10/10 all-time shop that should be protected and preserved forever. Rarely do you find a shop so accommodating and helpful with such an impressive inventory. Incredibly kind and helpful employees and knowledge to boot. I came looking to compare some vintage amps and had the pleasure of exploring this 1973 HIWATT. Everyone was more than generous and patient. Go here to buy your next piece of gear, it will be worth it.

The best guitar shop I’ve ever been to. I’ve bought a few players grade guitars from here, but still super vintage nonetheless! They’re currently my favorite guitars in my collection and play/feel absolutely amazing. I’ve also had a few setups here and they could not be more perfect. I’ve been lucky enough to try some super cool guitars and even cooler amps while in there and the staff are always super friendly! Wonderful place with wonderful people!

One of the best guitar shops in the world. Because of the inventory, knowledge, wisdom and character of the people that make it what it is. Must stop location for musicians, collectors, enthusiasts, rockstars, professionals and beginners alike. Just don’t touch it if you aren’t seriously considering buying it! (Out of respect and liability)And plenty of options in many different price points. Truly a music and guitar lovers paradise and museum. A city and world heritage in my opinion.

Extremely helpful, friendly and knowledgeable staff. I came in with a lot of very basic questions and they were patient and able to answer all of my queries. They even inspected my guitar and were able to give me advice on some minor body cracks. Great place, highly recommended for guitarists of all kinds and skill levels.Also, during Covid they are working by appointment only, which was great. Had dedicated help and no crowding.

We were from out of town and my 13 year old son really wanted to visit this guitar shop so we made the long walk from our hotel to take him over. They are currently “by appointment only” but we were lucky enough to show up at a time an appointment was available! The staff couldn’t have been nicer! They had a great selection of high quality guitars. I highly recommend!!

Jay, Trevor, Liz and Matt are always great to deal with. Best selection of vintage gear in the PNW. This is the place!

Are you kidding me??? This is is a land mark in Seattle, if you are a musician you have to see this place. Youre welcome.

Ive dreamed of going to the guitar store for years. Just stepping outside the front door brought so much excitement to me. I arrived at 9:59am, first in line before they opened. I was greeted by an employee who informed me that it was by appointment only, Im sure that he could tell that I was no where near financially capable of affording one of these beautiful guitars, but still invited me as they magically had no appointments scheduled. They gave me the red carpet rollout and made me feel like I was Robert Johnson himself being shown every guitar in the shop as if I could actually afford one. One day Ill be financially able to afford a beautiful vintage fender from this shop. Until then, thank you emerald city guitars for making my trip to seattle so amazing. Ill return one day to hopefully buy one of those beautiful Fender Mustangs you have in stock (assuming they last) ;)

Terrible Customer Service. Elitist attitude and completely lacking social graces.I recommend saving your time and not visiting them.

Bought a custom vibrolux reverb from these guys, it was packed with absolute care and I am blown away with how good it sounds. I feel like the luckiest guy in the world because of how this amp sounds.

They were super friendly and helpful. The tech fixed some small issues on my guitar for free. Definitely gonna return

The Boone family treat you like their family. Great integrity at this shop. Trust is at the center of everything they do.

This is the place for the good stuff... And everything in between. The people are music nerds... Super friendly and knowledgeable and.... I feel like no one is part of the scene for long without knowing or owning equipment from this treasure in pioneer square. Check them out online or visit them in person. You wont be sorry

Really cool place. Great employees.

Fantastic staff, kind, knowledgeable. Anyone whos planning on buying something from a store like this knows what theyre getting into and these guys are the best of the best.

I called around to a bunch of places just because I didnt feel like restringing my guitar oiling the fretboard. Most places I called didnt even know you were supposed to do that every so often. My guitar is nothing fancy, but I paid for the full setup, which is a little more than restringing, and Im shocked at how easy this thing is to play now.The scaphoid in my wrist is permanently busted/healed wrong so I have a rough time with certain chords and positions. Ive always felt like Id never get that good at guitar because of that which I was fine with, but now it just feels so much more clean and noticably improved.I really didnt have high hopes but its like a whole new guitar for 100 bucks .Also, bonus, they helped me get out of a parking ticket so this place rules

Great old guitar place. I got two excellent Snark clip-on tuners there

Simply a must go see if you have any kind of enthusiasm for guitars whatsoever amazing Simply Amazing Jay the owner I met him for the first time today what a great guy!! Swap guitar stories for an hour just a pleasure..!!!

