80 King Street · Route 2A · Littleton MA 01460 · (978) 486-0112 · I495 Exit 79 (Old Exit 30)

Our Instruments

Come to us for quality, price and service. We have the best selection in the area of:

Steel and Nylon String Acoustic guitars more >>>
Electric guitars more >>>
Electric basses more >>>
Ukuleles more >>>
Guitar & Bass Amplifiers more >>>
Hand drums and percussion more >>>

When you purchase an instrument from The Minor Chord, you can be assured it will be set up properly. We make sure it will play its best when you take it home. And if there's ever any question or problem, we are here for you.

About Left-handed Instruments

Are you left-handed? We stock a few new and used left-handed instruments - acoustics, electrics, and basses. Our selection is always changing, so call or use our Ask Us page to find out what we have right now.

Unfortunately, you can't just restring a regular guitar or bass to play left-handed. Look closely and you'll see that guitars and basses are not symmetrical. Nut slots are thinner for the high strings and wider for the lower strings. The saddle has subtle differences too, making the thinner strings a bit shorter and the thicker strings a bit longer. That's essential for an instrument to play in tune. Even the unseen bracing inside an acoustic guitar has to be flipped to build a lefty instrument.

As you've probably already learned, there are far fewer left-handed instruments (or materials like instruction books and chord charts) to choose from. Playing a fretted instrument is really an ambidextrous activity that requires equal dexterity in both hands - so unless you are overwhelmingly left-handed, you might want to consider learning to play a standard instrument instead!

Humidity and Temperature

Extremes of humidity and temperature can damage your instrument very quickly, and the damage can be expensive or impossible to repair. Solid-top guitars are especially vulnerable.

Try to keep your instruments at room temperature and a relative humidity of 40-50%. Unless your home heating system includes a whole-house humidifier, you will need to do something to add humidity to your guitar during the winter. more >>>

Steel and Nylon String Guitars

Our specialty is fine steel and nylon string acoustic guitars. We have the best selection in the area at prices beginning under $200. Most of our guitars have solid wood tops, which makes a huge difference in the tone of the instrument. Our better guitars are all solid wood construction for the best possible sound.

Our Seagull and Yamaha steel-string guitars deliver excellent quality at an affordable price. Furch, an established family-owned maker in the Czech Republic who has recently started selling in the U.S., offers remarkable guitars at very reasonable prices. Or choose a fine instrument from North American makers including C. F. Martin and Larrivee.

We are an authorized dealer for several brands of nylon-string acoustic guitars including Godin, Alhambra, and Yamaha. We stock several kinds of nylon-string guitars including traditional classicals, smaller classicals for the younger player, and non-traditional classicals with radiused fretboards and truss rods.

Electric Guitars

We are an authorized dealer for electric guitars from G&L, Ibanez and Yamaha. Our used and vintage department (We call it Zach's Attic) often has guitars from other manufacurers as well.

G&L was Leo Fender's last guitar company, and they still make instruments the way he would want them to be made. Ibanez guitars deliver excellent value at affordable prices, particularly in hollowbody and semi-hollow styles. Yamaha guitars are known for their well constructed beginner instruments at fair pricepoint.

Electric Basses

We are an authorized dealer for electric basses from G&L, Kala, and Ibanez.

Our used and vintage department (We call it Zach's Attic) often has basses from other manufacurers as well.

As we explained above in the electric guitar section, G&L was Leo Fender's last guitar company, and they still make instruments the way he would want them to be made. If you are thinking about a Fender Precision or Jazz Bass, you should check out G&L basses too.

Ibanez basses offer a feel and tone quite different from Fender-style basses. Their necks tend to be thinner and narrower, improving playability, and their tone is more contemporary with most models equipped with active pickups. As with their electric guitars, you can count on Ibanez to offer quality basses at an affordable price.

The popular Kala U-Bass is a baritone-size uke equipped with oversized strings and a pickup. Plug this instrument into a bass amp and you won't believe your ears - it delivers a complex bass tone reminiscent of an upright from a mini instrument!

Ukuleles

Ukuleles are incredibly popular, and with good reason. They are small, portable, and easier to play than a guitar. And they're just plain fun!

We carry quality ukuleles by Kala Musical Instruments in all price ranges from $40 to $400 and in all sizes from soprano (the smallest) to baritone (the largest).

Guitar and Bass Amplifiers

At The Minor Chord, you'll find an excellent selection of tube and hybrid (solid-state plus tube) guitar amplifiers for that full, rich sound that only tubes can deliver as well as affordable practice amps from Ibanez and VOX. We are an authorized dealer for Blackstar, Ibanez and VOX guitar amplifiers and Gallien-Krueger and Ibanez bass amplifiers.

Our used and vintage department (We call it Zach's Attic) often has interesting guitar and bass amps from other manufacurers as well.

We invite you to come in and try our amps. Plug in one of our instruments or bring your own. See what a difference a good amp can make.

Hand Drums and Percussion

We carry one of the most extensive selections of hand drums and percussion in Massachusetts. Our percussion instruments are from Meinl - one of the most respected names in world percussion - including instruments from the African, Brazilian, and Latin musical cultures. We also carry American-made chime bars from Treeworks that sound terrific. Check out our Meinl page for more>>>

We have djembes - shakeres - congas - bongos - maracas - cajons - claves - surdos - tamborims - caixas - cuicas - cabasas/afuxes - caixixis - agogo bells - samba whistles - tambourines - shakers of all types - cowbells - rainsticks - and more!

A word about smaller instruments

Younger players can't achieve correct posture and playing position with full-sized guitars and basses. But that doesn't mean they have to put up with toys. The Minor Chord stocks fractional sized electric and acoustic guitars and basses from Martin, Ibanez, Seagull, and Yamaha. These are affordable but good-quality instruments that will give the younger student the satisfaction of good tone and playability.

Repairs

We offer expert maintenance and repairs - from simple setups to major reconstruction - for all the instruments we sell.

We can handle restringing and other minor repairs to fretted instruments in our own workshop, usually with a quick turnaround. For major repairs, we can arrange factory-authorized service through master guitar luthier Steve Morrill in Boxborough. Our favorite keyboard and solid state amp technician is Mark Lopatoski at CallMark Electronics. And our other favorite electronic technician, Rob Hamilton, is an expert on repairs to classic tube amps.

You can drop off repairs for any of these techs at our store, or feel free to contact them directly.

We have an on-site band instrument technician for adjustments and minor repairs. We send major band instrument repairs to Osmun Music in Acton. more >>>

Questions?

If you have a question about any musical instrument we sell, rent, or service, please call us at 1-978-486-0112 or click here to send us an email.

Our friendly and experienced staff is here to give you the information and advice you need.