Another great Andertons experience

BintyTwanger77

My partner asked if we could go and look at guitars in Andertons for the day one weekend recently, and we went and she enjoyed it... she's very much a keeper.

fretmeister

I like the look of the Pete purple telecaster!

CloudNine

BintyTwanger77 said:

My partner asked if we could go and look at guitars in Andertons for the day one weekend recently, and we went and she enjoyed it... she's very much a keeper.

Jeez.... Not sure there is any hope for you.. It's so she could check the prices on everything for future reference. Oldest trick in the book mate. Your gonna need to smarten up fast to have any chance of lasting in this game fella...

TimmyO

Yeah - now she knows her Crafters from her Collings 

TimmyO

fretmeister said:

I like the look of the Pete purple telecaster!

Re the vid - they didn't sound very alike did they? (The Mex one) 

fretmeister

That’s true. Still a pickup change would probably get close enough and be better value than £4K!

TINMAN82

Musicman20 said:

I've never been but I've had mixed experiences with ordering online from them.

Sometimes, very easy. Sometimes, a bit of a ball ache...

I wanted a Johnny Marr Jag in Sherwood Green. Pre-ordered. The one that arrived clearly hadn't been finished well. The lining of the case had imprinted a pattern into the back of the guitar and the finish all over was poor. It looked like a rushed job. I don't think the nitro had been left long enough post-spraying. 

Andertons said it had past their 'QC'....anyway I asked for another and they wouldn't without me going to visit. So I cancelled.

Oh, and apparently everyone wants a 'Pete' purple telecaster. 

Similar experience when they sent me s Gibson acoustic with the high e string notched way out of line. It was so obvious, b-high e space was at least 2 mm wider than between all the other strings. I do wonder whether they are so popular now that the online QC suffers. 

Musicman20

The RW Tele sounds nothing like the Custom Shop, and with good reason. But over £1k for a RW with pretty bland pickups? The Baja manages excellent pickups at £750 ish!

TimmyO

Musicman20 said:

The RW Tele sounds nothing like the Custom Shop, and with good reason. But over £1k for a RW with pretty bland pickups? The Baja manages excellent pickups at £750 ish!

Normally I’d be right with you in that - but the couple of Roadworn Strats I played (albeit a few years back) really appealed - no idea if it was subconscious mojo (unlikely as I don’t really get the whole relicing thing) of whether they are just well made/use decent wood/whatever- but I was left thinking them worth the extra 

Musicman20

TimmyO said:

Musicman20 said:

The RW Tele sounds nothing like the Custom Shop, and with good reason. But over £1k for a RW with pretty bland pickups? The Baja manages excellent pickups at £750 ish!

Normally I’d be right with you in that - but the couple of Roadworn Strats I played (albeit a few years back) really appealed - no idea if it was subconscious mojo (unlikely as I don’t really get the whole relicing thing) of whether they are just well made/use decent wood/whatever- but I was left thinking them worth the extra 

I do agree that the Roadworns feel great, but the Flea Jazz bass, for example, is cheaper, a higher spec, and with excellent CS pickups. If they put the CS pickups in this MIM RW Tele it would fly off the shelves. 

chrisj1602

The above posts are making me think how popular a Baja Roadworn would be...

mburekenge

Love the bantz!

Clecko

TimmyO said:

Despite it being midweek the staff were clearly very busy (half term I suppose) but still helpful and attentive - he left having bought a guitar, a case and some bits and bobs, me empty handed (confused myself with options lol) but still certain that anything I buy that they sell, I’ll order from them.

Keep up the good work folks 

Though the experience overall was great, the attempted explaining away of badly finished (i.e. sharp and protruding) frets on a £900 guitar as 'I spoke to our tech and we're pretty sure it's just because the neck is bound' has been bugging me since. 

I'm not sure how aware of that you were at the time, Tim, as you were in a small room playing through four delays simultaneously when it happened, but that wasn't very good IMO.  