ECG rules. Great store with excellent selection of rare and vintage musical instruments. Customer service is second to none - very friendly and helpful staff.

Very cool place with a friendly staff. Had amps and guitars from a few hundred dollars all the way to 400k.

This customer service makes Chic fil A customer service seem like an afternoon at the DMV. Trevor was so helpful, and their knowledge is amazing. They helped me pick my first guitar and set me up nice without me breaking the bank. I highly recommend here over any place else. Amazing group of people. Jay also has a great singing voice.

Fantastic place to check out some really old, rare and vintage gear and guitars.

Bought a $600 stratocaster from them, would buy more stuff, but i think i bought the only item under 2k. Theyre very much a store for people who have deep pockets and want the coolest vintage gear.

Great store and very friendly staff, highly recommended.

Great selection and great staff. Fun place to visit and buy guitars.

Outstanding! This is the way all vintage shops should be: cool, courteous, zero pretension. Thank you Liz and Carl for letting me visit in between appointments! If I win the lottery I’ll be back for a 52 Tele :)

These guys are good! They have to be. Ive never seen so many collectable, vintage guitars. Im not a collector myself, but if you are I suggest checking them out! Otherwise, they are a great store with knowledgeable and friendly staff. Their guitar techs are excellent and actually LISTEN to their clients!I had a bad ding in the top of one of my guitars (I own several), it took about a month for the tech to cure the finish but now its invisible. You cant even FEEL the repair!

Knowledgeable staff. Excellent customer support. Great vintage inventory 😉

Fun guitar shop & cool staff. Also much bigger than I expected with a wide variety of guitars.

Amazing selection and knowledgeable staff.

Its basically a guitar museum where someone can buy fancy axes for a fair amount of scratch. Or you can just go look at these beautiful guitars (but keep the same etiquette for being at a museum, dont just grab a $116,000 guitar off its stand and play Smoke on the Water)

I could never do a repair review for Emerald City Guitar till now.I just got my Ibanez GR520 back from them .. HOLLY COW !!! I have been playing for 30 years that a lot of guitar going in the shop and I can say with all honesty no one has done a better job then Emerald City Guitars :) I would go back anytime I need the work done on my guitars and I would also highly recommended them for anyone that needs work done on their precious baby .. Thank you ECG for your great work and ServiceS :) Eido

Amazing, super nice staff and incredibly quick in fixing the static on my Strat. Would recommend!

Amazing Selection, Great repair and mod shop . Awesome, friendly cool staff .

Super cool place. Huge selection of vintage, custom shop, boutiques. So many beautiful acoustics, jazz masters, strats, teles, etc. Im not even that into guitars but this is place is dope.

Very friendly staff and great selection of guitars!

Great store! First time visit. Terrific selection of goodies.

I bought a vintage guitar from this shop and after receiving it I decided to return it within the 72 hour return window they offer. When I called I was expecting some sort of drama but what actually happened was the owner treated me very well and went out of his way to deal with me the way one would expect they would have treated some famous guitarist. After they received the guitar back they offered me the option of a refund or another similar guitar that they just got in, same vintage, same color etc and did not in any way try to steer me in the direction of whatever it would take to get me to try the second guitar. So I decided to take a chance on the second guitar and it ended up being exactly what I wanted, the bridge pickup was rewound by someone theyve had an association with for a long time and the guy did a fantastic job the guitar sounds so good its like one of those moments for a musician where you get an instrument that just sounds so good it opens up new ideas for you. So I gotta give these guys 5 stars because I feel like in one transaction I learned a lot about how they do business and I would definitely buy here again, I wish I didnt live so far away would love to stop in the store one day.

Great shoppe! Great people!

Incredible store ! Great collection of vintage guitars, basses, steel and more !

They keep their promise.

First class service with a very laid back no pressure attitude, even with their high-end gear. Ive been shopping around for some vintage gear and naturally Emerald City Guitars was among the first places I started looking at. Ive been buying gear for a while now but Ive never been treated as well as I have here at this shop. They are knowledgable, respectful, and are committed to providing a great customer experience. They understand the value of keeping lifelong customers so they wont see you as a short-term buyer.

