The Starving Musician

There’s a wide variety to of musical supplies to choose from. It seemed a little dirty inside but I suppose that can be typical of an artist hangout. Nobody greeted us upon arrival and we had to search for help. When we found an employee, he admittedly didn’t know much about keyboards but tried to help us best he could. After 40 minutes or so, an employee that did know about keyboards showed up and help us make our final decision with confidence. He was a gem. Otherwise, I suggest you do research before showing up because you could find yourself at a loss.

Amazing music store!!! The owners are are so down to earth and the store manager «Stretch» will take such good care of you.
All the staff has a way of making you feel like family. I highly recommend the Starving Musician to anyone.

We went there looking for a drum set for my husband. The staff were very nice and talked with us for a long time. The manager is a drummer as well, and he stood there talking with us even after they closed and locked the door! They have great prices on new and used stuff, but not a huge selection (hence the 4 stars). I would go back there mainly because I like the chilled out atmosphere, they’re not pushing you into buying like the folks at guitar center.

This review is from my 10-​year-​old son: Best place ever and everyone who works there is nice because I went to get a peg for a strap and get some strings replaced and was inexpensive and a plain blue gutair strap was not that much they put on the string and the peg in like 5 minutes flat he also gave me a thing that keeps it it on so they’re really nice people I suggest it if could 100,000,000 stars.

Bought bass strings from them. Reasonably priced and good customer service. Will definitely buy from them again.

The Starving Musician rocks! They have amazing customer service and have made a rough situation easier to handle.

Picked up my first Schecter guitar there today. Couldn’t believe I found this guitar for less than $ 200. They made it so easy to purchase with their layaway program.
I’ve stopped in there a number of times since moving here over a year ago and the staff while usually busy had been really friendly.
Gave me half off a semi hard case to go with it.
Got home. Changed the strings, tuned it and it played like a dream. Even the chords I usually have trouble reaching due to my arthritis were ready to reach on this guitar.
So glad I found this there.

went in asked for the manger for some help with what I was looking for and this really nice guy Stretch must be a nick name came out and in no time flat we got it done. I would highly recommend this place. Really lots to choose from and rare finds I found.

I used to buy all my XLR and other cable from The Starving Musician… The
XLR’s had a lifetime warrantee!!! Good stuff right there. Don’t know how they could make a profit with cables that failed so often, but I bought a few hundred of them.
They no longer sell that brand with the warrantee. The brand they sell now is more expensive with no warrantee and have had an 80% failure rate due to extremely poor soldering… Not the cable or the hardware. These cables are more than likely produced by untrained and underpaid labor… I asked the manager if they had any other brands of cables, but he said no. Someone is making money off of a piss poor product.
I have not been able to use a condenser mic with any of the last 15 cables I purchased from The Starving Musician. I do not want to mention the brand of the cables cause I think the seller should be the one checking for quality, and finding a better a product. If you wish to purchase a mic cable from them, I strongly suggest bringing a small phillips screwdriver open up the male connection. If you know anything about soldering, you will be shocked… overheated and melted connections. Just crap… you can not run a professional show and have cable failures. It has happened 4 times in the last 2 months and I am done. I am more pissed about this than the service you get here as mentioned by most all of the bad ratings reflect. And I did not write a review about the ex service person who charged me 35 bucks to tell me my mixer/​amp was no good and not worth repairing, because the amp was obviously fried… He must have thought I just fell off the truck… I paid him the 35 cause the parts are at least worth that. When I got home I looked at where the fuse connected to the board and found that when the fuse blew, The soldered connection heated up and disconnected. It was so obvious that anyone with electronics training would have to be blind to not see this. I hate to be suspicious, but I think he wanted to keep it, as was one of his options… Thanks to the management, he no longer works there. But Caution!

I went in some months ago because I was looking for a bass amp. It was a Sunday afternoon and they were not remotely busy. I had a bass with me in a gig bag and was looking to try some out with a view to buying. I wandered up and down the aisle for a while looking at each amp.
No one came and asked if I needed help so eventually I went up to the counter and after a few seconds the scruffy young guy there took a break from doing nothing at all to ask if he could help. I said «Yes, I’m looking for a bass amp.» He pointed over my shoulder to where I’d just been ignored for the last several minutes and said «They’re over there.»
I assumed he was kidding so I waited for a couple seconds to see if he was going to offer anything else. He did not. I considered asking him in what parallel universe this was helpful, but I now wanted to spend my money there even less than this guy wanted to help, so I left. If this is typical (and a couple of previous visits there suggest that it is) it’s a mystery to me how this place stays open.

The only time this place is of any use is if it’s gig day & something just broke, doesn’t work, etc. & you have looked everywhere else & exhausted all other options & this place is your only & last choice. Make sure you know the price range of what it is you need because these guys WILL rip you off!
You will find much better deals on-​line if you take the time to look & don’t need your gear immediately.

Nice people, lot of choices. I got myself a nice vintage Gretsch eletromatic short bass there.
Very friendly staff, I spent about an hour to try many basses and make up my mind.
Got myself a great deal with that nice sounding instrument. To me, starving musician capture the essence of what music, instruments and musician should be!

I came in here to bring in my cards to help out with getting more singing students in Santa Cruz. They have tons of guitars and even an entire drum section! The staff helped me pick out a great pitch pipe to help my student with their lessons.

I’ve always have good experience in there. They make me feel very welcome. I am not residing in Santa Cruz but I will definitely visit whenever I visit.

Great service! Took care of everything I needed from broken strings to a larger violin. Helped me from overbuying. Love this place!

This place is a musicians retreat!
What I love about The Starving Musician is it is a local music shop that holds the true essence of what it is to be a true musician. Unlike all the large chain stores out there you can go inside here and find real musicians. The workers are amazing and can help you find whatever you need. Instead of selling tons of poor models they sell only what is worth buying. Also I love how they have a great used selection with amazing guarantees. The sell everything from electric to acoustic, percussion and keyboards and all the accessories you can ever want.

Pretty awesome in here… big selection of guitars (acoustic, bass, electric, etc) as well as ukeleles, which was why we went in there. Our daughter had been talking about ukeleles for months, so we decided to surprise her with one. A very helpful salesperson not only helped us pick one out, but also tuned it for us.
We’ll be back this summer to buy bongos for our son. :)

An old used music store that is a local favorite. The guys working there are helpful and they buy a lot of used equipment, so you never know what you’ll find!

I figured that I had never stepped foot into the store in the decade plus I have lived in Santa Cruz so I should probably check this off my list.
I am not a musician person but I do like looking at stuff.
This place is one of those Santa Cruz local shop staples that everyone should check out at least once.

Drum shop is OK and there are deals to be had.
I picked up a Pearl free floating snare drum for $ 149 bucks a few months ago and it was in great shape.
Used Ludwig Supras are reasonably priced too.
The folks in the drum shop actually know what they are doing.