10 Must Stop Guitar Shops

These are 10 must-stop guitar shops, every musician and music lover needs to visit at least once!

Stocking thousands and thousands of pieces of new and vintage gear, These are the biggest, best, and most iconic music stores for a reason! You can run into music legends and superstars on any given day at any of these music stores!

These music stores offer an amazing selection of new and vintage instruments for musicians and great music history and memorabilia for music lovers.

If you like going to your local music shop and checking out the new gear then you will love these!

From New York to Florida from Florida to California

These are our top picks sure to make your bucket list!

1.Walt Grace Vintage

300 NW 26th St, Miami, Florida 33127

Cars, Guitars...... and Coffee!!!

Walt Grace Vintage, The only shop on this list that displays vintage cars and vintage guitars and 1 of the only 2 shops on this list with a café!

Located in the Wynwood Art District of Miami, about a 10-minute drive from Miami Beach. The shop was named after a character from a song by John Mayer, called Walt Grace’s Submarine Test, January 1967.

Walt Grace Vintage has some of the most iconic pieces in both the guitar world and the car world, From a 1958 Gibson Les Paul Custom to a 1967 Corvette Stingray.

In addition, they have new guitars from brands like Fender and Gibson.

You can get a quick bite while you're there at the Walt Grace Cafè serving local fares such as empanadas and pastries. They also have café classics like muffins, cookies, paninis, croissants, banana bread, and sandwiches.

They also have a full tea and coffee menu.

If you ever wanted to play a Les Paul sitting next to a Lamborghini with the smell of fresh pastries and coffee in the air surrounded by beautiful art and great weather! This is the place for you!

2. Martin Guitar 1833 Shop and Museum

510 Sycamore St, Nazareth, Pennsylvania 18064

There are few names in music as well known and loved as Martin Guitars. Martin developed the dreadnought style guitar which revolutionized music forever and is the most popular acoustic guitar style to this day.

The only place on our list offering a factory walk-through tour to see how guitars are made.

Starting back in 1833 Martin has been cranking out top-quality guitars since before the American Civil War.

The Martin Guitar factory in Nazareth, Pennsylvania.

Martin has been building guitars at that exact location for over 185 years!

The Martin Guitar 1833 Shop and Museum located at the Martin factory features;

• The Martin Museum which holds the earliest known Martin guitar to the world-famous Dreadnought and has well over a hundred guitars on display. Whether you want to look at antique gut string models, an ultra-rare 1930 OM-45 De Luxe, NASA Moon Landing Guitar, Kurt Cobain's D-18, or Johnny Cash's D-42.

The museum also showcases Martin's history in ukulele and mandolin building, milestone guitar models, and early hand tools and ephemera from the earliest days of Martin guitars.

• A Pickin' Parlor where you can try out the latest models, select models are available for purchase directly from the factory.

• The 1833 Shop where you can stock up on Martin gear, apparel, housewares, novelties, and guitar accessories like straps, picks, strings, and care products used in the Martin factory.

3. Sweetwater Music Store

5501 US Hwy 30 W, Fort Wayne, Indiana 46818

Located on a 163-acre property with a 480,000-square-foot warehouse and 44,000-square-foot music store in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This place is massive! The headquarters houses a music store, a concert venue, a spa, a hair salon, a medical office, a gym, an arcade, recording studios, 2 restaurants, a café, and much more!

The Sweetwater Music Store. 44,000 square feet, it has the largest on-site music store inventory anywhere in the world. Touch screens are placed through out the store to allow you to all items in stock and have them brought out from the warehouse.

The store has everything on their website available plus a huge used section from the sweetwater gear exchange.

Home to the world's largest pedal display

Sweetwater carries almost every brand of guitar, pedal, and amp that you can think of.

New guitars galore, you may stumble across a vintage in the used gear section but this is definitely a place for modern gear.

They have the most extensive piano showroom we've ever seen! Everything from home pianos to full-size concert pianos over 100 different keyboards and pianos from Nord, Yamaha, Roland, and more.

Sweetwater Studios

Sweetwater Studios is a state-of-the-art, multi-room production house. Home to award-winning producers and engineers. Session musicians are also available it is a worldwide destination to record music.

Workshops & Master Classes

Sweetwater regularly hosts music performance and production workshops. These are year-round and open to the public.

Crescendo Cafe & Club

A Full coffee menu, tea, milkshakes, sandwiches, wraps, pizza, bagels, salads, soups, and the finest local ice cream & chocolate.