Without calling ahead I walked in an hour before closing with a list of guitars I wanted to try for purchase. I was greeted very warmly by the staff, and James helped me out without missing a beat. Ive been shopping for guitars for a lot of years, but this was by far the best experience Ive ever had at a music shop.Their YouTube channel was invaluable before I came in, and the staff couldnt have been more helpful during my visit. I cannot recommend these guys enough! Ill definitely be picking up more as soon as my wallet allows. 🤣♥️

Ring the bell hey u strings I do

I live in Canada and bought a 70s Fender Pro Reverb from them years ago. Great amp and I love it. I went back to get the amp serviced and was very specific with the people working the front counter on when I would need it back to return to Canada(A few weeks). I came back to pickup my amp before leaving and it wasnt in the shop and had no update on from service to say otherwise. Clearly just a miscommunication from the front desk, to the service guy and back, but with a large consequence of me potentially not having my amp for months. After returning to Canada and talking with the owner or manager, they promptly shipped my amp back to me at their expense. The mark of good customer service isnt how well they take care of you when things are going right, but how well they fix and handle mistakes when they happen. Will definitely be back.

Simply the greatest vintage guitar store and repair shop staffed by the greatest people anywhere!

Very professional to deal with. They care about there business. Fair guys who love guitars. I would recommend.

Best service ever! Carl was able to identify the problem with my brand new electric guitar and fix it in less than 20 mins while I was checking out the rest of the store. This is now my to go guitar store.

Awesome 😎

A must see for guitar enthusiasts/collectors... the proprietor treated us like rock stars! A great memory for us as visitors to Seattle!

What an amazing store this is, came across this place on Google and what a find it was. Went in not really knowing what I was in store for but I was more than impressed. As a long time guitarist this place is like hevean, I havent seen such a magnificent selection of rare and vintage guitars in a very long time. The staff were fantastic and even when it was clear that we would not be buying anything they still took the time to show us their most impressive stock. If you are in the market for a rare guitar, especially a Les Paul, then this is the place for you. If not and you are just a lover of fine musical instruments take the time to have a look at the wonderful examples they have on offer.

After a mixup with my order, they reached out to make it right. Thumbs up for that. Seems like they put a lot of thought in their store and having a great selection of vintage gear. I will swing by if I ever make it to Seattle. Keep up the good work.

Not the most amicable of staff but they are nice. A lot of whats here gives off that I shouldnt touch this vibe however youd be hard pressed to find a better selection of vintage gear, guitar and amp alike.

Worst experience ever buying a guitar. They did not disclose the lacquer checking and then tried to blame me. I had to ship it back at my cost. I was out nearly $300. Will never do business with again and buyer beware.

I visited while I was in town and this is by far the least intimidating guitar shop I have ever stepped foot in. The staff is so welcoming and helpful. Not to mention the gear selection is absolutely incredible! Keep it up! I cant wait to come back and visit.

Super cool spot for guitars, amplifiers, effects, and accessories. The staff is knowledgeable and always good conversation. There is also a repair shop that offers fair prices on a variety of modifications.

My strings were stuck in my Fender Strat. Dude working helped me get them unstuck and was super polite. The store is really cool as well if you like antique guitars.

Im not a guy who leaves reviews, but I was so impressed with Emerald City Guitars that I just had to. I brought in my grandpas old Gretsch Country Gentleman that was deteriorating away. My grandpa died when I was young and he left this guitar for me as a memory of him. All of this to say, this guitar is priceless and very special to me. I was embarrassed at how much I didnt take care of it but I had heard positive things about Emerald City Guitars so I brought it into them. They quoted me a price range and I asked if they were able to keep it at the lower end. They obliged. About 3 weeks later, they finished the remodel (right before the holidays) and it came back looking new and preserved. It not only looks incredible, it sounds amazing. Best part, they finished it early than they expected and were honest enough to charge me less than they quoted. I should say that the guitar tech was Tyler and he couldnt have been nicer and more talented with his craft. Do not hesitate to give these guys their business. Im blown away by them!

Great experience shopping here today! Very friendly and welcoming to 1st time customers. Ill definitely be back!

A very unique Guitar Shop. Full of so many vintage gems. theres nowhere to begin. If I ever win the lottery, most of my money will go here.

