This place is incredible, I felt like a child in a candy store. They have a nice selection of violins (including electric, sweet) and mandolin family instruments definitely worth checking out. A wide variety of other instruments too! The staff were lovely, quite knowledgeable, and supportive. Id have stayed all day if I wasnt jumping up and down to get back into practice with the mandolin I purchased. One of the best music stores Ive visited - I must return!

What an amazing place! I brought in my 92 year old fathers ud (oud) to be repaired and restrung. He hasn’t been able to play in years, and also he wanted a somewhat unusual tuning his mother had taught him. Alexander called me personally to double check everything, which I really appreciated. As if that wasn’t enough, they delivered it directly to my parent’s home so they wouldn’t have to drive out to Takoma Park, which blew me away. I will be taking another Turkish instrument to them soon. These guys are amazing, and the staff and owner are super friendly. Cannot recommend enough.

Still a great place for all things music related.

Friendly, helpful, knowledgeable staff. In addition to all the wonderful instruments, equipment, and music they sell, they also accept musical instrument donations for the non-profit Hungry for Music.

Bought my mother a banjo at this music shop. Excellent collection of traditional, folk instruments. A real gem.

I am the type of person who goes into a music shop and likes to try a lot of instruments for a while before I buy and in many big chain music stores such as Chuck Levins, Guitar Center and music and arts I usually get very impatient, VERY PUSHY and rude service from the sales staff. I was so delighted to not experience that at all from your sales staff and this lack of pressure MADE ME BUY. I will definitely be back.

The very best instruments and extremely nice people. They were so kind and helpful. Highly recommend!!

Great place with a professional staff.

Love that they stock Farida guitars and A+ Customer Service !

I had rated this place two stars when I left my lap steel to be repaired and it took a couple of months to even get the status. Turns out the guy who does repairs only comes by every couple of weeks and decided to skip a visit. Then when he did pick it up, my instrument was last in line behind a big backlog. Despite being assured of a call, I never got one. When I called House of Musical Traditions to see what was going on, they had no idea.So I got the number of the repair guy and called him directly. Once the middleman was out of the picture, the process went smoothly. He did a great job replacing the pegs and the price was reasonable.I upgraded the review to three stars because Im over my annoyance and love the cool instruments and laid-back atmosphere of this shop. There is no place like it in the DC area that I know of. Or anywhere in the world that Ive come across, for that matter. The guys who run it are super nice. Generous about letting you fool around with the instruments. Just dont expect prompt or attentive service if you leave something to be repaired.

Been meaning to write a review of this weird place ever since I got my guitar back from being repaired by them. Great communication (with photos and detailed estimate), quick work and my guitar played and sounded better than ever thanks to Steve Carmody.Also enjoyed hanging out and talking to Dave about the good ol days of Roy B, Danny G, etc. And when I came to pick up my guitar, he gave me a t-shirt.If you like weird people, and weird instruments, get wired and get weird at the House!

Such a beautiful place. If you appreciate musical instruments, this is a place to pay a visit.

The House of Musical Traditions is simply a great place. They found me the instrument of my dreams at a fair price. The staff is always friendly and helpful. Being at HMT is relaxed and enjoyable (unlike big chain stores). They are not just a music store but a real center of community life for the region. Always a pleasure.

I went in for Celtic instruments and books, and found a much more diverse selection than most stores have. The staff was friendly and I got some great info on workshops and lessons in the area. Will definitely go back!

Super pleased with this place. It has an amazing selection of instruments from around the world. There isnt really any other place like it in the area. Great selection of everything and a very solid selection of guitars, as well. A place that has an entire room dedicated to harps is a place I want to be.

This is the place to go for acoustic guitars, new and 2nd hand. I had an excellent experience, spent a lot of time there making my choice and they let me do it while helping me with zero pressure. Make sure to see the room upstairs where many amazing gems live. I ended up getting a Tanglewood that had clarity and projection Ive not heard in that price range. (Paid $699). Did i mention the staff was super nice? Id recommend these kind folk to anybody looking for a good deal on an amazing instrument. Ill be back again next time Im looking for another acoustic. Best experience Ive had trying and buying, hands down.

