Forsyth Brothers

I have been going in to Forsyth’s since I first started work in 1970 and in all those years Forsyth Bros has just got better. If it is music or a top quality instrument you want this is the place to go

I’ve recently used their website to buy some sheet music for my piano, superb selection of music and well priced. Good range of payment methods online which is good. The only down side for me was that the search functions wasn’t great in that you couldn’t really refine if too many results came back that weren’t quite right so you do need to plough through a few lists to get what you want sometimes.

Sorry to this establishment but there are much better places around. I last went here 15 years ago and in this time all the carpets were the same cos now they smell! The person that «served» me was very very pushy considering I was thinking of spending £2000 on a guitar he wanted an instant decision over Scottish and Irish hand made guitars which sounded completely rubbish to me he was quite nasty and really summed up the department there. As I looked at one guitar I was told by another slimy assistant that someone else was «coming back for that so its first come first served» wink. All guitars were wired to stop thieves even though you would have to run down 3 flights of stairs to steal anything! Really they were wired so you could be subjected to hard sell by what were really quite unpleasant assistants. I have shopped ALL over the world and I can quite honestly say this was one of the worst music shops I have EVER been in. I will NEVER go back I am sorry cos this is obviously a traditional shop but I hate it, every guitar I was handed had gold flashy eye catching garbage on it but the most important thing the sound was totally average if I was Blind I would not spend 10 seconds in this terrible place. If there is a music equivalent of Gordon Ramsay he needs to sort this really shabby old shop out by banging heads together and sacking the entire guitar department. Terrible place.

Very well-​stocked shop, but, if you’re after a guitar, DO NOT let their in-​house ‘luthier’ set it up. I paid Forsyths over £30 (their price — I would have paid whatever the guitar required) for a set-​up on my Fender Telecoustic. It took over two weeks and all I got was a new set of strings — not the extra-​light I asked for BTW — and a nasty bit of damage to the binding. The neck was dusty, so had clearly not been touched and the action was as high as when I left it. £30 for a set of strings and a future repair bill!
Unfortunately, it was given back to me on a busy Saturday afternoon, so once I had bagged it, and due to work commitments, I didn’t look at the guitar again for about a week, so no real way to complain, but I’m here to say Forsyths, shame on you!

Forsyth Brothers Ltd is a proper Mancunian institution. People always say things like this and often, it isn’t ture. However, in this case, we have a company that has been in business in the city for over 150 years.
And the minute you enter the shop, you can tell. It reeks of history.
They sell everything you need if you’re a musician. They have tutorial CDs and DVDs, sheet music, books, pianos, guitars and orchestral instruments.
On top of that, they have a music publishing and distribution service and a piano tuning, hire and repair that operates throughout the whole of the North West.
The company was founded by the Forsyth Brothers in 1857 after helping Charles Hallé set up the Hallé orchestra. The shop is still run by the same family (4^th and 5^th generation) even now, which is really something to treasure.
This is one place that Manchester is rightly proud of. A wonderful, wonderful place.

Forsyths is exquisite. I play the piano but it’s back at home. If only they could open up the shop for me to come and tinkle away.
Forsyths must stock everything musical you can think of. Music sheets for all instruments, CDs and other musically decorated items. I bought a musical noted Chopin board, get it?
If you go up one floor there’s a showroom of pianos and there are second hand ones available in stock if you don’t have ten grand to spare. While I was there, a daughter was getting ready to make her purchase as I watched her play on this chosen piano. I could have stood there all day.
I didn’t dare go up one floor, yes another floor up, where the electric pianos and guitars were. With the classical music whistling away whilst shoppers take in the musicality of Forsyths, you know its the business in here. It’s actually a Hyperiod accedited dealership member and a gramophone recommended retailer. Expert anyway.

Music afficionados across the nation have had a long standing relationship with this family run business for over a century. Forsyth Brothers is the Sean Connery of music shops: distinguished and of a certain age, it stands tall like an elegant tuxedoed mannequin on Deansgate.
There are sheets of music (and recorded music) sold here, literally every score you have ever heard of is available at this musical institution. From Beethoven’s fifth to Grieg’s Peer Gynt, Forsyths stock it all and has been selling sheet music for over 150 years! I do not know what the job description stipulates for employees but they all have such a comprehensive knowledge of music that you wonder if they have all completed their Grade 8 in piano… violin, cello and flute with a little clarinet thrown in for good measure. They are so well informed and helpful and they do not snort at the less musically able people (politically correct for the tone deaf) like me.
Forsyths sell every musical instrument imaginable. The upstairs is where the pianos are– there is something so sexy about a huge, sleek, shiny schimmel– and there are baby grands made by Yamaha, the talented Japanese who make a mean range of piano’s (and motorbikes). Standing in this classical music mecca I sigh with regret that I fooled around in music lessons.
On the second floor, Forsyths sells guitars, orchestral, electronic and folk instruments. There is something for everyone from the amateur to the professional. Forsyths supports music teachers and members of the ISM (Incorporated Society of Musicians) and gives them discount. Beside the doorway there are dozens of business cards advertising music lessons. Perhaps I should give one of them a call and extend my repertoire beyond «London’s Burning» on the recorder?