Grab a drink or bite and head to the Crescendo Club where you can hear great talent perform in an intimate setting.

The Downbeat Diner

Classic diner-style food with a soup and salad bar professional cooks prepare everything from scratch from 6 am to 7 pm. You must try the coconut cake.

4. Carter's Vintage Guitars

625 8th Ave S Nashville, Tennessee 37203

Located within Nashville's downtown area within walking distance from The Grand Ole Opry.

The 8,000-square-foot shop is incredible and the guitars are all dream pieces for any collector or musician. Carter’s is a must-stop shop

for Nashville's never-ending amount of touring musicians, session musicians, and music lovers. They specialize in vintage and high-end guitar models. 

5. The Gibson Garage

209 Tenth Ave S Nashville, Tennessee 37203

Located in downtown Nashville directly behind the Grand Ole Opry

The Gibson Garage is a modern and immersive experience with a guitar conveyor belt that circles around the store showing off an impressive array of guitars. The 8,000-square-foot garage includes a stage for live performances, historic Gibson pieces, celebrity memorabilia displays, a Repair and Restoration Center,

The Gibson Garage has in-store offers on limited-edition guitars, instruments, gear, accessories, Gibson merch, and apparel.

6. Norman's Rare Guitars

18969 Ventura Blvd Tarzana, California 91356

Opened in 1975, Norman’s Rare Guitars is located on Ventura Boulevard in Tarzana, California, a suburb of LA.

Any trip to Southern California must include a trip to Norman’s

Norman’s Rare Guitars is the go-to for vintage guitars and gear.

They have the vintage guitar you're looking for. Norman’s probably has ALL of your dream guitars.

Best for vintage Gibson, Fender, Gretsch, PRS and Rickenbacker.

Rock star clientele, This is where music legends get their gear!

Check out their YouTube channel to see super cool inventory. They also have a podcast.

7. Chicago Music Exchange

3316 N Lincoln Ave Chicago, Illinois 60657

Chicago Music Exchange’s bright and vaulted showroom will make you feel like you stepped into the holy grail of guitars.

Chicago Music Exchange has a great selection of new, used, and vintage gear.

Huge inventory of vintage Les Pauls, Strats, archtops, and hollow bodies.

8. Guitar Center Hollywood

7425 W Sunset Blvd Los Angeles, California 90046

The one that started it all, This is what every Guitar Center location is based on and wishes it was.

The Guitar Center is the largest musical instrument chain in the world with over 300 locations.

The original Guitar Center still stands on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.

At the entrance, there is the Hollywood RockWalk where artist place their hands into the concrete at The Guitar Center on the Sunset Strip. It is filled with hand prints from rockstars like Eddie Van Halen, Iron Maiden, Johnny Cash, AC/DC, Queen, and many more.

There is also a museum-style display surrounding the RockWalk with memorabilia and instruments belonging to rock legends, this is all before you even make it inside!

Once inside the 30,000-square-foot building, there is everything you can ever dream of. Your local Guitar Center is a scaled-down version of this one that does this location no justice whatsoever! This is also the location where the Guitar Center sessions were filmed.

There is a huge vintage selection, A whole room dedicated to it with an upstairs and downstairs.

The biggest acoustic room we have ever seen anywhere.

There is a huge showroom of the typical new guitars guitar center is known for.

This location also features a large platinum room showcasing guitars that cost over $5,000.

There is a full repair shop with a separate entrance at the front of the building.

Bonus, there is a huge Van Halen mural in the parking lot!

9. Rudy's Music

461 Broome St New York, New York 10013

Rudy’s has been around since the 1970s.

Rudy’s is great for jazz players it has one of the world’s largest collections of archtops.

No matter what style you play, you will definitely find awesome jaw-dropping guitars here.

Plus some of the most aesthetically pleasing display cases we have ever seen they are absolutely gorgeous.

Rudy’s also has celebrity-owned guitars like Jimi Hendrix's Fender Jazzmaster.

You are sure to run into celebrities or rock stars here at any given time.

10. Music Villa

539 E Main St Bozeman, Montana 59715

Located three miles from the historic Gibson Acoustic Factory.

Music Villa boasts a large selection of Gibson Acoustics.

Music Villa specializes in one-of-a-kind, limited-run, and custom guitars. They also have a great mandolin selection.

Museum-style framed guitars on display plus one of the most modern feeling showrooms this place may have got its start in the 70s but it sure does not feel like it this place will make you feel like you are a rockstar ready to take center stage with the phenomenal gear available.

A must-stop shop if you're ever in the state of Montana.