Established in 1975 Rosewood Guitar offers an extensive selection of fine guitars, sheet music, recordings and accessories. Rosewood Guitar also has a staff of professional instructors offering lessons to players from beginners to professional. We have supported the classical guitar community in Seattle and beyond promoting concerts, master classes and workshops from some of the world's leading classical guitarists. Our selection of new and used classical and flamenco guitars ranges from entry-level instruments priced under $200 to the finest heirloom quality and concert level guitars.
Services
Our selection of strings and accessories is quite extensive. We carry strings from D'Addario, Savarez, Hannabach, and Royal Classic. We have footstools and popular guitar supports from Dynarette and ErgoPlay. We also have an assortment of quality guitar stands, music stands, tuners, metronomes, tuning machines, humidifiers and the ever-popular 500 grit open coat sandpaper for polishing fingernails.
Our classical guitar sheet music selection is one of the best you will find. We carry dozens of instructional books, methods and studies for beginning and serious students. We carry a large assortment of collections and individual compositions of music from Renaissance to the modern era. We also carry stylistic collections of flamenco, jazz and popular arrangements.
Reviews (17)
Paul B.
Jun 21, 2022
With Bill's help I found a great guitar that I play every single day. There are a lot of instruments to choose from and he steered me toward the right one fairly quickly. Thanks Bill. Nice shop. Have also been going for lessons in classical guitar for a couple of months with Jason Williams. Having recently retired after more than twenty years of full-time guitar teaching myself I have to give Jason a shout-out and say I hope I was the teacher Jason is.
Meghan McCormick
Jan 26, 2022
Kevin Haylock
Jan 17, 2022
Aaron Kassover
Jul 20, 2021
Stephen Oliver
Feb 24, 2021
First time visiting there after hearing so much about it and browsing the website many times. Excited to finally lay eyes on the best local collection of quality classical guitars! Cons: Some of the guitars were really dusty and the one collection room felt almost too humid. It was awkward and off-putting to me (as a black man in my fifties) to be told as the first response to me (in a cautionary tone) that the guitars I asked about were "more expensive." There's an implicit assumption there or suggestion of one, that wasn't pleasant. (I wouldn't ask about the guitars if I couldn't afford one, thank you very much). Pros: Great collection of guitars with a nice variety of compositions: Brazilian rosewood, cedar, German spruce, etc. Matt definitely knows guitars.
It's enjoyable to deal with a patron that knows and enjoys the product themselves. He had even heard of the luthiers I have been talking with. Decent collection of sheet music. I found a somewhat rare transcription I had recently looked at online. Bonus: surprising number of steel string guitars on inventory there.
It's enjoyable to deal with a patron that knows and enjoys the product themselves. He had even heard of the luthiers I have been talking with. Decent collection of sheet music. I found a somewhat rare transcription I had recently looked at online. Bonus: surprising number of steel string guitars on inventory there.
Steve Hansen
Feb 03, 2021
By far the most unclear and unprofessional return policy I have ever witnessed. Literally open only one weekday a week making scheduling a trip to return impossible. If spending any real amount of time with an instrument before making an important decision is critical look elsewhere or you will be left quite literally holding the bag.
Brian Nagurny
Dec 01, 2019
Very happy with this place, great selection of classical and steel string guitars for different price ranges. Bill was very kind and helpful in answering my questions and picking out the perfect new guitar, which ended up being the beautiful Ibanez ae 245. Glad to see Rosewood Guitar open again, and excited to see what journey this guitar takes me on :
Tiffany Brunson
May 22, 2019
Jo Pa
Feb 08, 2019
Mario C.
Nov 02, 2018
Natalie M.
Jul 09, 2018
The selection of classical guitars at Rosewood is unparalleled in the Seattle region. They also have a variety of items specialized for classical guitar playing, such as extra-fine sandpaper, ideal for right hand nail filing. My instructor, who teaches at Rosewood, helped me select my Alhambra. He played a few guitars for me so that I had an opportunity to hear the guitars from the listener's perspective.
