Jonathan Baltimore Music

Overhauled my 1958 Olds Special Trumpet and did an excellent job. Moreover, removed a pretty nasty dent in the bell. The price was reasonable, and the work was done in less than a week.
Great selection of old school trumpet and flugelhorn mouthpieces. Negotiable on prices and very accommodating. It would be nice if there was a «quiet room» for playing instruments, but it’s a small shop that utilizes every nook in the store.

This guy is an absolute thief. Stay far far away. He will go out of his way to talk you up and make you feel comfortable in his and his staff’s ability, but based on two experiences I had with him, I can not recommend strongly enough not to deal with these guys. First — I had an overhaul done on a horn and the work was shoddy at best and to make matters worse, Jon Baltimore asked for payment upfront (my mistake for trusting) so I had no recourse with when the job they did was inadequate.
Second, and more importantly, never, never leave any instrument on consignment at this store. They sell the horn, don’t pay you and tell you that the horn has not sold. Oddly, the horn I had consigned through him ended up being sold to a friend of mine and so I was more than a little surprised when I called to get paid for my horn that had obviously been sold, was told that it had not sold yet. When I went to the store to talk to them, the told me the horn was not sold, but was out on «approval» from a musician who was thinking about buying it.
Bunch of thieves.

This is one of those places I cannot review and you can’t ascertain based on what you see here. It’s something you will want to experience, a place where you will want to discover the location, take in the history, feel the luster of the instruments and listen for harmony in the air.
I say that I was browsing for a clarinet for one of my music students but confess that it was all about the scene here; I want to be near gifted and soulful musicians. To my boyfriend’s consternation, Klezmer is my most favored genre of music; I like the eclecticism and allusive instrument variety of Freylekhs (festive) Jewish music. Jon Baltimore Music Co. seems to appeal to the quirky and curious who play this ancient form and I am guessing that is in large part due to their location.
I am sorry to read about the 1 star reviews regarding this music store that has been around for decades. Though irrelevant, I don’t think I’ve ever met a professional musician who was also a good business person. I guess it’s par for the course.
I wish I would have taken photos during our recent visit so you could see firsthand how interesting and complete this place is.

I had a bad feeling as soon as I walked into this shop, but I ignored it and put two clarinets on consignment. I regret the decision. Jonathan Baltimore is a deadbeat.
When I came to pick up the clarinets, a year later, Baltimore couldn’t find them. I faxed him the contract, which said: «Consignee paid within 30 days of instrument sale.» He promised to mail me a payment at the end of the week. I agreed. After ignoring several emails and calls, he pushed the deadline back by three weeks. When that time came, and I called to confirm, he claimed he didn’t have the money again.
I was suspicious at this point, but was willing to give him another chance. After two more broken promises, however, for a grand total of five separate failures to pay me for a long-​since-​sold clarinet, I referred the matter to the BBB. A mediator has been assigned to the case. Baltimore has made promises about the end of January, but no reasonable person would trust him at this point. He has yet to pay me for clarinets that may have been sold as long as a year and a half ago.
There are plenty of good shops for new and used instruments in the city. Jonathan Baltimore engages in manipulative and deceptive business practices. Don’t waste your time with him.

I’ve known Jon Baltimore since I came to the city – 30 years now. He was originally in his father Rod’s store, but they had a parting of ways a few years ago and Jon ended up in his own store.
When it was time to overhaul my saxophone, I actually went to several repair people around town, some of whom for various reasons couldn’t or wouldn’t do the job. (One repairman I went to for an estimate said, «Hope I look this good when I’m this old.» I think he was talking about the sax.) Since another sax player I asked recommended Jon highly and I had experience with him, I decided to leave it. Plus, a trumpet player I know has nothing but raves for him as well.
He did an excellent job, at a reasonable cost; best thing is that it plays right through, with no leaks now. (I don’t know when it had been repadded last.) I was also able to «pay it down» as I go rather than have to fork over a lump sum all at once. Also, the work is guaranteed for a year, so if I have any problems down the road, I know I’m covered.
Although I bought a couple of instruments from him several years ago, I’ve never been in the position to need to get a refund or exchange.
This is a good old-​timey music store with a good feel to it, and loyal customers.

I’m surprised this place hasn’t been written up on here yet, but I’ve been so badly burned by this place that others should know so as to avoid having to go through this.
After playing and trying out many instruments in the shop, I made a purchase. Upon bringing it home and playing it there, I was unsatisfied with it and decided to return it. My reason — upon further inspection I could tell that the pads were worn, the sound was awful — something that was difficult to tell in their loud, dimly lit shop. They have no quiet room to go back into to test instruments so I had to judge as best I could while I was there. (Side note — one employee was even smoking indoors!) I was trusting the employee working there that was helping me at the time to guide me to the right instrument, but instead half the ones I tried were missing corks (and had paper as a placeholder!) and had very worn pads. The employee gave me a reed to use, but it was sized for the wrong instrument! What a mess. It was a bad decision on my part to purchase here, but bad on their part to run a business this way.
So when I went back to return the item I had to go through some haggling — Jon wanted to repair the instrument, etc. but I didn’t have time to wait for something to may or may not be repaired to the quality I was looking for. He had lost my trust at this point. He finally issued a return to me and assured me that my credit card would be credited within the week. Two months later and the card was still not credited. I spoke with my credit card company, gave them copies of the receipts, and they are taking care of the issue now.
I don’t appreciate the quality of the instruments or the way the business is run. I would not recommend going here to anyone, ever.