Best Places To Rent Musical Instruments In San Francisco

Is there a budding Billy Joel, B.B. King or Joshua Bell in your house? There's no time like the present to test that talent. What's that musical instrument you always wanted to learn but never got around to? If you're starting the new year off right with a resolution to get your hands on it and work on your scales, consider rental as the gentle way to begin. From penny whistles to baby grand pianos, here are some San Francisco specialists who can help.

Established in 1922, and located steps from the home of the San Francisco Ballet and Symphony, Union Music is the grande dame of this city's music stores for instrument sales, repairs, lessons and rentals.  Brass, woodwinds and strings are available in both used and new models for beginners and advanced musicians for a minimum of three months. Stop in and try out their consignment instruments as well. Ask about applying rental fees toward a purchase.

Sunset Music Company
2311 Irving St.
San Francisco, CA 94122
(415) 731-1725
www.sunsetmusicsf.com

Two musical notes and a vinyl disk decorate the shop sign hanging above Sunset Music, illustrating the story of the store's early days as a piano studio that sold a set of guitar strings before expanding into record sales. The roots of the business go back to 1948, pre-dating the full-fledged stores that opened in 1960. Have your guitar, violin, cello or ukelele re-strung here, buy an instrument or rent flutes, clarinets, violins, alto and tenor saxophones, steel and nylon guitars. Open five days a week, Tuesday through Saturday.

If you've ever admired the wonderful drums and instruments to accompany lion dances in Lunar New Year Parades, you'll love Clarion Music, which specializes in exotic musical instruments. Located in the heart of Chinatown, you'll find African, Arabian, Tibetan, Japanese and European instruments, too.  Rentals are focused on violin and flute. They recommend coming in with the student so the right size can be rented.

Find this store near the corner of 10th Avenue in Inner Richmond. Open six days a week until 8 p.m. and on Sundays until 7 p.m., Exploring Music is another of the city's one-stop-shop offering sales, sheet music and lessons, as well as instrument rentals. They're experts on Chinese and Western instruments and can offer music instruction for both in groups or privately. Yamaha group lessons, offered from three years of age, are a specialty.

Music Exchange
700 Van Ness Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 552-0445
www.muex.com

Test drive your piano. Since 1969, this family-owned piano dealership has become a Bay Area fixture. They've earned many of the top national awards in recent years from brands like Yamaha, Wm. Knabe and Bosendorfer as the outstanding dealer of the year. If someone in your family is taking up piano lessons, also offered at Music Exchange, you can arrange a monthly rental and later apply up to the first six months' rental to a purchase. Digital, acoustic and player pianos are also in their repertoire.

Laurie Jo Miller Farr loves walkable cities. A tourism industry professional and transplanted New Yorker by way of half-a-lifetime in London, she's writing about the best of the bay and beyond for Bay City Guide, AXS, Examiner and more. Examiner.com.