I’m sure Forsyth’s must be the best and biggest music shop in Manchester. Located on Deansgate, Forsyth’s stocks literally everything you could possibly need relating or pertain to musicalness.
Unsurprisingly they’re the UK’s largest specialist music shop. This means that if there is something you want that they don’t have they can easily get it in for you.
They sell literally everything from guitars to pianos. But they also stock all the other components like sheet music for almost every instrument (unless you’re playing the Irish whistle or some such lark).
They even run instrument hire services and other things like that. You probably need to know much more about music than I do in order to be able to appreciate the full scope of Forsyth’s brilliance, but its plain to see that this is the best music shop around.

My Dad is completely obsessed with Forsyth’s! In fact, I try and plan routes that avoid it when we go shopping together. Not that I dislike the place far from it. It’s just that, given the opportunity for a ‘quick’ browse, my Pop will disappear for hours and return only when he’s bought himself several rainforests’ worth of trombone sheet music.
You can hardly blame him, though. Forsyth’s has got to be the best shop in the city centre for that kind of thing. It also has a good selection of musical instruments, ranging from tiny triangles and ukuleles to huge pianos. The range of pianos (there’s loads of them!) here takes over the whole second floor, and I often wonder how they get them up there. Surely not up the stairs, is it?
The staff at Forsyth’s are friendly, knowledgeable and happy to make recommendations. So it’s perfect if like me — you’re musically inept yet like picking up noisy presents!

Know your Klangfarbenmelodie (twentieth century technique in which the notes of a melody are distributed among different instruments, giving a pointillistic texture) from your sarabande (stately Spanish Baroque dance type in triple meter, a standard movement of the Baroque suite). No neither do I but people who go into forsyth probably do. This big old music store is a giant of all things that make melodies. According to a musical friend you can track down whatever sheet music you may need… ever in here; for a simpleton like me I just look around taking it all in, they’ve got lots of pretty pianos and shiny trumpets. So as far I’m concerned it’s good.

I find Forsyths music shop totally magical. It makes me feel like it’s the 70s or something.
Spread out over three expansive floors, this place is faded and full of character but well set out and full of helpful staff.
Downstairs, there are shelves and shelves of sheet music for every kind of instrument you can imagine. It really is huge this place. If they don’t have what you want, then one of the kind staff members will be able to see if they can get in what you need.
On the first floor is where the grand pianos live. Again, there are absolutely loads of them, ranging from uprights to baby grand and full on grand pianos. When I went in there was a piano tuner over in the far corner doing his thing. It just added to the magic of the place for me.
For any guitarists, upstairs on the second floor is the place to go. There are masses of acoustic guitars here, as well as a great range of electrics as well. Honestly, there is more of a selection than in Johnny Roadhouse and it competes with Music Ground as well. Like every floor of Forsyths, there are dedicated staff members on each floor ready to assist you.
I really do like Forsyths. Its size is incredible and stock unrivalled in Manchester.

Forsyths is an excellent resource for sheet music. You can pretty much find anything you need if you’re a music student, especially set music for graded exams and such, or order it in if you can’t find it. There’s also a large instrumental department and a classical CD section. It’s pretty old-​fashioned, and could do with refurbishment (and possibly air-​conditioning — is it just me, or is it always inordinately warm in there?), but as far as the comprehensiveness and quality of the selection goes, it’s unrivalled in the area.

This is a music shop catering for classical music really. Along with sheet music they also sell beautiful musical instruments. The first floor is dedicated to classical music but don’t let this put you off. On the second floor you will be amazed. This is a hidden gem in Manchester. The second floor is full of pianos. there must be 50 pianos, all colours, shapes and sizes. Most of them are very expensive but it is wonderful just to see so may pianos in one place. The third floor has guitars, clarinets, flutes, drums ect and they have some very unusual instruments as well. The staff are very helpful and even though it may not be as modern as Dawsons it is far superior. If you are into classical music or if you simply are bored of Johnny Roadhouse and Dawson you need to go to Forsyths. Highly recommended– just for the pianos!

Manchester’s best music shop. A must for any music enthusiast. The sheet music’s fantastically well stocked and the percussion section’s excellent. A great place for getting a starter set (amp, guitar, leads) and the knowledgeable staff are really approachable and genuine (no pushy sales), you can take your time and browse quite happily but will usually leave with something even if it’s sleigh bells or a mini tambourine. well behaved children are encouraged.

Sells everything from trumpets to triangles! Deals in classical instruments such as cellos and violins and then alll the way across the board to modern day electric instuments. Offering a wide range of guitars including vintage and rare acoustics they also sell sheet music, songbooks and tablature for all instruments. There are great savings to be made on discounted instruments every week.