Favourite guitar shops?

paulmapp8306

Peach and Andertons really.   Peach has always been good but its a significant step up since they moved from the old craft centre.

Coda.... I haev mixed feelings  I was in there last week - and I got the same feeling I always do in there unfortunately (or at least over the last decade or so).   They really want to sell you what they want to sell you (I wanted to try 4-5 amps but I only get to test 2 - and one of those was an older Two Rock model I got the felling they wanted rid of - it was a studio pro - and I even spotted the studio Signature head they never even mentioned), and if you not going to walk out with something that day they loose interest (as son as I said on on the start of the journey to nail down the amp I want they kind of got this uninterested look wash across their faces).    I wanted to try a Bad cat, and a Fuchs and a Carr -they had all 3 in stock but after the Tone King imperial and that TR Studio Pro (which wasnt the model I was interested in as Ive said) they wernt interested in me hearing anything else.   I had plenty of time - but 30 mins and those 2 amps and they were no longer interested....~just got a "you know where we are when you make a choice" - which is hard to do when I didnt get the chance to try 3 of the 5 I was interested in they stocked.

Granted they knew I was going to Peach to look at a DreZ and a Magnetron too before making a choice, and it was 11 am on a Monday morning so they likely had a lot of weekend internet sales/coimms to deal with - but still.  it has very definitely put me off dealing with them. 

Honestly - Im making a 7 hour round trip next week to Peach - that is the ONLY store Ill specifically make a trip to for guitar related things these days.  All the others are "if Im passing" or at least "closeish"

Guitar Village - I havent been in there for about 20 years....  Used to be my local as I was in the Forces in Reading, and my girlfriend at the time lived in Fareham.   does stock some nice stuff, Ive always found them very friendly but they are a tad on the pricey side.  

Tone71

Guitar Guitar in Epsom is my local shop and they are good, but Guitar Village is my absolute favourite, Love the building, the amount of great guitars and they are always really helpful without being pushy, bought a few in there too.

Andertons unfortunately left me a bit cold last time which is a shame, maybe I need to re-visit

Unimprobable

Another vote for Absolute music Bournemouth - great selection of guitars, interesting used and b stock Gibson's when I visited last year and you can audition them off the shop floor in booths with reasonable amps. Helpful staff.

Boromedic

Peach, just because of how their appointment based system, that clearly works wonders for them in their own shop, pisses off numerous cretins on the internet.

Lawriejones1

I went to Guitar Bitz in Bath and I was really impressed. The shop was beautifully presented, the guys helpful and the stock competitively priced.

I was going to trade but they decided not to, in a polite and friendly way. Thoroughly recommended.

Mattharrier

Oh, another one I like although not local to me, is Music Street in Huntingdon. Very helpful staff, loads of nice guitars. They just need to tune the guitar above the door...

Zapple

Mattharrier said:

Oh, another one I like although not local to me, is Music Street in Huntingdon. Very helpful staff, loads of nice guitars. They just need to tune the guitar above the door...

Music Street is a great shop and always super helpful. 

korgi

lovestrat74 said:

I am nowhere near this shop but I get posts on FB from AMP Guitars in Macclesfield and they always have interesting stuff for sale. I also regularly pop into Guitar Classics in Battersea in my lunch "hour", but this has just closed for a refurb. Again, like AMP, has really interesting stock.

yep, this is my friends shop - its really great, and as you say has lots of interesting stuff at a good price.....it feels like the sort of guitar shops i remember growing up

Dan5150

Thanks for the recommendations! We ended up going to GigGear, Coda and MusicStreet. Really good day out. Lovely staff all round and some great gear. 

My only purchase of the day was a 633 Overdrive pedal. I feel like if we had a little more time in Coda, it would have been bad for my bank account! 

digitalkettle

I'm off to MusicStreet at the weekend...where's best for parking?

Brio

I love Andertons, it's 25 minutes away on the bus so beers and guitars is easy. I bought my PRS SE DGT from Absolute Music in Bournemouth and found that excellent.

Brio

Just remembered how much I miss shopping at Machine Head and talking shit with Jeff for hours midweek. He was why I never bothered going to Coda  

Offset

Kebabkid said:

From the past, Chandler Guitars (Kew)

Agreed.  I bought my Strat Plus there 33 years ago.

ditchboy

Not much left here in the North East. Steve James in Middlesbrough used to be good but never been since he relocated. GG in Newcastle is probably the best with a huge electric and acoustic section. If anything the acoustic section is probably slightly better. 

Airmiles

Edit: oops, maybe if I'd read beyond page 1.. 
Any votes for Music Street in Huntingdon? They often show up well in my online searches. (E.g. PJE stockists)

CCGX is my local (a magic fluke of geography) - worth pointing out they seem to have about 4x as much in the shop as on the website .

Zapple

digitalkettle said:

I'm off to MusicStreet at the weekend...where's best for parking?

There’s a little car park on St Germain Street (and head in the back door - if that’s still possible). Otherwise Sainsbury’s car park.

Great, friendly shop.

digitalkettle

Zapple said:

digitalkettle said:

I'm off to MusicStreet at the weekend...where's best for parking?

There’s a little car park on St Germain Street (and head in the back door - if that’s still possible). Otherwise Sainsbury’s car park.

Great, friendly shop.

Thanks...this will be my second ever visit and, again, I have an xP* of 1.0

* Expected Purchase

Yorkie

I used to find decent second hand stuff at Bulmers in York. Then they closed down and their place became what look like apartments for tourists… yuck. 

Beyond York… Johnny Roadhouse in MCR is my new interest. 

Irishbread69

Anderton's...was a disappointment for me. I was making a straightforward trade/purchase and it just took forever for them to bring it all together. I just found it all a bit lacking and it wasn't even busy, can't imagine what it's like on the weekends.

GG - Camden is worth a visit. Good mix of everything, staff are pretty chill and friendly. Was weird seeing a bunch of familiar faces from Instagram.

Absolute in Bournemouth is my local and my favourite. They maintained a good stock, even through the pandemic and it's just an interesting place to visit.

Esoterick

Peach for me, shame it's a bit far to drive. Unlike Andertons when I called several times I was quickly put through to a really helpful member of staff when I had ordering queries.

I quite like Andertons shop and the booths are nice but they have a number of shortcomings they could do with sorting out: Issue resolution, prepping of guitars(I bought a £1200 guitar that shipped caked in handprints), their system somehow shows my invoice address as one I deleted from my account last summer and it can be close to impossible to reach anyone in the guitar department on the phone.