Favourite Music shop

EricTheWeary

I was thinking of One Way Music in Wolverhampton but finding an article about it online it wouldn’t have been opened until I was fifteen or sixteen and it closed down in 2019. 

The odd trip out to Musical Exchanges in Brum which was a sort of Disney Land for musicians. In theory you could bump into pro musicians there but if I did I didn’t recognise them. 

richardhomer

guitars4you said:

Philly_Q said:

richardhomer said:

Guitar Player in Rochdale. Virtually lived there on Saturday afternoons. Still close friends with Arthur Bird who was the owner.

I think @guitars4you has told me this before, but weren't they also Bird Brothers who had another shop called Rock Island? 

I bought my Hamer Special from them in January 1982, after seeing a tiny little ad in Sounds, phoning up and sending them a cheque for £250.

Yes, 2 brothers ran the 2 shops - Richard can tell you more as a) his neck of the woods and b) as he mentioned earlier he knows Arthur, one of the brothers, very well - Think Rock Island was Oldham - Think both finished early 80's

Yes - Rock Island was the Oldham shop. Peter was the other brother - he left the business around 1983, when the Oldham shop closed.

Guitar Player carried on until the early 90s.

Brio

Never had one growing up. The first place I had an affinity for was MachineHead in Hitchin where Jeff sold me so much stuff..
First series brand new Relic for about a grand off, my MkIV Boogie 1x12 combo in hardwood with a much needed wheeled flighcase, so may pedals and bits. Massively missed bloke.

Nitefly

Philly_Q said:

<snip>

In those days all towns had those funny music shops which didn't sell guitars - except maybe cheap classical ones - but they had loads of recorders, pitch pipes, sheet music and stuff like that.

Haha we had one of those in Blackpool, @Philly_Q .  It was on Central Drive near Revoe School, was called May Copeland, and was exactly as you describe. 

She had a yellow cellophane awning in the front window, to stop the sheet music from ageing in the sunlight!

I used to walk past it on my way into town, where there was a shop called Tower Music.  I seems strange but I don't recall there being any new guitars in there - it was nearly all second-hand stuff, a far cry from today's glitzy shops...

guitars4you

richardhomer said:

guitars4you said:

Philly_Q said:

richardhomer said:

Guitar Player in Rochdale. Virtually lived there on Saturday afternoons. Still close friends with Arthur Bird who was the owner.

I think @guitars4you has told me this before, but weren't they also Bird Brothers who had another shop called Rock Island? 

I bought my Hamer Special from them in January 1982, after seeing a tiny little ad in Sounds, phoning up and sending them a cheque for £250.

Yes, 2 brothers ran the 2 shops - Richard can tell you more as a) his neck of the woods and b) as he mentioned earlier he knows Arthur, one of the brothers, very well - Think Rock Island was Oldham - Think both finished early 80's

Yes - Rock Island was the Oldham shop. Peter was the other brother - he left the business around 1983, when the Oldham shop closed.

Guitar Player carried on until the early 90s.

Vaguely recall Peter leaving - didn't he go into some design business ?

But did not recall GP carried on that long 

MikeC

When I was 13 I discovered Harrow Music (the owner Sid was lovely - he always said 'if your mum doesn't like the guitar, I'll give you back your money). Used to lust over the vintage guitars at the original Vintage and Rare / Fat Rik's in Earls Court (before the split between Chris Twigg and Rik Z of new kings road guitars). Then I discovered Peter Cook's in Hanwell who had some lovely vintage stuff - still regret not getting that mint 66 strat for £2k but scored a lovely '62 330 for £1k (since sold). Chandlers in Kew was great too before the brothers split up, and CCGX is always good for some stuff and setups. Angel Music (initially in Angel Islington and then in Denmark St) was great. I moved to East Finchley 20 years ago and discovered the wonderful Wild Guitars - which closed a few years ago after Dave Wild died. 

Not sure now where to go. 

PeteC

McToot said:

JSG (later Spectre) in Bingley. I used to get the bus over there when I was about 14 and spend 3 or 4 hours. The only thing I ever bought was a Mars bar (they sold them next to the picks) and a small Ohm practice amp. 

JSG was my go to shop for years in the 80s. I bought my Park 100 head there in 1981 and a Sessionette 75 , Silver Jubilee and. Washburn Falcon from there.   Doesnt legend have it that ‘walking on sunshine’ was written in the back of the shop ?  

slacker

Luton had one shop originally, the truly awful, Luton Music Centre. They sold Fenders for £400 when they were £250-£300 everywhere else. Also they had a bad attitude. 

Later there was the truly great 7 Sounds and the guitar tech left to start the equally great Can U Music. The latter business came to an abrupt end when builders working on next door, caused both houses to collapse. 

Although I was an adult and had decent bass gear, I loved going in Coda in the early 90's. Till buy stuff in Coda and still like a kid in a sweetshop at the age of 58/ 

Snags

Coda, sort of. Once I had transport I loved the idea of going there, but hated actually going in following a stereotypical "flash wanker sales assistant" utterly destroying my exceedingly fragile teenage self in my mid-teens when I was starting out. Something that hasn't entirely left me to this day. 

