Chicago Music Exchange-ing

Cool place; that was one of first places we visited when we moved to The Midwest. I'm really curious to see the other great Chicagoland stores too. If you get a chance, Cream City Music in Milwaukee was more interesting to me, because their stock was insanely varied.
 
JiveTurkey said:
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Good lord do I now want a PRS of some sort. And maybe a Reverend? Didn't get pics but they had some killer Kauer guitars as well.

Mostly too poor for everything :hmm :mad:
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Did you try anything out in the play rooms? I went there in '22 I believe and was looking for a jazz guitar. Lot's of choices and I walked out with a low line Gretch that I chose because it sounded better acoustically than guitars that cost 3 - 5 times as much money (and I wanted something that I did not have to plug in to be able to enjoy, but also be able to plug in when available - also did not want acoustic guitar like playability). I just wanted a guitar for when I am in that area of the country and that is where said guitar now lives, so I have had very little time with it, but my nieces have been playing it a bit, so all good. Great music store and if I lived in that part of the country, I would probably head there quite a bit ;~))
 
I miss that place.

Even though I go back to my old stomping grounds in the SW suburbs to visit my mom once a month or so, I haven’t been back to CME in 7+ years :cry:. You really need to block out a day to allow for traffic and the perusal time.
 
State of Epicicity said:
Cool place; that was one of first places we visited when we moved to The Midwest. I'm really curious to see the other great Chicagoland stores too. If you get a chance, Cream City Music in Milwaukee was more interesting to me, because their stock was insanely varied.
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Do yourself a favor and take the ride to La Crosse, WI and go to Dave’s (the original of his shops) - not only for the actual store, but the second floor is absolutely a must see.

IYKYK.
 
norminal said:
I really need to get my ass up to Chicago to check that place out. That and Sweetwater.
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Referring to my comment above, since I go back and visit my mom about monthly, my drive takes me right through Fart Wayne, so I always stop at Sweetwater (and I’ll be stopping by next weekend as well). While they don’t have quite the number of guitars out on display that CME does, they do have quite the variety to reach out and touch (plus they will get you anything you want out of the warehouse to try).

The campus is sweet, they have some isolation rooms, and you can even grab food or drink out of their cafe.
 
TSJMajesty said:
And not a single EBMM in sight! :rolleyes:
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Last time I was here, there was the same wall the Reverends were on full of them. There were like 4-5 of them tops, now? Was planning on grabbing one to play but nothing caught my eye :(
ᛗᛜᛜᚺDᛜᎶ Ꮤᛨᚳᚴ said:
Did you try anything out in the play rooms? I went there in '22 I believe and was looking for a jazz guitar. Lot's of choices and I walked out with a low line Gretch that I chose because it sounded better acoustically than guitars that cost 3 - 5 times as much money (and I wanted something that I did not have to plug in to be able to enjoy, but also be able to plug in when available - also did not want acoustic guitar like playability). I just wanted a guitar for when I am in that area of the country and that is where said guitar now lives, so I have had very little time with it, but my nieces have been playing it a bit, so all good. Great music store and if I lived in that part of the country, I would probably head there quite a bit ;~))
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I looked in there but acoustics have never been my bag (which is all that was ij the closed off play room). It's definitely a cool spot.
CBHScott said:
I miss that place.

Even though I go back to my old stomping grounds in the SW suburbs to visit my mom once a month or so, I haven’t been back to CME in 7+ years :cry:. You really need to block out a day to allow for traffic and the perusal time.
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Yeah finding parking sucks. Really Chicago as a whole is like that. All sorts of things you want to do but everything requires some elaborate parking plan and is a pain in the ass :oops:
 
CBHScott said:
Do yourself a favor and take the ride to La Crosse, WI and go to Dave’s (the original of his shops) - not only for the actual store, but the second floor is absolutely a must see.

IYKYK.
Click to expand...

Man, I had looked at that site times but never once looked to see if there was a physical location. That's crazy that there are many, and they're all in Wisconsin! Thanks for the recommendation. We've done very little exploring since we moved here, and now I have a big new one on my list. I'm only maybe an hour and a half to Madison and Milwaukee, so I'll probably have a chance to try one of those locations first.
 
I've been wanting to pay this store a visit, for quite some time. But Sweetwater Music, even more. If I ever make it out to that part of the country (I'm in Southern California - Land of Smog and Traffic), I will.

I'd probably be in trouble if I ever step foot into Sweetwater's pedal department though. I've heard they have over 1,100 pedals on display and ready to try out, at one of their listening stations.

My wallet would hate me, but I'd be in Hog Heaven :-).
 
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