Kennelly Keys Music

The Kennelly Keys Music on 196th Street Southwest in Lynnwood was our second go-to Kennelly Keys when I was growing up. We were required in elementary school to take part in the school band or orchestra for 5th grade with 6th grade optional (I took part both full academic years: 2002 to 2004), so with an older sibling and me, my parents were looking for reliable music stores. There was a Kennelly Keys close to the house, as well as this Kennelly Keys, that we habitually frequented. This was our destination for questions needing further answering and products not available closer to the house. Workers were friendly and the store well organized.

When choosing my musical instrument for band, I decided I wanted to play the alto saxophone. My parents were okay with my choice so long as it was not as pricey as my sister's cello. On one of our visits to this location, the store was having a big sale on used instruments and they had a working alto saxophone available for a good deal. So, I got my first alto saxophone that day. I used it for both years and held on to it for a while before eventually parting with it. It worked well and served its purpose reliably.

I just bought a bass and amp and couldn't be happier! Great, super helpful customer service with no upselling. The guy who helped me even taught me a scale and demo'd the bass I wanted with a few amps so I could hear the difference, as I don't know how to play [yet!]. They also have a nice selection of ukuleles and sheet music, both of which seem to be lacking at other local music shops. Thanks again! I'm sure I'll be back.

Could have been 5 Stars but...

Ok, so I know finding skilled people is difficult nowadays, and customer service? It's gone downhill everywhere, at least that's how I feel, here was no different. First off, please educate your employees on pricing over the phone, I called several places getting quotes for an ACOUSTIC GUITAR SETUP. Everyone has different rates, I get that, and what I was told when I called ahead was $55. Again, I specifically said ACOUSTIC guitar, much to my surprise after I dropped it off and was in the hands of a luthier the price jumped up to double. I said "what?", the gentleman replied, yes, that's right. I asked, what happened to the $55 fee I was quoted over the phone? He said, that's what they charge for an acoustic guitar, so reluctantly I let him proceed. Was the guitar done right? Absolutely YES, even greater playability than before and they polished her up real nice, it was gorgeous.

Look, they're nice folks, super friendly but get your stuff together people. To me, money isn't freely flowing nowadays and now I'll think twice before coming back here for another setup in the future.

I am a piano teacher. I've been coming to Kennelly Keys for over 6 years for all my students' books. I've always been treated well, until now. I try to support small businesses even when their prices are more than Amazon. I've always been given the teacher discount. My issue is when without warning, you just stop giving the teacher discount to your loyal customers- that is not good business practice. I won't be back. I totally understand needing to pause the discounts but to not even care to inform the teachers who loyally come- that's not kind treatment. I won't be back.

Both the Bellevue and Lynnwood stores have been great. My son pined for a saxophone, and the Bellevue store graciously, and repeatedly, let him come in and play the instrument for a varied audience (parents, siblings, grandparents) before we gave in and got him one.

Fast forward to the day before his first school band concert. At 5:50 pm we discover one of his keys has bent. My wife frantically calls the store and they say to come in the next day and they'll do what they can. I arrive in Lynnwood just as the store opens and start into my story when the store employee Ryan says - "Oh yeah, I think I spoke to your wife last night. Come on back." He escorts me back and has one of their repair techs stop what they're doing and take a look. He confirms the problem and says he can fix it right away. He does, and I've got a happy son (and relieved wife).

Great service and friendly people.

I went to Kennelly-Keys to have my tenor sax's air leak taken care of. The service tech at the counter immediately took a look at my horn and made some adjustments and freed up a pad. I asked the tech about a mouthpiece upgrade, and he introduced me to Ryan, a resident instructor. The level of service there was outstanding. It was like they took me under their wing, what with the service guy introducing me to Ryan, who spent a lot of time educating me about mouthpieces. The guy at the sales counter was very cool as well, I think his name is Carlos. Every person I talked to would lead me to the next area of the store where I could find further help. I guess they are trained-up as it is hard to imagine this level of service happening by accident.

We are on our third child, which means third musical instrument and Kennelly Keys has been the go-to place for all of them. Schools can really throw us parents for a loop by sending out forms and giving us two days to obtain an instrument - which in turn makes it an absolute madhouse at Kennelly BUT their staff always manage to help with the best customer service despite the frantic parents and indecisive/clueless what they need kids. I really appreciate all they've done over the years and I'm sad to find that I didn't get around to Yelping them sooner.

So apparently here's your "value proposition" at Kennelly Keys if you get your kid's band instrument there:

About 5 years ago we spent $1400 at Kennelly Keys on a new student alto sax for our daughter. It was a good instrument, and served her faithfully through high school band. She's in college now and no longer needs it, so we've decided to sell it. It's in really great shape, and it looks like they're going for $400-$500 or so on eBay and Reverb. Fair enough. We talked to someone on the phone at Kennelly Keys in Bellevue, who told us that that's about what they'd give us for hours, and that they charge around $1K for a good used one. Nice markup, but again - fair enough.

So later on that day we took the sax in to the nearest Kennelly Keys location in Lynnwood...only to have the kid behind the counter insist (with an annoying smirk) to my wife that the most they could give us for ours was $75 because "we have hundreds of them". Really now?

I'm so glad we spent the time to drive down from Snohomish to help the kid working the register at Kennelly Keys play out his brash fantasy of being a Pawn Stars bad guy.

We are unamused. This isn't how you treat customers. They've lost our business.

I've seriously been going here since I was a kid in the old building. I full on idolized the place, but now I can admit... This place is misogynistic and horrible. They have a good selection, but the staff is and always has been misogynistic as heck.

The biggest example is that I was wanting a mouthpiece adapter for a personal horn I'd just bought. They told me the adapter didn't exist. I'm a former four year member of a Pac-12 marching band and I've been using an adapter for 10+ years -I can assure you they exist and are relatively common. I can also assure you, dear yelp reader, there is no way they would have told a guy that no such thing existed; they would have at least googled it first.

When I was younger I assumed I was treated oddly because I was young and a pretty hardcore bandgeek, despite the fact that male bandgeek classmates were treated more courteously, but... I can face reality now. They don't want my business because I'm a woman and am lesser in their eyes, and that's okay because I won't give them my business.

Went to Kennelly Keys this weekend looking for a keyboard (I'm a beginner pianist). The employees were all super helpful and patient with all of my dumb questions. I really appreciated all of the help and left really happy with my purchase (and some great beginning piano music books- I'll be playing Taylor Swift in no time)!