By: Pro Lessons

One day you may find yourself in need of some guitar parts… You dropped it didn’t you? You know you should have gotten some strap locks. Now you need strap locks, and a new neck.

A google search for "guitar parts" will yield approximately 40,900,000 results (in 0.46) seconds. We’ve narrowed the scope to four great choices for you. You’re beloved Flying V metal machine will be as good as new in no time.

When choosing the top stores for guitar parts, we took several factors into consideration. Price, selection, and quality of parts were the top three. The return policies of each store will be included in this article, because, let’s face it, no matter how much you research that tone knob, there’s always the possibility that it just won’t fit your guitar.

There are certain products like pickups that are tough to return in general. The possibility of getting a pickup that’s too bright, too dark, or too lame for your guitar is very real. However, once you’ve cut the lead wires and soldered it into your guitar, there aren’t a whole lot of stores that will take it back, but the two store that might were included in this list.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at the best guitar parts stores out there.

Stewart MacDonald

Let’s start the list off in style. Stewmac.com caters to guitar techs, luthiers, and anyone who’s ever considered upgrading or fixing their guitar. They have a huge array of high quality products and even go so far as to invent new products whenever there is a need. The site is laid out well, which helps when dealing with this many parts and tools.

One big highlight is the How-To-Tab, which leads you to a page that is full of great videos of professionals walking you through everything from the most basic set ups to slotting your own frets. An amazing resource for anyone in the market for virtually any guitar, bass, or banjo part that exists.

The guarantee is also top of the class. "Our guarantee is simple: 100% satisfaction in every way. If it doesn't meet your expectations, return it unaltered for a refund or exchange. Our support team has decades of experience making customers happy.”

You really cannot go wrong with Stewmac. The only one flaw that we can find with Stewmac is that they do not carry any major brands of pickups… so if you have your eye on those Duncan antiquities, this is not the place to go.

Guitar Parts: The Best Stores, Websites & Return Policies

Musician’s Friend

Great prices and great selection from a company we’ve known for decades. Musician’s friend isn’t strictly a guitar parts store, so it can be tough to find a concise list of parts. On the other hand, they have every guitar part you could ever imagine if you’re willing to do some digging.

If you know exactly what you’re looking for, and do not want to see all the similar parts in your category, Musician’s friend is a great option. Just type in "Seymour Duncan Antiquity II Strat Surfer Series Pickup from 60's Set Vintage” and within a few clicks, it’s on it’s way to your house.

Free shipping on orders over $25 adds to the value of their already competitive pricing. Musician’s Friend's money back guarantee is easily one of the best in the business and it’s honestly a big part of why they’re being included in this list, even though they're not strictly a guitar parts store.

It makes it worth having to look at all of the useless keyboard stands and trumpet doodads to get a product that you know you can return or exchange, no questions asked, for 30 days. In addition, they are always running some sort of special, so go ahead and pick up some strings or cables for pennies on the dollar while you’re getting your dream pickups… You know you’ll need them at some point.

Best Guitar Parts

When making a list of the best stores for guitar parts you definitely have to consider bestguitarparts.com  They have a great selection from many top brands available at very reasonable prices. The site is arranged extremely well, too. Their home page has pictures of guitar parts, with easy nicely arranged into concise groups.

They carry everything from complete instruments to raw wood. Click on "electronics", and you’ll be given a long list of quality parts with everything from CTS pots to Switchcraft jacks, plus a handy dandy list of manufactures in the top left corner.

No matter how far you get into a category, completely switching to a different category is always fast and simple. This makes it easy to get in and grab what you need and clearly see all of your options.

If you’re looking for tuners you’ll quickly find some top choices like Gotoh, Hipshot, Grover, and Sperzel as well as a generic option for $7.95. It’s really nice to have them all in one place. They have a bit of an underwhelming selection when it comes to pickups when compared to Musician's Friend, but they still have most of the top manufacturers covered.

There are a lot of things to love here, but there is is one huge drawback to buying from Best Guitar Parts. The return policy is not very good, and I quote: "The obligation of this warranty shall be limited to repairing or replacing any part which we agree is defective. Return shipping costs are the responsibility of the customer, Best Guitar Parts will cover the shipping costs back to the customer. Best Guitar Parts cannot be held responsible for Customs, Duties, VAT or any other taxes or fees.” That’s not very Rock n' Roll, especially when compared to Musician’s Friend and Stewmac, who both allow you to return anything you don’t like.

All Parts

Another site that lives up to its name - www.allparts.com literally has all of the parts you’ll ever need to build a guitar from scratch, or repair/upgrade any single thing on your guitar or bass.

They have a great site that allows you to quickly navigate to anything you need or just browse through endless pages of raw and finished guitar bodies.. drool. The prices are very competitive, and they carry a wide variety of major brands as well as OEM and generic parts.

The warranty may not be as generous as Stewmac or Musician’s Friend, but they offer a “generous, lenient, and common-sense” return policy which we happen to like. They detail all of the different types of products and how they must be returned to get a full refund, or in some cases exchanged. Upon reading through the Returns and Exchanges page, we would highly agree with their common sense and fair assessment of their return policy. In fact, you would have to try pretty hard to find any knocks against Allparts.com, which is yet another example of a great online retailer for all of your guitar and bass needs.

AllParts.com is also a great place to get a lot of common amp parts, so you can finally fix that red amp, lens on your Fender hot Rod Deluxe… While you're at it, you might as well grab some new tubes and that five way selector switch that keeps falling off your strat, and… well, you get the idea.

That about sums it up. There are several more that could have made the list, but if you can’t find what you’re looking for from one of these fine establishments then we can only think of one reason. You’re probably looking for some boutique parts, aren’t you? Well, we’ve got you covered there too. Here’s a fun little list of some of the best boutique parts available, because selling your parts through a major retailer is so mainstream.

Hopefully by reading this you have all the tools and manufacturers at your hands to build and maintain the perfect guitar. That is what these stores are all about. At Pro Lessons we are all about educating you about the guitar. We do this through our Pro Touring instructors. Let them take you to the next level and show you how to play your perfect guitar the way it deserves to be played. Click the link below and get started.

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