Who Still Visits Guitar Stores?

TSJMajesty

TSJMajesty

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I haven't gone in a long time, partly because the nearest GC is an hour away, but I really should take a Saturday afternoon and get out.

Once I get into the Bal/DC area, we have a few good ones, including my favorite, Chuck Levin's Washington Music Center. They have almost 10,000 items shown on Reverb, and they like to sell stuff. Meaning, haggling is kinda expected. Idk if it's still policy, but back when I bought a new Mesa 50/50, they told me Mesa didn't allow discounts, so they dropped the sales tax! :banana

How bout you guys- do you still take visits to gear stores, even if it's just to take a bud with you and make a day of it, kinda thing?
 
I go all the time. I’m 15min from three different Long & McQuade’s (Canada’s big chain), as well as Folkway Music, which is an awesome local high-end shop.

Also have about 10 other L&Ms within an hour away, no joke, as well as Cosmo Music and The Arts a little further.

Lucky to have so many, it’s kind of nuts when I think about it.
 
There is a GC right near where I work, so periodically I’ll swing in there on my way home and see what they have.
 
Fuck no. Haven't since prolly 1998. They never have anything good left-handed and what they always, always have (to the point where it is a "meme" / joke) is a cheapass off-brand black strat for a couple hundred.

Guitar Center fucked everything up. Yeah, it was great going to GC back in the late 80's when they first opened; walls of gear and shit. But look at them now. And they killed most of the mom n pop shops with their bullshit Walmart-style corporate template.

BTW, if you didn't know, GC and Musician's Fiend (yes, "Fiend") are owned by the same parent company. That's why their available stock is the same on their respective websites.
 
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No not really unless the store has what I want
And Long and Mcwait rarely has what I want , and to go in the store to look at nothing I want does not really speak to me
 
TSJMajesty said:
I haven't gone in a long time, partly because the nearest GC is an hour away, but I really should take a Saturday afternoon and get out.

Once I get into the Bal/DC area, we have a few good ones, including my favorite, Chuck Levin's Washington Music Center. They have almost 10,000 items shown on Reverb, and they like to sell stuff. Meaning, haggling is kinda expected. Idk if it's still policy, but back when I bought a new Mesa 50/50, they told me Mesa didn't allow discounts, so they dropped the sales tax! :banana

How bout you guys- do you still take visits to gear stores, even if it's just to take a bud with you and make a day of it, kinda thing?
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Heh, yeah, all the time. But I'd love to go to Chuck's - never went, I know, hard to believe but moving to GA in '18 was when I got back into guitar, for reals.

Lots of stores around Atlanta, hard to resist. Though I've been in most of em now, so will probably start to slack off.
 
Warmart said:
Heh, yeah, all the time. But I'd love to go to Chuck's - never went, I know, hard to believe but moving to GA in '18 was when I got back into guitar, for reals.

Lots of stores around Atlanta, hard to resist. Though I've been in most of em now, so will probably start to slack off.
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My first time visiting Chuck's was to buy me a pro-level clarinet (well, parents), and I was awestruck! I had never been in a store like that. Never forget seeing that guitar wall, which back then started with Les Paul's! Always loved going. And Veneman's was right around the corner, airc.
 
I haven't been in years. It's sad. :( When I was growing up the local Music Store was
the best hangout on a Friday or Saturday afternoon. We'd rent PA oor recording
gear. I was thinking last night about the rented Microphones. Fucking gross!! :barf

Anyways, I live more than 2 hours from the nearest one. :brick

A guy retired as an EE from Ford a few years ago (2011?) and he opened a music
store in our little town. I ended up giving lessons there for about 2 years, until he lost
his savings and had to close it. :( I kind of knew he wouldn't make it. He said
it was his "dream" to own a Music Store when he retired. Be weary of dreams.

I want to head to Detroit this Summer with a couple of friends and hit some
cool establishments. Hopefully I can get away for a couple of days by then. :beer
 
Still plenty of small music shops in my area. I live within 20 minutes of two Guitar Dumpsters Centers and there's a third across a bridge in SF. That's a bigger store. Across another bridge is a Bananas at Large. Those two would be a day trip
 
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I tend only to buy things that I have played. I try not to worry too much about the colour and prefer second hand but mint and I usually buy at trade. You really need to own something to truly try it . I just use the initial play to make sure it doesn’t have any issues and I rarely plug it in during this test.
 
I still like to visit Musik Produktiv in Ibbenbüren (Germany) from time to time. I especially have to praise their luthier, who is a super nice guy, does excellent work and charges very little for it. His excellent service is probably the main reason why I like buying from this store.
 
I still go from time to time but mainly to try out specific (new) gear (i.e. the Ibanez Q series) or to try used guitars. I do check out their website for used stuff all the time though.
 
Although the ATL area has some decent stores, I haven't been in about 3 yrs. I think the last place was Righteous guitars. Even before that it was quite sporadic and not very often.
 
I’m at GC every 2-3 weeks because I get impatient waiting for Amazon to deliver strings. There’s 3 of them that take about an hour to hit all 3 if you spend 10 minutes in each, 2 of them are right off 95 so it’s pretty easy to jump from one to the other, with a Sam Ash in between.

Doesn’t mean there’s ever anything good in them. And yes, I always bring some bud.
 
Locally, only when I need something I can see they have in stock and I'd like to get it right away.

I visited a lot of guitar stores in Tokyo and Osaka when on vacation in Japan recently. Incredible selections honestly, whether you were looking for pedals, modelers, guitars, or amps. If I lived in Japan, I don't think I'd find many reasons to shop for guitar gear online beyond finding out which store has what.

I haven't visited that many, but Guitar Centers in the US have been pretty miserable experiences with staff that knows nothing, all equipment poorly maintained etc.
 
Last one was Pitbull Audio downtown. Compared to GC they have a somewhat small showroom but their warehouse of goods is immense - had to walk through it to use the john. Seriously, it reminded me of the Sweetwater one you see on TV. Just racks and racks of gear all over.

Guitar - Instruments

www.pitbullaudio.com www.pitbullaudio.com

Great guys to deal with. I've bought a number of things online from them cause they have free shipping and I get it next day.

Edit - over 6,000 electric guitars in stock! :oops:

1710085079697.png
 
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FuzzyAce said:
Although the ATL area has some decent stores, I haven't been in about 3 yrs. I think the last place was Righteous guitars. Even before that it was quite sporadic and not very often.
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Just remember to keep your nose up and don't dare touch anything at Righteous! :facepalm

Every time I'm there, I think 3 times in the past couple months as the wife and dil were at Avalon or Northpoint - I have to hear the same shit when they let me in. I KNOW already, I can't touch anything, thanks for setting the tone right from the start. Maybe I don't dress well enough? :unsure:

Needless to say, didn't buy shit any of those 3 times. I get that they pander to the upper crust, with upper crust cork soaked relics all over the walls - but they just ruin the buying mood every time for me. Maybe I'm just weird that way.

Also find it a bit odd how many of the owner's used PRS are on the wall. I know I'm being weird about that but it's just mind boggling how many there are. I know too much I guess. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

That store should be taking my money all the time, it's very nice inside, great aura, visually - but add all of the above up, plus the high taxes there and the fact they won't negotiate nor give even GC level trade values - and bah - they don't seem to take my money. Guess it must be working for them so more power to them.
 
There's a GC and Sam Ash almost right next to each other about 20 minutes from me. Both are a shell of what they once were in their glory days. I rarely go there anymore.
 
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