BintyTwanger77

CloudNine said:

BintyTwanger77 said:

My partner asked if we could go and look at guitars in Andertons for the day one weekend recently, and we went and she enjoyed it... she's very much a keeper.

Jeez.... Not sure there is any hope for you.. It's so she could check the prices on everything for future reference. Oldest trick in the book mate. Your gonna need to smarten up fast to have any chance of lasting in this game fella...

I always had a fantasy that she was a spy, but not in this way....dammit!

TimmyO

I'm not sure how aware of that you were at the time, Tim, as you were in a small room playing through four delays simultaneously when it happened, but that wasn't very good IMO.  

I do recall you telling me about it - but I thought that a different guy came along later and said that he thought that actually it did need sorting and that they'd do a warranty fret dress if you wanted that particular one (the black one?) 
But I might be mixing things up because as you say I was trying to discern indiscernible differences between delay reapts lol 

TimmyO

But regardless the initial 'brush it off' response was not good 

Clecko

Yes, you're right. I got the 'because it's bound' thing a couple of times, let the first one slide but then felt a bit annoyed and politely pointed out just how bad the worst of the frets was (highly likely to result in an injury) and that the other identical model that they had in stock was obviously also bound, yet the frets were finished perfectly.

After a bit of nodding sheepishness and another chat out the back, he said that if I wanted to take that guitar (yes, the black one), they would do a full fret dress under warranty and sort it out. Given that I bought the orange one, £20 says the black one has gone straight back on display with no fret dress.  

gibbo666

I've bought loads of simple everyday stuff online from Andertons.  And a guitar or two.  They are great, as is Gear4Music..

But I do miss those small guitar shops.

In the early 1990s there was one one down at the bottom of Cowley Road, in Oxford.  You never knew what you would find in there, apart from the same old crusties, discussing big guitar issues heavily amongst each other.

There was a sign, saying which songs you weren't allowed to play as you tried out their wares.    'Stairway to Heaven' was, of course, top of the list.

I'm from Newcastle originally, and there used to be so many of those small independent guitar/amp shops there, now most of them are, sadly. gone.  They are disappearing too quickly!

Lebarque

gibbo666 said:

I've bought loads of simple everyday stuff online from Andertons.  And a guitar or two.  They are great, as is Gear4Music..

But I do miss those small guitar shops.

In the early 1990s there was one one down at the bottom of Cowley Road, in Oxford.  You never knew what you would find in there, apart from the same old crusties, discussing big guitar issues heavily amongst each other.

There was a sign, saying which songs you weren't allowed to play as you tried out their wares.    'Stairway to Heaven' was, of course, top of the list.

I'm from Newcastle originally, and there used to be so many of those small independent guitar/amp shops there, now most of them are, sadly. gone.  They are disappearing too quickly!

The Music Box? It's still there I think! My old stomping ground.

prowla

Hmmm - I've been looking for a just-a-nut for a Warwick bass.

• I tried Wunjo but the first person said what's one of those (I said each of those Warwicks on the wall just there has one!) and the second person said shop online.
• I emailed Warwick to ask if they could get one to the Guitar Show, but I didn't get a reply.
• I went to the stand with the Warwick folks at the Guitar Show and spoke with Ben, who wasn't best pleased at Wunjo's response and suggested I try Andertons.
• I rang Andertons on the weekend and they said try phoning on a weekday, so they could call Warwick and get back to me.
• I phoned today (Monday) and spoke to someone and they said they'd call Warwick and call me back.
• They didn't get back to me, so I tried phoning twice but got automated "busy" messages.
• I'll try calling Andertons again tomorrow.

I had a similar experience when I was trying to get a Keith McMillen 12-Step recently; I went to every shop, including Denmark Street, Andertons, Camden, and got blank expressions, so I bought one online and got it in days.

If anybody who runs a shop is wondering why they are losing custom to the heinous "internet", the answer is that it's a lot easier than having to jump through hoops trying to get something from a shop and even have to justify or plead with them to make the effort.