Long & McQuade

My son volunteered to play bass for his school band, but we did not have one for him to practice with. I took a quick trip to L&M and the problem was solved. In under an hour, I was back out the door with a rental Squire bass, and Traynor amp.
Thanks to Matt H! He made the process quick and painless. Long & Mcquade remains my first choice for instruments in Calgary. Now if they would just cut me a deal on that dobro ukulele…

Good service. Had my flute fixed here for 60 bucks. Seemed a bit steep but it works now so I guess I can’t complain. I also buy my harmonicas here and they have a decent basic selection. The faves (Lee Oscar, Hohner, etc.) are there in a range of different keys, and there’s other brands as well. I’m a Hohner girl, special 20 and marine band specifically, and they’ve always got those ones in Stock it seems.
in addition, there’s lessons, instrument rentals, and obviously you can buy stuff. Lots of stuff. I don’t recommend ukeleles from here though they dont carry very good ones.
They have a vast selection of other musically related things.
I had good customer service every time I’ve been there.

Long & McQuade is the the kind of store where I need to bring the exact amount of cash I need for my purchase into the store with me and leave my credit card in the car! It’s important for my happiness, but also deadly to my bank account.
I dream of the days of locally owned mom & pop music stores, but Long & McQuade does a whole lot of things right that I would love to see a lot of them learn from.
While it may be a result of the buying power they have by being country wide, they have a credit system structured to deal with musicians. It’s probably no secret that a lot of musicians don’t have the best credit and using numbers alone would be nothing short of a ship wreck to most credit companies. What Long & McQuade understands is just because you’re some punk kid working a minimum wage job, you’re a punk kid working a minimum wage job with a guitar addiction! You want it, need it, and will starve yourself before giving that guitar back. As long as you make your payments to Long & McQuade they will treat you like royalty and they don’t give a damn about any other aspects of your life.
The rental section is awesome! I’m been renting from here since my highschool days of throwing terrible punk rock concerts in community halls and they’d let me use a twenty dollar bill as a deposit. Now as a full-​fledge member of the adult world (I’m still waiting for my membership card) I often rent PA systems and lighting for events. They always have what I need at a fair cost, and with theft insurance for around $ 4, it takes away a lot of the stress. This kind of stuff gets stolen from time to time. Someone once stole my 4×10 bass cab out of the back alley. What jerks! Had it been L & M’s gear I wouldn’t have had anything to worry about!
Even though the sales guys aren’t commission based, they still know their stuff and they’re always around when you need them… mostly… I do like that you can get someone to help you our regardless of whether you’re making a large or small purchase. I make many, many small purchases before I walk in and drop a fat wad of cash in exchange for a stack, but the service that I get when I’m just there to pick up a few odds and ends, some drum sticks and guitar strings, makes all the difference.

Long & McQuade is probably the best place to demo instruments in Calgary. They have a big and varied selection, and a lot of the models that appear on the walls and floor are plugged in to some headphones and ready to play. Some nice foot pedal and Nord keyboard setups were great when I was there last. Also seem to have a nice selection of violins and other classical instruments. I have only received a gift here, a preamp recorder (Quad Capture), but as far as actual browsing for instruments goes this is probably the best experience I’ve had.

If you want to feel like someone actually cares about your business, just head over to Long & McQuade.
Two weeks ago, I walked into Long & McQuade knowing what I was looking for but little to no clue what it was called.
I need the ability to record my presentations, videos, reviews, etc… with…
…with my iPhone.
I need a LAV mic. (those fancy shmancy mic’s speakers and reporters use that no one sees
Challenge, LAV mic’s need to be powered and L&M had never heard of such a thing for the iPhone.
I saw something on YouTube that led me to believe such technology existed. Dyonne (one the great staff) had a tremendous amount of patience with me. I was asking for some that at this point neither one of us thought existed.
After about 20 min of searching the store and searching YouTube, we found the solution… a LAV mic DOES exist… it wasn’t in stock but it was two weeks away if I wanted to order it.
The price for this little gizmo is about $ 26.00. I ordered two.
What really blew me away was Dyonne treated me like I just bought a $ 2500 dollar pice of audi equipment. First class service.
A week and a half later the LAV mic’s arrived and as promised, Dyonne emailed me and let me know.
When I went in to pick it up, Dyonne wasn’t there but Brent was. The consistent and professional standard of service established by Dyonne was delivered by Brent. I was so excited to try out my new toy that I opened up the package right away, not even thinking if I was holding up business.
Like Dyonne, Brent was more than happy and patient… humouring me as I opened up my new piece of technology. I worked and we were both impressed!
Long & McQuade — I only met two of your team and they were both first class. I’ll be back for the next level of technology!
Thanks!

