Wise Music
233 Monterey St., Salinas
424-7885, www.wisemusicsalinas.com
Owner Pete Wise—guitarist for local rockers The Johnny Clay Band—is a musician himself, so he has a soft spot for other musicians, especially the penny-pinching ones. He also has a weakness for satisfying customers no matter what. So when a fellow guitar player comes in to upgrade from a Fender Squire to a sunburst Strat, Wise Music applies 80 percent of the purchase price on the player’s old axe toward the new guitar. “We don’t always win on that, but it makes them come back,” Wise says. “Nobody else does anything like it.” Wise Music also does lessons, repairs and has a humongous selection of used and new instruments including an array of Spanish instruments—like corridos, cumbias, baladas and boleros—to make Mexico blush.