Amazing selection of guitars, basses, effect pedals, amps, etc. Unfortunately, this place is a TOTAL tease because everything is so old and expensive that you dont want to touch anything.

Before flying home I bought Oscar Schmidt OUB 500 U bass as a new one but when I got home (I live in Europe) I noticed that they cheated me and sold a used guitar.It had multiple micro scratches on the front side which might appear only when placing the thumb while playing also the rubber strings were deformed from nasty playing, I had to spent additional 35$ to by a new set of strings.Overall I paid 425$ (including tax) +35$ later (strings) for a used guitar which cost 275$ on amazon for a new one !Be careful with this music store, always check closely what you are buying there.

Did a fantastic setup and fret level on my guitar. Favorite guitar shop! Fantastic selection of everything. Cool vintage guitars as well as pedals. The staff is very knowledgeable. Lots of stuff definitely worth playing.

Amazing collection of vintage guitars and amps. I saw stuff I have only seen pictures of before. Friendly staff, but presentation and prices makes trying out instruments a bit intimidating.

The people at Emerald City are just as nice as their inventory. They made me feel at home and knew everything there was to know about everything they had in stock. If you’re a musician and have plans to go to the Seattle area, I highly recommend popping in.

This is my go to guitar shop to setup my guitars and of course drool over all the amazing vintage collections they have. Their guitar techs are incredible. My guitars always comes out sound better. Jay, the owner of the shop, is a local music legend and always friendly and helpful. I remember the the second time I m in the shop (roughly 4 month after my first visit.) Jay has already memorized my name. The shop has a lot of high end products that are normally pretty hard to find. (I was looking to try a fender 57 custom deluxe for a long time and they are the only local shop that I found one.) And they also work with a lot of amazing boutique builders who makes some of the most amazing guitar I ve ever played.ECG is truely a place built by musician and for musician. I never felt the pressure to buy things there. The staff really is there to help you find what you are looking for. They make an effort to know who you are as a musician. I highly recommend anyone whos a music fan come visit the shop even you are just traveling here. ECG to me is one of those places that define Seattle as a city.

I bought a vintage Gibson guitar with the understanding that I could return it within 7 days. I worked with James over the phone, who was very knowledgeable and helpful. The guitar arrived (in Portland) the next day, packed incredibly well. It was in at least as good condition as described if not better. It was a fantastic instrument, but I decided it wasnt quite right for me. They were completely gracious about the return, and the owner even called to thank me for how well I had packed the guitar for return shipment. My credit card was refunded within 2 days. I highly recommend this shop.

Emerald City Guitars has been a mainstay for musicians in quality vintage equipment for nearly twenty years(?). They have a broad range of equipment, from the $300.00 Fender knock-off, to the $50,000 dollar rarity. If you stop by, be sure to poke round in their grab bag of spare parts by the repair shop. I like their collection of glass slides and the display of wonderful vintage instruments in the back room.

Great store. Not only do they have one of the best selections of vintage guitars and amplifiers you’ll see anywhere, they also have all sorts of odd, interesting instruments. Fenders models that didn’t sell, etc.

I have been going in there for years now. The staff is super cool and doesn’t ever try to cool guy/gal me.They always give me an honest answer that is not profit driven. Best guitar shop in Seattle. Long live local small business!

Great place for used vintage instruments. Huge s3lection and very friendly. Their prices are a little high, but its well worth since you get to try them out. One of the best guitar shops nationwide. Definitely worth visiting. They also have an up to date website with all their new arrivals.

Great selection of vintage gear, the staff was very helpful and would absolutely recommend to anyone in the area. The only thing is that there wasnt much bass equipment, but what they did have was of great quality.

We came from out of town (Denver) just looking around and was amazed at the assortment of quality vintage guitars that this store had. This place is a guitar players dream! A salesperson (David I think) was extremely helpful and friendly and knew that we were just browsing but upright offered for me to play a couple of old Fender 59 & 60 Fender strats. If/when I can afford to purchase one of these beauties I am coming back here and finding him so he can get the commission he easily deserves. This is the best customer service I have ever had in a music store and was the highlight of our vacation to Seattle. Thanks!

This was a long awaited visit, but Im sorry to say this is a pretty low to average guitar store. Not a nice neighborhood, short hours, medium selection of guitars at best. Yes, they have a few rare, high dollar Gibsons and PRS, but thats really all that this place has to offer.

