Center Stage Vintage Guitars

I was a little nervous taking my Taylor Guitar for a setup. When I got my guitar back I was very impressed with the setup. The guitar plays awesome now. Thanks to Keith and Tom for taking care of me. I’ll be bringing you guys more guitars.

I’ve been to the store twice now, once over a year ago and again today. Each time is a great experience. Matt took time out to show us a lot of guitars, and then he gave us a a lot of education about guitars. Matt even let my son play his personal guitar, which was beyond cool knowing how old that guitar was. These guys have a heart of gold and we love this shop.

Kevin and crew did an amazing job on a Les Paul that needed some work especially when I thought I had bungled it almost beyond repair. And, it was all done at a very reasonable price. I will definitely go back to Center Stage in the future for luthier needs. On top of that, they had a ton of great gear in the shop, as well.

I used to recommend Kevin for everything. Now I won’t even go to his shop. He did a black finish on a guitar for me and promised a second clear coat after the initial hardened. Had to take it back due to there being buffing spirals all over the paint. Dropped it off for the second time for a few months. Kevin didn’t touch it until I asked about 4 times in total and sent someone to check on it. Miraculously it was finished the next day! When I went to pick it up the buffing spirals were still all over the guitar with an added touch of finish cracks and checking all over it. When I brought it to Kevin’s attention he flipped out and said “I’d never be happy as a customer and refuse to work on the guitar anymore.” I’ve never heard such unprofessional nature in my life. After an exchange of words he stormed off to the back of the shop and cranked the music out in the front to make it as unbearable as possible to be there. He’s damaged this guitar almost beyond repair and I now have to go to another painter to fix everything that he’s done with this guitar. Looking back at pictures it appears he’s drinking on the job while doing these guitars due to half finished alcohol containers in the background sitting on his bench. It’s no wonder he does relics because he does not have the skill to do a fresh paint job on any guitar. Also I took a friend up there to sell a vintage guitar. Kevin offered such a nasty lowball offer that this potential client left never wanting to come back again. (3k offer on a guitar worth 12k) He did some digging on the history of the shop and it turns out Kevin’s reputation has never been the greatest, including throwing his old business partner under the bus to be able to take the business from him and claim it as his own. I’ll never go back to this guy for anything after his insane level of unprofessionalism and rudeness in dealing with a problem that he caused. He even went so far as to say “whoever told you this guitar could be fixed lied to you”. However, Kevin himself offered to buy the pieces to restore himself at the beginning and quoted me for a complete repair job stating he could fix it. If I was lied to by the person that initially quoted it then he admits to having lied from the beginning. He can’t maintain humidity in his own shop and frequently has guitars cracking in the lobby. He glues them back and puts them back on the shelf only to pretend there’s nothing wrong with them and charges a premium. Nobody should be paying for his razor blade damaged guitars that he claims are “relics”. Absolutely the worst shop and worst human you could possibly deal with in the guitar world. Make sure to do a thorough search for “Kevin heffernan”, you’ll see other reviews and forum posts talking about exactly these problems multiple times from multiple people through several years. Take his awful track record as a sign to stay far far away from him and his shop.

This place is awesome. I have had my guitar repaired here before and excellent work at a fair price. They also recommended me to a local specialist who can repair amps and pedals which was just what I needed. Thanks!