How far/close do you live from a decent guitar shop?

mburekenge

152 hours by car

paulnb57

Only small cheap shops  here on the Isle of Wight, so a ferry trip to Portsmouth for me.....

musteatbrain

Google maps says I'm 0.9 miles from Sounds Great. Do I win a prize?

richardhomer

musteatbrain said:

Google maps says I'm 0.9 miles from Sounds Great. Do I win a prize?

The thread title does include the word 'Decent'....

octatonic

PMT Oxford is 10 miles away, so about 40 miles (Coda).

ToneControl

richardhomer said:

Given it's size, Manchester's remarkably badly served by decent music shops. 

For acoutics Frailers in Runcorn is well worth the half-hour's drive, as is Amp Guitars in Macclesfield for used stuff.

None of the others merit a mention, really. 

None of the others merit a mention? 

Manchester city centre is certainly poorly served - which is a gap in the market given the massive number of young people and presence 2 of the biggest universities in the country
There is the flagship Dawsons in the centre - not a place I enjoy, but you can look at lots of new Gibsons and Fenders, 
1 mile from the centre is the biggest PMT in the country AFAIK, which surely is useful
in the suburbs is Sounds great, which is basically the North west of England's equivalent of Coda
Many people would wish there was a shop like that in their city

Back in the day, A1 on Oxford Rd  was the brilliant, old school shop, the size of a newsagent, with a doorway behind the counter leading to several floors underground, like some giant rabbit warren (some will not know about this), which was bought then closed by Academy of sound I think  
Johnny Roadhouse could effectively take it's place - the Hobgoblin franchise upstairs is good, but the main shop is still just selling very cheap low-quality used gear, same as 20-30 years ago. Surely the University of Manchester and Manchester Met with 72k students between them (both on Oxford Rd) could keep a decent guitar shop running?

ToneControl

MagicPigDetective said:

Skipped said:

MagicPigDetective said:

How far/close do you live from a decent guitar shop?

impmann beat me to it. Can you define decent guitar shop?

One of the shops you have mentioned will not entertain trades AFAIK. I am not sure how that would even qualify them as a guitar shop, a music retailer, or anything else. Never mind a decent one.

Ok I thought I might get questioned on this. I spose its all down to personal experience and requirements. It could be due to excellent and friendly customer service, for trades, repairs etc. For the purposes of this thread though, I'm talking about gear, lots of lovely, expensive gear, most of which you cant afford, but spend an age looking at longingly dreaming of a bright future with that guitar. I just want a chance to see and try a real les paul or an sg to see if its for me; to be able to find the right one for me. Ok you can get that but with terrible service I know and that's not good. But at the moment, my expectations are so very low. Your lucky bastards being so close to so many stores.

 But I will let you decide what is your definition of decent and which is your nearest. Btw I have had good friendly service and advice when trying out guitars at Dawsons, Chester. But I've also had good service at Back Alley Music in Chester and should have included it in my opening post.

where are you based then?

MagicPigDetective

ToneControl said:

MagicPigDetective said:

Skipped said:

MagicPigDetective said:

How far/close do you live from a decent guitar shop?

impmann beat me to it. Can you define decent guitar shop?

One of the shops you have mentioned will not entertain trades AFAIK. I am not sure how that would even qualify them as a guitar shop, a music retailer, or anything else. Never mind a decent one.

Ok I thought I might get questioned on this. I spose its all down to personal experience and requirements. It could be due to excellent and friendly customer service, for trades, repairs etc. For the purposes of this thread though, I'm talking about gear, lots of lovely, expensive gear, most of which you cant afford, but spend an age looking at longingly dreaming of a bright future with that guitar. I just want a chance to see and try a real les paul or an sg to see if its for me; to be able to find the right one for me. Ok you can get that but with terrible service I know and that's not good. But at the moment, my expectations are so very low. Your lucky bastards being so close to so many stores.

 But I will let you decide what is your definition of decent and which is your nearest. Btw I have had good friendly service and advice when trying out guitars at Dawsons, Chester. But I've also had good service at Back Alley Music in Chester and should have included it in my opening post.

where are you based then?

