can't find anyone better in the area (I dare you to try) and it will simply be right the first time. I can't speak for other product lines Hauer sells, but if you're a guitar player, skip everyone else and get it done right the first time.

Attached is a pic of the latest work he did for me.dropped in an entirely new pickup system and gave the guitar a complete set up with perfect intonation, textbook string height, and the guitar is rock-solid-stable and has zero string buzz.

I find this place to be pretentious and a "no fun" zone.

They literally have a "do not touch" sign on each of the multitude of instruments on display. Like, 100 guitars, and 100 little signs.

If they don't want anyone touching the really expensive stuff, then lock it up. No problem. But to force you to talk to a commissioned salesman just to pick up a $300 beginner guitar is off-putting.

I highly recommend Hauer for your music needs. This trumpet hasn’t had any love and care in the last 24 years. Gary was able to get it looking like new again. They also repaired 1 of the 2 handles for me. Adding a picture of the handle that did not get repaired for reference. The price was very affordable. I will certainly going back for any music needs.