Three Wave Music

I have bought, sold and have gotten repairs here before. Sam is a great guy. I can't vouch for bad experiences. But I can say, don't sell anything to them. They are a store so understand they will offer 200$ for something and sell it for 900$. I sold them a very cheesy junk organ to them and they took 200$ but end it up trying to sell it for 1000$..it's not worth it...they told me it wasn't worth anything but then someone went in there and they told him it was "rare" Rare doesn't mean its worth high prices. Vintage gear sales has gotten way out of hand these days. Just sell it for what it's really worth!! I can say however, I have had free repairs by them and they have given me good deals on sell backs, so i can't complain

Three Wave Music is worth a trip to check out the vast collection of synths. Sam, the proprietor, is a nice guy and will gladly let you try out many of the machines.

Unfortunately, I have had more than one bad experience leaving my synths with Sam for repair. Out of 6 keyboards I left with him only 2 were fully repaired. A Chroma Polaris came back worse than I left it (albeit with a replaced membrane panel, but with worse problems overall) and a PolySix went unrepaired for reasons unclear. Still had to pay around $500 for both.

The real reason I am writing this review is when the Prophet 600 I left with Sam came home with me unfixed, I discovered that 6 CEM "Curtis" chips had been removed from the unit and the screen and sequencer was rendered useless. No wonder he offered to buy it from me ($50) every time I called. I immediately called Sam and he pleaded ignorance. To his credit, when I finally went in to pick up the next round of synths for "repair" I brought the 600 with me to show him and after some pleading he replaced the chips (although since they came from a little plastic box full of them, I suspect they were not my original Curtis chips).

Sam did a good job with my Farfisa Compact and an ARP Omni. Not so good with an Acetone combo organ, Chroma Polaris, Korg Polysix, and Prophet 600. Poor communication, high prices, shady practices, and apparent incompetence makes me urge you not to leave your equipment behind at Three Wave Music. Sorry Sam.

its a nice shop with great gear . My only gripe so far is there are no prices on used gear like its some kind of secret. Also they have some modular gear but don't have a set up to test anything so you are buying blind. other than those things pretty cool shop

I have to agree with the other review after leaving my synth for repair its been about 4 months and still not fixed no communication what so ever... Im fed up at this point I'm going to go pick up my synth and bring it somewhere else.

Really wanted to love this place, but I won't be returning after trying to get a repair done. The level of communication was nonexistent. I was constantly being told that I would get an official estimate every two weeks whenever I called for an update on my synth. This went on for a month and a half. Finally, I decided to pick up my synth and bring it to analog lab in NYC. I was charged for an hour of labor, the guys at analog lab said that three wave actually exacerbated the problem with my synth. Also, I was constantly being stalled because of the unavailability of some vague mystery part at 3 wave. Analog lab fixed my gear up and didn't mention this issue. I would love to support an independent music store as unique as 3 wave, but they have done nothing to earn that sentiment.