Jay and Liz are so friendly, I look forward to seeing them again in the future. Hopefully soon.

Killer staff. Beautiful guitars. Great (and well organized) selection of pedals in the case. Great selection of amps as well. They need a location in Atlanta!

Great shop and reasonable prices, very knowledgeable and helpful staff.

You can hardly find a better example of a great guitar store, anywhere in the world. This place is all about getting musicians what they need to get the job done right, and they will surely treat you right.

Great staff, very knowledgeable. Awesome guitars, just a fun place for a musician to visit.

It’s your first and only store to purchase a guitar. Genuinely great folks (father and son) running the place. The stories of all the bands that have shopped there are just amazing. Surprised there isn’t a Netflix documentary on the store yet! Go now.

Great gear, great people.

Best guitar store in Seattle without a doubt. Incredibly knowledgable staff & amazing selection.

I enjoyed my visit to Emerald City Guitars. Staff is friendly and very helpful!

All my experiences have been amazing! Its been my favorite shop for a longtime. Mr. Jay Boone won me over on my first visit, and makes the trip from Olympia well worth it. Incredible staff, incredible instruments, INCREDIBLE SHOP!

Superb collection of mostly-vintage guitars and amps as well as some new. Really nice people. Solid place to have an instrument set up.

Super cool place to check out if youre a musician or just fancy looking at super cool stuff. Unfortunately I dont play but got to witness someone who does and was almost flabbergasted at the collection of Bass guitars.

I visited Emerald City Guitars on a trip to Seattle, and was very impressed. There was a good selection of instruments in a wide price range. Instruments were priced fairly. The staff were particularly helpful and introduced themselves to me by name.

There are some truly amazing guitars to be found here. Great selection of vintage electric and acoustic instruments in a pleasant atmosphere. Definitely worth the visit. Almost wish each guitar had a brief description telling its story.

Nice shop with some cool stuff, however, very overpriced; beat to hell Mike Lull T4 with a wonky neck for 3.5 Gs is ridiculous. Nice looking guitars for sure and the shop is nice, just more of a gallery that is selling pricy artwork. Id bet they do great setups though.

Send all my students here. Vintage collection can’t be beat. Staff is friendly and knowledgeable. Be sure to ask about local music they have some of the best suggestions around.

This is a great guitar shop right downtown that offers a wide selection of boutique guitars and amplifiers. The staff let me plug in to play for a while, since I was traveling and hadnt been able to play guitar in weeks. Bought a shirt to represent them on the east coast - thanks a ton, guys!

They are awesome. Great service. Beautiful shop. They even cut me a deal on strings when i was broke.

I dont hate, Im a lover, I love Emerald City guitar

This guitar shop is a hidden treasure. We were in Seattle on vacation and my guitar loving husband and I stumbled upon it. He had a blast playing vintage guitars and the staff was very congenial.

Really cool collection of vintage guitars - its like visiting a museum. Minus 1 star because I would need to be a much wealthier man to buy many of the guitars here.

I drove up from Portland to check out a 1967 Harmony Sovereign that they featured in one of their Guitar of the day videos.It completely lived up to my expectations and I havent put it down since.Emerald City is easily one of the coolest music shops I have ever been to. It would have been worth the 6 hours of driving just to check out their shop. I dont know why you would go to EMPs guitar exebit when you could just go there.I particularly wanted to thank Trevor Boone for his help.I cant recommend them enough.Thank you,John

Dudes were rad, I got to play a 5 string and it was cool

Run by smug kids who couldnt set up a guitar to save their shop - even if Daddy walk em through it a second time. Seriously bad service. Just because they have expensive old equipment doesnt make it good, or speaks for their business.Brought two guitars in to be set-up. To these kids, a set up is restinging and tune. Didnt even wipe the guitars down. Not capable of more. Pathetic.Buyer beware. Not shop it was in the 1990s.

It feels like home when I walk through the doors. Everybody here is super friendly and helpful. Old Seattle charm lives here.

Finally got to stop by this amazing shop. I was surprised how friendly the staff was, often times shops like this are not friendly. Very nice collection of vintage gear. Never seen so many beautiful blackguards in one place. The 64 CAR strat and 1960 sunburst strat were my favorites to look at. Really cool gear and good people.