Near Porthmadog 

MagicPigDetective

blobb said:

@MagicPigDetective ; I live in Welshpool (don't laugh) so same situation as you although MWM is about 15 minutes away so not quite as bad. Music Bros in Shrewsbury is ok if you can get there. You can always stop by mine if your guitar cravings get out of hand ;-) 

A soupie! I'm from Newtown but now live near Porthmadog. Whats Salop Music like these days? Thanks for the offer btw 

richardhomer

ToneControl said:There is the flagship Dawsons in the centre - not a place I enjoy, but you can look at lots of new Gibsons and Fenders, 

1 mile from the centre is the biggest PMT in the country AFAIK, which surely is useful
in the suburbs is Sounds great, which is basically the North west of England's equivalent of Coda
Many people would wish there was a shop like that in their city

Back in the day, A1 on Oxford Rd  was the brilliant, old school shop, the size of a newsagent, with a doorway behind the counter leading to several floors underground, like some giant rabbit warren (some will not know about this), which was bought then closed by Academy of sound I think  
Johnny Roadhouse could effectively take it's place - the Hobgoblin franchise upstairs is good, but the main shop is still just selling very cheap low-quality used gear, same as 20-30 years ago. Surely the University of Manchester and Manchester Met with 72k students between them (both on Oxford Rd) could keep a decent guitar shop running?

Last time I was in Dawson's (just after Christmas) I was surprised how limited their selection was. No US Fenders beyond Professional Series - yet oddly no Gibsons below Custom Shop. Very limited range of amps too.

I should have mentioned Forsythes - they have an interesting selection of acoustics - particularly from British builders.

Call me a snob - but I just don't like PMT. Not a 'sharp' operation in terms of service, nor cheap - so the worst of all worlds for me.

I've never been to Coda - but I know people rate them highly - Sounds Great was probably once the Northern equivalent but is now a shadow of its former self. Poor staff, very little high end stock compared to its glory days. There is also a back story - which I won't state publicly - which means I will never give them a penny of my money again.

Johnny Roadhouse is a strange place - a real Manc institution - but I agree the stock is almost always low end. I was in there a few weeks ago and surprised how expensive their 'better' stock was - a 1980 Gold Top Les Paul Standard at £2500, a late '70s Tele at £2295....

Given the city's music scene, I'm genuinely surprised there isn't a 'proper' independent guitar shop in the city centre.

Powerslave

To the OP,, if you can make the trek to Chester then it's not "too much further" (relatively speaking!) to continue to Ormskirk and Sound Affects Music (particularly their Premier store if you would like to see some of the good stuff).

Sounds Great isn't the store it was, but they can manage a few surprises amp-wise. I suspect that pedals continue to sell well for them.

I do think there is a bit of a hole in the North West (of England) for high-end amps - Coda, Andertons and Peach seem to have tied-up this part of the market. That's great for them, but it makes it rather difficult to consider dropping a lot of coin on (or even just experiencing) something that you really need to spend some time with to determine if it suits you and your possible playing contexts. Playing the mail-order game with amps isn't really ideal, at least to my mind.

I think Guitar Guitar would do well were they to establish a store in the region - although they might opt to stay away from PMT's immediate patch?

Gibson Custom Shop is also, to my mind, somewhat under-represented in the region.

EricTheWeary

sm55onl said:

MagicPigDetective said:

One for the brummies and co; I will be passing through b'ham in a couple of weeks and might have time to stop at GG or PMT. Which one should be first choice? Are they near or far from each other? Im looking for a sub 1K acoustic in particular.

MPD, i used to live near Brum and visited both GG and PMT (not that often actually, in retrospect) but both the shops are on opposite ends of the city centre. GG is on the main Hagley Road and thus easy to get to by car or bus (from city centre itself). PMT is on the way, iirc, to the  Birmingham City football ground....easy, again, by car and bus.

