London Tomorrow - Which Guitar Shops Should I Visit ???

Wazmeister

Off to London with Mrs Meister... any recommendations of guitar shops to visit ?

Is Denmark St still any good ?

Cheers in advance,

Waz

jellyroll

Central London is quite poor for guitar emporiums. Denmark St is not great, although I quite like Regent Sound for Fender stuff. There is Ivor Mairants in Rathbone Place which has limited but quite interesting stock. The only other shop nearby is the Yamaha Store on Wardour Street (used to be Chappels). 

Jalapeno

Those ^^^^

And Wunjos on Denmark St

TTony

Hobgoblin is an Aladdin's cave of musical instruments.  Not so much your standard G/F/PRS electrics (in fact, none of those at all), but a whole lot of other stuff that you didn't know existed, and didn't know you wanted.

It's on Rathbone Place, about 5mins walk from TCR tube.

Maynehead

Denmark Street is still probably your best bet for the widest selection, although my favourite one, Rockers, has been forced to close and has been overtaken by Rose Morris, which is not too bad. Although due to the "redevelopment" plans a lot of those iconic shops will no longer exist in a few years  :x

crunchman

Most of the best shops are just outside London these days.

You still have Chandlers and Peter Cooks out west, and Charlie Chandler if you want to go out as far as Hampton Wick/Kingston.

Denmark Street is worth a visit but you will probably pay over the odds if you actually buy anything.

Wazmeister

Appreciate the info folks... all duly noted...

samzadgan

Theres a vintage guitar shop in shorditch which has a whole floor of vintage gear. They had an old supro in the window last time i walked past.

Wembley guitar centre is ok too, but a llittle out of the way.

ToneControl

for any nylon players, there is a really good shop full of classicals up Oxford Rd way

imalone

No love for macaris? The tottenham court road is stuffed with things. Hobgoblin is worth a look if you like odd and slightly focky instruments, or are after a bodhran. I do like regent sounds too.

thisisguitar

@Gassage should have some ideas to offer...

Loobs

Take your Mrs to Aberdeen Angus and then shopping, give the guitars a rest for 24 hours?

thisisguitar

^ Stone the non-believer!!

Wazmeister

Loobs;490873" said:

Take your Mrs to Aberdeen Angus and then shopping, give the guitars a rest for 24 hours?

Yeh, right...

rlw

imalone said:

No love for macaris? The tottenham court road is stuffed with things. Hobgoblin is worth a look if you like odd and slightly focky instruments, or are after a bodhran. I do like regent sounds too.

Do you mean the Charing Cross Road shop?  if so, yes it is indeed stuffed with good things.

musicegbdf

samzadgan said:

Theres a vintage guitar shop in shorditch which has a whole floor of vintage gear. They had an old supro in the window last time i walked past.

+1 for this store. They have a sale on and will beat any on line price . Top end stock . Think they had about 6 R9's and nice R6 , lot's of strats . A lovely Sonic Blue Baja Tele (tempted on that one).

Go downstairs if you dare and see vintage stuff in the thousands. When I was there in the week a guy was trying a 10.5K  1956 original LP. It was "cheap" because someone had changed the p90's to PAF's ... Seem nice guys too and deserve to do well..

Arktik83

Peter Cooks is my local guitar shop and whilst they don't have overwhelming stock really, they have some nice Fender custom shops and some PRSi but the guys who work there are first rate people. 

They will let you try anything, take your time and very attentive.  Stuart the tech in Peter Cooks is a stand up guy too. 

But it is a bit of a way out, it's in Hanwell so you'd have to go to Paddington station and take a train out to Hanwell.  If you do decide to go, come out of Hanwell train station and head straight, take the first left down a long street and then another left towards the railway bridge, go under the railway bridge and it's just across the road opposite the park.

imalone

Loobs said:

Take your Mrs to Aberdeen Angus and then shopping, give the guitars a rest for 24 hours?

Aberdeen Angus? And people say Denmark Street is over-rated...

tone1

You could always catch a train to Exeter St.Davids Station and visit Manson's

dindude

Arktik83 said:

Peter Cooks is my local guitar shop and whilst they don't have overwhelming stock really, they have some nice Fender custom shops and some PRSi but the guys who work there are first rate people. 

They will let you try anything, take your time and very attentive.  Stuart the tech in Peter Cooks is a stand up guy too. 

But it is a bit of a way out, it's in Hanwell so you'd have to go to Paddington station and take a train out to Hanwell.  If you do decide to go, come out of Hanwell train station and head straight, take the first left down a long street and then another left towards the railway bridge, go under the railway bridge and it's just across the road opposite the park.

But they have nothing on display, it's a terrible shop for browsing.

xSkarloey

/\ Yeah but Peter Cook's isn't a conventional shop. It's two houses knocked through at the end of a residential street.

If you phone in advance to check stock and tell them when u r coming, they have the stuff out waiting for you when you arrive.