New Kings Road Guitars

robdynamite

Hey all, have any of you folks dealt with these guys before? How was your experience/s?

I'm on the hunt for a very clean 80's ebony les paul custom and they have one but i'm based well up north so I can't get there to visit sadly.

Whitecat

Nice stock usually but the prices are as sky-high as you can possibly imagine. Their clientele appear to be well-heeled locals and celebrities though so they get away with it. Never dealt with them in person due to the aforementioned ££££££s on the tags. 

clarkefan

Shame you can't visit, their stock is typically bloody eye-watering.  But yes they're the shop the A-listers go to for vintage gear. Rick Z who owns the place knows his shit.

guitargeek62

There was someone on here who had a very bad experience with buying a commission sale with them, some quite dodgy dealings going on there. On that basis alone I’d avoid them!

SPECTRUM001

I went in pre lockdown - to browse their stock more than anything.

I did check their website first, and found that comments like ‘very clean’ should really have said ‘some dings and paint loss’ (in fact, to their credit they amended that description a few days later).

So, if you have seen something online, I would  consider giving them a bell to ask them to inspect the guitar in question over the phone

They seemed like nice guys, and did ceed to a little bit of negotiation in a friendly way.

Whilst expensive, Rick does know his stuff...

TeleMaster

Fairly nice guys but very highly priced with no haggling. Don't even bother asking unless you want to be told the price instantly again. 

SPECTRUM001

TeleMaster said:

Fairly nice guys but very highly priced with no haggling. Don't even bother asking unless you want to be told the price instantly again. 

They did offer a deal when I was in. May depend on how long something has been in stock ?

jimmyguitar

Not always high priced... I bought a near mint stoptail 64 cherry es335 off them about two years ago for £9500. Sold it a few months later to another dealer for £13000! They were great to deal with too, lots of detailed pics and they allowed me lots of time to plug in and play with no hard sell. 

CMW335

guitargeek62 said:

There was someone on here who had a very bad experience with buying a commission sale with them, some quite dodgy dealings going on there. On that basis alone I’d avoid them!

Yep you are probably thinking of me. My thread:

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/131203/beware-famous-vintage-dealer#latest

Gerz6558

Funnily enough I privately sold an 89 les paul custom about 3 years ago for 1900 quid. To my surprise about 6 months later it turned up on their website for a ridiculous 3.5k. Somebody bought it though!

If it were me I would be patient and seek one out on Ebay or Reverb. Your patience will probably save you the best part of a grand. They are way overpriced. Guitar Village had a few later 80's ones early in the year, one was 3000 and the other 3500. Again way overpriced for my liking.

TeleMaster

SPECTRUM001 said:

TeleMaster said:

Fairly nice guys but very highly priced with no haggling. Don't even bother asking unless you want to be told the price instantly again. 

They did offer a deal when I was in. May depend on how long something has been in stock ?

Lol I remember asking and saying would you take £1100? Down from £1200, and they said 'it's £1200'. I was like, okay then. 

Whitecat

TeleMaster said:

SPECTRUM001 said:

TeleMaster said:

Fairly nice guys but very highly priced with no haggling. Don't even bother asking unless you want to be told the price instantly again. 

They did offer a deal when I was in. May depend on how long something has been in stock ?

Lol I remember asking and saying would you take £1100? Down from £1200, and they said 'it's £1200'. I was like, okay then. 

What did they even have for £1200 - a pack of strings maybe?

tone1

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/184604/new-kings-road-guitars

I found them excellent and always returned calls, emails and even followed up with updates etc...

Sassafras

My brother bought a lovely old Gibson and an AC30 for a very reasonable sum there.

TeleMaster

Whitecat said:

TeleMaster said:

SPECTRUM001 said:

TeleMaster said:

Fairly nice guys but very highly priced with no haggling. Don't even bother asking unless you want to be told the price instantly again. 

They did offer a deal when I was in. May depend on how long something has been in stock ?

Lol I remember asking and saying would you take £1100? Down from £1200, and they said 'it's £1200'. I was like, okay then. 

What did they even have for £1200 - a pack of strings maybe?

Haha. Was some V High Performance thing. Very overpriced. 

Moloch

I've never bought from them, but I've sold to them a couple of times and would definitely recommend them (if you're selling the classic 'wallpaper' Gibsons and Fenders at least). Because their prices are sky high, due to selling to celebs and the wealthy, they actually pay a better rate than anyone else on the market. By which I mean they actually paid me what I would get on the private sale market for two Les Paul Customs, in cash (without trading in for any of their stock). Really nice guys, very knowledgeable.

Loobs

Pretty funny wannabe rockstar types with their Harleys parked out the front  

I guess you can get away with flogging vintage gear to local Sloaneys at 50% markup. That being said, they were quite pleasant the last time I went in there - which was probably 2008. 
 

TheBigDipper

I went there 4/5 years ago when I was searching for a '70s Tele Deluxe. They had two, plus a '70s Tele Custom. They treated me well in the shop. Nice people.

The Custom wasn't to my taste but I liked both Deluxes as guitars and neither was particularly overpriced for their provenance. One needed a refret and new strings - which surprised me, as I would expect a shop to put decent strings onto a guitar they're selling at a decent price. The other played well and sounded good, but had a very clean white maple neck (no yellowing of the maple, unlike my '70s Strat) and little wear. I suspected it was not original. Which, if so, didn't make it a bad guitar but did make it rather overpriced. 

The shop claimed not to know either way. They said both guitars were on consignment sale on behalf of someone who travelled to the US regularly, knew their stuff and often brought back interesting guitars to sell. 

If the neck was original, it would have been acceptable at the price being asked. So I suggested we moved forward as follows... I bought the guitar at the asking price - it was a lovely thing. Then, before leaving the shop, I'd take the neck off and look for some provenance that it was original. If so, great. If not, they'd refund me and I'd leave it there. For a little bit of time and effort, they could take the risk away for me and we'd all know where we were.

That, unfortunately, "was not possible". They didn't need to ask the owner about it, it just "was not possible, sir...". 

So I walked. Too risky for me to buy without knowing. I don't feel they acted incorrectly. I don't know either way if the guitar had its original neck or not. The point of telling my story is to show another instance where buying vintage can be a minefield. 

robdynamite

TheBigDipper said:

 but had a very clean white maple neck (no yellowing of the maple, unlike my '70s Strat) and little wear. I suspected it was not original. Which, if so, didn't make it a bad guitar but did make it rather overpriced. 

Cheers for the input guys, i think i'm going to avoid this one purely for this reason. The guitar has some rather super shiny bits for something so old. They've told me it's original but my gut thinks it's too good to be true and i'm not willing to risk a 12 hour round trip to find out. I'll keep hunting in the mean time.

Mudcrutch

I know a few people that have used them over the years and had nothing but great service.
I also have a good friend that works a short walking distance of the shop who thinks there’s been a name change this year.
Not sure if it’s the Shop name Trading name or owners name?
A few months ago they had a guitar I was interested in and my daughter who lives not far from Parsons Green went reluctantly (Dad you don’t need another guitar Your spending my inheritance) to have a look for me.
It was sold when she got there.

springhead

I bought a 335 off him many years ago, when he was "Fat Ricks".  Was a very pleasant experience, trying many guitars at decent volume until finding 'the one'.