Guitar shops worth the trip in Tucson

Fifty years in business across 15,000 square feet, with in-house repair and real vintage depth — the only genuine high-end dealer in Tucson. The catch is that it now operates by appointment, and multiple recent visitors have arrived unannounced and been turned away at the door. Call first; there is no other way in.

Founded downtown in 1919 by Clara Levkowitz and voted Tucson Weekly’s best music store twelve years running. The sales floor is only half of it — decades of overstock and NOS instruments fill the attic and the basement, and the back-room dig is the actual reason to make the trip. A scene from Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore was shot inside.

Guitars, mandolins, banjos, ukuleles, fiddles and accordions crammed cheek by jowl into one small room on Campbell, also known as Musical Treasures. Family run since 1986 and recently changed hands. Walk-ins are welcome, but the hours are narrow — Tuesday through Saturday, 11 to 4 — so plan around them.

Master luthier Gabriel Wright is widely called the best repair work in Tucson, with a rotating consignment floor running alongside the bench. Ignore the old Yelp listing at 3146 N 1st Ave that shows the shop closed — that record is stale, and the move to Broadway happened in 2021.

Used guitars, amps, drums and vinyl, sold alongside used bicycles, from a shop that has been on Speedway since 2000. The stock is general pre-owned rather than curated vintage. Fine for a browse if the route already passes it, not a reason to build a day around.