Justin Heath and Lainie Gray helped me choose just the right Mandolin, at the Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival. Great experience! Many thanks...

I initially had a negative experience here with one of the staff members. I thought it was unusual to have such a off-putting experience at a boutique music shop -- having travelled to many boutique music shops across the country I almost always leave feeling like it was a great experience -- great instruments, great atmosphere, and great friendly helpful staff. I figured maybe it was a bad day or something.Since my initial experience here was surprisingly negative I contacted the owner, David. My comments and concerns were all well received -- in fact we were both in perfect agreement about what went wrong and how the situation should have been handled.Having said all of the above, the rest of my experience was perfect. Another staff member who I spoke to was helpful and answered questions I had about mountain dulcimers as well as high end guitars. The instrument selection is vast and the staff seem knowledgable.After having spoken to the owner about the issue, I now recommend this store.

Fantastic place for ukuleles! I was having some issues with my uke so I brought it in, and they diagnosed it and, since it was a simple problem, they fixed it for me on the spot at no charge. Good selection of ukes and uke books too.

Great store, wish there were more like it, rather than the impersonal online or cookiecutter stores that dont stock high quality instruments. The people that work here are genuinely interested in music and the instruments they have.

Wouldnt buy a guitar anywhere else!

I left my harmonium with House of Musical Traditions on Jan 4, 2014 - ticket number 458050. The issue was simple - a few reeds would stick and I thought the seal in the air chamber may need new seals. I was supposed to be called after an evaluation with an estimate by the technician John Bell. I was never called with an estimate even though my business card was stuck inside the instrument. After calling several time with no status, I was told to send an e-mail to the technician. Though this e-mail was sent on Feb 28, 2014 I received no response. All of a sudden, I received a call on March 11, 2014 that my instrument was ready and the bill was $80. I picked it up the same day. I did talk to John on the phone and he told me he had opened the bottom to examine the air chamber. He kept telling me the instrument was old. Though it appeared to sound okay, after I came home I found that the scale changing mechanism no longer worked -- it had been fixed in place at a lower scale than I would ever use. The instrument appeared to have been completely disassembled and then reassembled with poor workmanship. I was stunned. I called John and left a message to call me back. Now that the instrument is useless, I have to try to restore it myself. I find it hard to believe that anyone would do this to an instrument without ever asking permission from the owner.

My wife brought in two dulcimers into the store for repair in roughly mid-April. The person charged with making the repairs duly notified my wife by e-mail on April 24th that he could fix one of the dulcimers, but the other was not worth the time and effort to fix. My wife responded that she understood, but the unfixable dulcimer held a huge amount of sentimental value to her.The Repairer notified my wife that he would repair the one dulcimer and would return the other dulcimer to the store to return to us. My wife then went into the store last week to pick up both dulcimers. The store clerk or manager, Justin, said he threw the unfixable dulcimer away. He stated there was a note in their system authorizing him to do so. This was in fact false, as my wifes communication with the Repairer explicitly state otherwise. Justin later admitted that there was a mix up, and they inadvertently threw our dulcimer away when it was another customer who had given permission to throw theirs away. This mix up has resulted in the loss of an instrument that held immense sentimental value to my wife and can never be replaced. We are bereft at this loss and appalled by the incompetence of the staff who would throw away a customer item without permission.

HMT has a strong online store but the real value comes when you walk into the bricks and mortar store and touch,try, and listen to the actual instrument that you are thinking about owning. Yes, the single location shop is a dinosaur compared to more glitzy chain box stores but HMT is in its new location with better parking, better lighting, isolation rooms and expert musicians disguised as sales folk!

One of the guys was very nice and helpful. What I dont like is that the store lacks of merchandise, and the prices are a bit high.

Amazing store with a great staff.