Because I know that the other instructors at Rosewood are some of the best in Washington, I would imagine they are also qualified in helping others select a guitar. I thought it was great to let someone with more expertise than myself greatly narrow my search, though I still made the final decision. My budget expectations were also respected. I would highly recommend Rosewood for the purchase of a guitar or accessories. More importantly, this is also a great place to take lessons from a highly regarded instructor!
Because I know that the other instructors at Rosewood are some of the best in Washington, I would imagine they are also qualified in helping others select a guitar. I thought it was great to let someone with more expertise than myself greatly narrow my search, though I still made the final decision. My budget expectations were also respected. I would highly recommend Rosewood for the purchase of a guitar or accessories. More importantly, this is also a great place to take lessons from a highly regarded instructor!
Stuart Zobel
Feb 09, 2018
Jeff S.
Jan 06, 2017
Todd C.
May 28, 2016
Connor R.
Apr 05, 2016
I'm glad I discovered this place. As a classical guitarist new to the Seattle area, finding a friendly, well-stocked (with high end instruments) and experienced classical guitar shop was awesome. Thus far I have already met most of the staff, and I really liked all of them. In addition to having a high end selection of classical guitars I noticed that they teach lessons there as well -- I haven't taken this aspect up myself yet, so I can't say much about it, but I plan to take some lessons over the summer. Having a sort of store in the vicinity where I can drop by on a given day, buy strings and other necessities, talk guitars and whatnot is a real comfort as a musician and I come back to this place regularly.
Spencer R.
Nov 02, 2015
Best place to take guitars lessons or buy a fine handcrafted guitar in Seattle. Huge selections of CDs, music and instructional booklets. Take a lesson with one of the great teachers on their staff or come find that hard-to-find piece of music you thought you had to order online. A classic Seattle guitar store(!), don't miss this hidden gem in Seattle's Greenwood neighborhood. One of the best stores of its kind in the whole country!
Sebastian T.
Feb 02, 2014
The only reason this place is in business is because there is no other place to buy a quality classical guitar in the state of Washington. If their were any competition at all, people wouldn't buy from this place because their customer service is on par with the DMV and the DOL. The salesmen are failed guitarists who wanted to make a career out of performing but were unable to.
They wear their bitterness on their sleeve and they have this attitude towards customers that says, "If you aren't buying anything, you're just wasting my time." If you go in and say you want to buy a guitar, they won't ask you questions like "What kind of sound are you looking for?" or "What type of music do you want to play?" The first thing out of their mouths will be "How much are you looking to spend?" A salesperson should find out what the customer wants, show them something, and if they can't afford it, show them the next best thing that might fit their price range. They're unwilling to negotiate on price to the point that they won't even change the strings if you buy a brand new multi-thousand guitar without charging an additional ten dollars for a string change plus the cost of the strings.
They seem to feel entitled to whatever business they might get because there is no other place to buy classical guitars. They act like they're the ones doing you a favor by selling you a guitar instead of treating you like you're the one doing them a favor by buying the guitar. Rosewood Guitars can be described as rude, snooty, and unappreciative and that is why I will never shop there again.
They wear their bitterness on their sleeve and they have this attitude towards customers that says, "If you aren't buying anything, you're just wasting my time." If you go in and say you want to buy a guitar, they won't ask you questions like "What kind of sound are you looking for?" or "What type of music do you want to play?" The first thing out of their mouths will be "How much are you looking to spend?" A salesperson should find out what the customer wants, show them something, and if they can't afford it, show them the next best thing that might fit their price range. They're unwilling to negotiate on price to the point that they won't even change the strings if you buy a brand new multi-thousand guitar without charging an additional ten dollars for a string change plus the cost of the strings.
They seem to feel entitled to whatever business they might get because there is no other place to buy classical guitars. They act like they're the ones doing you a favor by selling you a guitar instead of treating you like you're the one doing them a favor by buying the guitar. Rosewood Guitars can be described as rude, snooty, and unappreciative and that is why I will never shop there again.