More Nostalgia - Guitarist Magazine Feb1995

guitars4you

maltingsaudio said:

guitars4you said:

HELP - Trying to recall the name of a chain of stores - Maybe around 4-6 of them in the SW - Mainly home keyboard orientated - Maybe closed down around 10-15 years ago

Music City, there was also Heron music which had 2or 3 shops in the Southwest/Bristol

i worked for a brief time at ABC music before and as it closed in Bristol

Music City - maybe it was - I can't remember but it doesn't ring a bell - I thought something like Modern Music - To vague I'm afraid at my end  - I know they were more of a keyboard mums 'n' pops store and less rock 'n' roll 

skay

@guitars4you Was it Music Makers by  any chance? I recall the store name had white lettering on a dark blue background.

There was one of these stores in Essex during the 90's, mostly selling keyboards and pianos, but they had a small selection of Encore type quality guitars in the corner. 

guitars4you

skay said:

@guitars4you Was it Music Makers by  any chance? I recall the store name had white lettering on a dark blue background.

There was one of these stores in Essex during the 90's, mostly selling keyboards and pianos, but they had a small selection of Encore type quality guitars in the corner. 

Not the area/name I was thinking off - Maybe my memory has gone and it doesn't exist - Maybe it is Music City (see above) as I had City Music in mind - Will keep working on this

Philly_Q

guitars4you said:

maltingsaudio said:

guitars4you said:

HELP - Trying to recall the name of a chain of stores - Maybe around 4-6 of them in the SW - Mainly home keyboard orientated - Maybe closed down around 10-15 years ago

Music City, there was also Heron music which had 2or 3 shops in the Southwest/Bristol

i worked for a brief time at ABC music before and as it closed in Bristol

Music City - maybe it was - I can't remember but it doesn't ring a bell - I thought something like Modern Music - To vague I'm afraid at my end  - I know they were more of a keyboard mums 'n' pops store and less rock 'n' roll 

I remember Modern Music, I think they were somewhere on the south coast, or at least south of London. 

I bought myself an American Standard Strat from them, for my 30th birthday.  Midnight Wine, maple board... it turned up and it was awful, huge gap in the neck pocket, nut badly fitted, some finish issues... I tried to get a refund but they insisted there was nothing wrong with it, so in the end I accepted an American Standard Tele, sunburst with a rosewood board - I think that was the only other Fender they had!  I did end up keeping that Tele for quite a few years.

I still remember the guy I dealt with, I had so many phone conversations with him - "Hi Phil, it's Tim from Modern Music...". 

Nitefly

guitars4you said:

HELP - Trying to recall the name of a chain of stores - Maybe around 4-6 of them in the SW - Mainly home keyboard orientated - Maybe closed down around 10-15 years ago 

Mark - was it Hartnoll's?  They had 2 or 3 shops in the southwest, Exeter, Taunton, and Plymouth I seem to remember.  I got my 60th birthday ES-330 from them in 2009.

Mention of Soho Soundhouse reminds me they used to put out a (quarterly?) brochure with all-sorts in it - guitars, amps, keyboards, lighting, even DJ gear.

guitars4you

Nitefly said:

guitars4you said:

HELP - Trying to recall the name of a chain of stores - Maybe around 4-6 of them in the SW - Mainly home keyboard orientated - Maybe closed down around 10-15 years ago 

Mark - was it Hartnoll's?  They had 2 or 3 shops in the southwest, Exeter, Taunton, and Plymouth I seem to remember.  I got my 60th birthday ES-330 from them in 2009.

Mention of Soho Soundhouse reminds me they used to put out a (quarterly?) brochure with all-sorts in it - guitars, amps, keyboards, lighting, even DJ gear.

I do recall Hartnolls and another name from the past that I have forgotten about - Are they still in business - But no it was not who I was thinking about - I'm going a bit doolally know and wondering if I'm making this up - Something rings a bell

JD50

impmann said:

guitars4you said:

Big ads for Brandoni - guitar parts n bodies - I bet @HarrySeven recalls these and has parts in his collection

I had quite a lot of their Hayman parts!

I went to the shop/warehouse about 20 years ago to buy a Mustang bridge for a Jaguar.....

Seem to remember it being on an industrial site.

JD50

MikeC said:

Rock around the clock was near me in crouch end.

Don't suppose you can remember the name.of the music shop on the cross roads by Highgate station?

I knew RATC from when I lived in Muswell Hill.

MikeC

Yes, it was Wild Guitars, run by Dave Wild until his untimely demise a few years ago. Amazing guitar tech and the shop was a treasure trove of unusual stuff, especially old mij guitars, vox and hiwatt amps. 

He was a rather grumpy person but over about 20 years of spending a fortune there he was friendly to me in the end.  Mind you, it didn’t make him fix my guitars any faster. 

There was another half sized shop at the end of muswell hill broadway by fortune green road that only did second hand stuff, can’t remember the name. 

stonevibe

guitars4you said:

Big ads for Brandoni - guitar parts n bodies - I bet @HarrySeven recalls these and has parts in his collection

Seen a review for Retrotec amps - can't recall them at all - Looks a bit like a Sessionette 75

I used to own a recording studio a few floors down from Brandoni in the old Wrigleys factory in North Wembley. We were in the basement and in-between sessions I would occasionally pop up there for a gander at all the old Vox bits.

NelsonP

Is there a feature on Bernie Marsden and his burst in it, by any chance? ;-)

scrumhalf

MikeC said:

Yes, it was Wild Guitars, run by Dave Wild until his untimely demise a few years ago. Amazing guitar tech and the shop was a treasure trove of unusual stuff, especially old mij guitars, vox and hiwatt amps. 

He was a rather grumpy person but over about 20 years of spending a fortune there he was friendly to me in the end.  Mind you, it didn’t make him fix my guitars any faster. 

There was another half sized shop at the end of muswell hill broadway by fortune green road that only did second hand stuff, can’t remember the name. 

I remember that shop. I bought a very odd one-off guitar from there, will post a pic of it if I can. I don't remember its name either but I always had a snoop when passing. 

I found Wild Guitars' prices to be either very optimistic or in Japanese Yen as opposed to sterling. 

uksaint7

Nitefly said:

Mention of Soho Soundhouse reminds me they used to put out a (quarterly?) brochure with all-sorts in it - guitars, amps, keyboards, lighting, even DJ gear.

Yes I was working at Soho Soundhouse at the time. Said brochure was the idea of the owner, Johnny Arbiter, who wanted it to look like an old copy of Melody Maker or suchlike with aged pages. Actually, considering that accessible desktop publishing was in its infancy, the graphic designer Seb did a very good job. A lot of work went into it every month, again it being pre-online days it was an important sales tool.

guitars4you

NelsonP said:

Is there a feature on Bernie Marsden and his burst in it, by any chance? ;-)

I think the mags were still fresh then - So the idea of re-cycling such stories wasn't required - But gave you a nice lol for the comment