For the brief time it was open I used to window shop and occasionally try stuff out at Hertford Music, which became Gig Gear and consolidated into the Harlow premises. 

Philly_Q

Snags said:

Coda, sort of. Once I had transport I loved the idea of going there, but hated actually going in following a stereotypical "flash wanker sales assistant" utterly destroying my exceedingly fragile teenage self in my mid-teens when I was starting out. Something that hasn't entirely left me to this day. 

We've all been there.  Not at Coda, but somewhere similar...

When I was younger I'd quite often take a long train trip to visit some guitar shop or other, only to feel so intimidated that I wouldn't dare to ask about the guitar I was interested in.  Sometimes I wouldn't even go in the shop, I'd just turn round and go all the way home again.

russpm

Reidy's Music in Blackburn back in the 80s. They are still going strong in Blackburn and have a huge guitar wall.

alalalkasar

As a teen I used to live near ESE music in Maidstone. The selection of guitars and amps was pretty good but the real treasure was hidden in the basement. It was owned by (the legendary) Eric Snowball. A grumpy kind of guy, but if you got chatting and he took a liking to you you could have a go on his collection of original Binson echorecs. My little mind was blown and I couldn't look at my DOD delay in the same way ever again.

axisus

I was spoilt, I had Coda in my hometown of Luton, and Machinehead just 5 miles down the road. Both were excellent. Sadly both long gone. Coda lives on in Stevenage but I never get over there. 

Jeff Pumfret, owner of Machinehead - what a character!

thermionic

This thread has reminded me, I’m pretty sure there was a branch of Cranes in Bangor up until the mid-80s. I got my first amp there, a “Marlboro” practice amp. Blew the speaker in my first gig when we plugged two guitars into it and went back there with my mum for a replacement under guarantee. We didn’t mention the two guitars of course. There was another shop, much more of a guitarist’s shop (Cranes was really a piano/keyboard shop) but I can’t remember what it was called. Never had much money to spend there anyway, being schoolkids.

Stratavarious

Yep.. Reidy’s in Blackburn and Promenade Music at Morecambe are both good up north these days.. 

HarrySeven

mudslide73 said:

Mine are the usual West Midlands ones: TR Music in Walsall and Musical Exchanges in Bham. The two really local ones for me were Arcade Music in Cannock and S&J in Lichfield - both had great lads there. I went to Cannock College and I'd go in Arcade at least twice a week. Strangely though I've never knowingly bumped into @HarrySeven ;;;; 

In that case, we need to knowingly bump into each other once lockdown is over!

My Saturday pilgrimages were very similar, with a few additions:

TR Music (Walsall)
Hingos (Walsall)
Sound Centre (Walsall)
Disco Sound (Wednesbury)
Langdon's Electric Music (Wolverhampton)
One Way Music (Wolverhampton)
Arcade Music (Cannock)
S&J (Lichfield)
Musical Exchanges (Birmingham)
Woodroffe's (Birmingham)

There were others, but I can't remember them all now...my all-time favourite is TR Music in Walsall - known them forever. Still a great place for unusual S/H stuff and always up for a deal.

ManWithoutSkin

Philly_Q said:

In Swansea there was John Ham, Duck, Son & Pinker and another place in the arcade I can't remember the name of.

Pictons?

Back in my teens I'd catch the train from Merthyr to Cardiff most weekends just to have a look around Cranes. I loved that place, it's a shame its gone.

mrkb

McToot said:

JSG (later Spectre) in Bingley. I used to get the bus over there when I was about 14 and spend 3 or 4 hours. The only thing I ever bought was a Mars bar (they sold them next to the picks) and a small Ohm practice amp. 

I’m sure there was a Spectre music in Huddersfield in the late 90s. Was that a sister store?

scrumhalf

Nova Guitar Centre in Hendon.

Down the road from it was the Bargain Centre, which usually had some musical instruments for sale but youwere alwats cautious about buying anything from a shop that used to sell albums recorded onto blank tapes.

ronnyb

Hobbs music in Lancaster. He had an excellent collection of vintage 335's and Gibson flat tops hanging on the walls but none of it was priced. Bruce Hobbs was a strange character very aloof and if you asked the price of anything he said he would only do trades. I never bought anything there and with his attitude i'd be surprised if he ever sold anything. His wife used to sit behind the counter and she wore a very distinctive perfume, Clinique Aromatics. That together with the smell of vintage Gibsons was quite intoxicating when you walked in. Mrs R's mate wears the same perfume and it always reminds me of Hobbs. There was another good music shop in Barrow in Furness, RT Music in part of the now demolished cinema building on Abbey Road. Its still in Barrow but at a different location. Pre internet they used to get some interesting guitars in. I went in one day and there was a late 70's Antigua Telecaster i think it was £275. I left the shop walked around a bit whilst i deliberated and then went and drew the cash out only to return to find it had been sold. I did however buy a 60s J45 there not long after for £450 so that compensated for the Tele.