Very comprehensive selection in departments that cover all all areas of music: classical /​wind, drums, guitars, amps, pro audio recording, literature, acoustic, and rentals.
Friendly knowledgeable staff, who dont pressure because they are not commissioned. Often, it can be difficult to GET a sales associate to help you, but when they do its all good, except for the occasional dumb-​ass who has a superiority complex because of their «wealth» of knowledge hahah… this is rare though.
Generally speaking, L&M has the BEST prices there are, go ahead shop around you wont find a better price.
Pretty damn good purchasing policies, for example if you want to return something they will totally take it back but charge you «rent» for the time you had it in a lot of cases.
L&M carries ALL the brands youre looking for. Super good selection, and free delivery to store from any other location in Canada. If youre willing to wait, theres no charge for ordering items not in stock from anything in their regular inventory of available items.
Only «complaint» is that they’re not open late enough on weekends. Super rad 12 month financing available, with no penalty if you pay it off early.
All in all pretty good place for musicians indeed.

Pretty wicked shop. I came in here on the hunt for some piano books and though they don’t have as big of a selection of sheet music as other places, they had what I was looking for.
I also browsed around a bit in the rest of the shop, I was impressed by the instrument rentals they offer (incuding rent to own). I think that’s an awesome concept, since buying an instrument can be quite an investment. I have to agree with the other reviewers — the customer service in this place rocks. It’s clear that the staff love working there! It really comes through when you look around and realize how many people are in theshop, this place was packed!

What can I really say? If you need equipment, this is it.
A 30 return policy, great staff, good pricing & can get you whatever you really need.
(Lost a selector switch Fender 1997, found it new, put it aside, even sold it to me when they had flooding troubles!)
Bought 2 guitars here, plenty of microphones, effects & strings.
Can praise high enough.

Long overdue update.
The last three dealings with Long and McQuade have been much better.
They sponsored a Conservatory Canada workshop last summer. Excellent selection of books at the workshop and service.
Very friendly service when I was shopping for a microphone sock. Ditto for when I was in last month to buy one music book (and walked out with a bunch of two-​piano works).
Ruth, one of the staffers, told me that L&M are moving to a bigger location. The print music area is going to triple (if memory serves correct). Curious to see what the new location will be like.

Really very over priced — shop around and you’re almost guaranteed to find a better deal. Their selection isn’t all that impressive either, and there is never anyone around to assist you when you’ve got a question.

Hands down best place to get music gear In Calgary!!! L&M is a real Canadian institution if you dont already know that. three big advantages of going to L&M #1.non pushy salesmen #2 in house financing for any piece of gear you could want or need, makes it really easy to make purchases even when you don’t have all the cash#3. Really good rental service.
I have been a customer at all the big music stores in Calgary, and while all of them have their place and special items L&M really takes the prize as #1.
As a working musician I can tell you that they have helped me get the things I need when I need them. I love L&M!

I was so surprised that such a large national company would be interested in sponsoring sound for one of the events that I was arranging. And when speaking to Paul in marketing it was as if I was talking to a close friend. His customer skills are incredibly warm, he is a busy man but he does his best to keep me involved in the process of working with his head office.
Long and McQuade has a great reputation musically and sound wise and of course they know their stuff, so I just want to put a personal Unilocal shout out to let people know about how generous they can be to support community organizations and their needs.

Non-​commissioned sales staff who are actively involved in the local music scene and know what their talking about. Best music store in Canada. Rhona-​Mae A is out to lunch in her review. The staff and management will do what it takes to make you happy.

I guess I’m biased as my husband works here, but it has a good ‘homey’ feel. I know the quality and ethic of the work there is high.