I'd say that PMT is the much larger shop (the largest wall of PRS and Gibsons that i've ever witnessed).... and that's even taking into account that GG ain't small !

However, if you're actually in the city centre then the easiest guitar shop to get to is Fair Deal music (Smallbrook Queensway) just a few mins walk from the main rail station (New St.) or The Bullring shopping complex.

Also, don't forget The Little Guitar Shop in The Jewellery Quarter (there's a local train/tram station nearby)...the clue is in the name of the shop (though they may have expanded a bit, i think i remember reading somewhere).

I will caveat the above with the fact that things haven't changed in the couple of years since i last visited them all....a good, but tiring, day out ;-)

They haven't moved  

Yep, Fair Deal is the only city centre one, it isn't huge and doesn't get much love here. 

Yep, PMT and GG are opposite sides of the city, both would be a considerable walk from the city centre. If you are driving there's free parking around both though. PMT is bigger but more varied music stuff, GG more high end.PMT probably has the larger dedicated acoustic area, although it's a bit of the shop I walk through and don't pay much notice.
 Not a great deal of interest in the immediate area around either of them, the Little Guitar Shop is better in that respect as the Jewellery Quarter is stuffed with independent coffee shops and, err, jewellery shops. 

sm55onl

EricTheWeary said:

They haven't moved  

Yep, Fair Deal is the only city centre one, it isn't huge and doesn't get much love here. 

[haven't moved] Lol !

Fair Deal didn't keep the Gibson dealership that they used to have (from a convo that i had with a sales ass't) but i always thought it was a decent enough shop if not looking for top-end - or should i state high-priced ? - gear.

Collings

MagicPigDetective said:

One for the brummies and co; I will be passing through b'ham in a couple of weeks and might have time to stop at GG or PMT. Which one should be first choice? Are they near or far from each other? Im looking for a sub 1K acoustic in particular.

I think Guitar Guitar is generally a little better. They expanded a few months back and they now have an acoustic building on its own.

EricTheWeary

sm55onl said:

EricTheWeary said:

They haven't moved  

Yep, Fair Deal is the only city centre one, it isn't huge and doesn't get much love here. 

[haven't moved] Lol !

Fair Deal didn't keep the Gibson dealership that they used to have (from a convo that i had with a sales ass't) but i always thought it was a decent enough shop if not looking for top-end gear.

They seem to have a history of terrible customer service, one of those places where you can expect to be ignored by the staff who are too busy widdling ( and worse). I don't think there's a problem with their stock.
As PMT also stopped having Gibson then for one of those GG is obviously the place in Brum. 

RocknRollDave

GuitarGuitar in Brum has expanded to two shops now - an acoustic one on the existing site and an electric one a few doors down. I'm not sure PMT is significantly  bigger these days, in terms of stock on display, (unless you're a keyboard player or drummer, that is, although GG do stock keyboards and some electronic drums)

stratman3142

About 20 minutes drive from Andertons.

blobb

Whats Salop Music like these days? 

To be honest, I never got on with that place. Everything 'hung high up on walls so you have to ask someone to get the stepladder out' type place.

A soupie! I'm from Newtown but now live near Porthmadog. 

Nope, from Llani. Which puts me, natively, just on the other side of the McDonalds/KFC/B&M border.

tone1

I find EBay just a click away......Failing that it's Project Music, Joe's pedals, and not forgetting the wonderful RETAIL experience of Mansons all in Exeter. All about 20 mins away. Ah Bill Greenhalgh's..very Royston Vassey 

EricTheWeary

RocknRollDave said:

GuitarGuitar in Brim has expanded to two shops now - an acoustic one on the existing site and an electric one a few doors down. I'm not sure PMT is significantly  bigger these days, in terms of stock on display, (unless you're a keyboard player or drummer, that is, although GG do stock keyboards and some electronic drums)

Ahh, I think their re opening roughly coincided with my  becoming a job seeker so going inside became far too depressing a prospect. I did think about hanging around outside with a cardboard sign saying Sexual Favours Given for Daddarios but some of those dentists are right kinky bastards.