London Guitar Shops

AlexHunter

I have a couple of days in central London planned this week, where are the places to go (or avoid) for electric and acoustic guitar shopping?

musicegbdf

The vintage guitar boutique ,Bethnal green road is worth visiting

xSkarloey

Ivor Mairants have very obliging staff.

Check website for the kind of gear they do.

Moss

Wunjos and Regent Sounds on Denmark Street

Dinosauria

If you buy anything secondhand/vintage from Wunjo take it to bits and check everything is as it's supposed to be. Look out for reissue parts and routing...

crunchman

In the centre of town you really only have Denmark St and the stuff within a few minutes walk of it like Ivor Mairants.  Most of the better shops are further out.

At my end of London, Chandler's are on the tube and would be about 40 mins from the centre.  You could get to Charlie Chandler's in Hampton Wick (just over the river from Kingston) and GuitarGuitar in Epsom in an hour or so.

FelineGuitars

And you already know the way to my place and how dangerous it is to your wallet when temptation strikes.

Chalky

I used to love Wunjos - bought a few from there over the years - but their prices have stayed high while the market has fallen and I have felt dubious about some of their secondhand stuff I've tried in the last year or two. Heed @Dinosauria!

Cookiemonster

I liked this shop, I just stumbled on it a few months ago

 

http://www.vintageguitarboutique.com/effects

 

jeztone2

Feline/Angel Music/Guitar Guitar Epsom/Coda Stevenage.

Angel Music aside I find Denmark St a place where your essentially paying for the location. It's always worth a wander around & I have had the odd bargain. But not always well priced & selection of modern 'non hipster' guitars is nonexistent. I think there was more here 20 years ago.

jeztone2

Feline/Angel Music/Guitar Guitar Epsom/Coda Stevenage. Ivor Maraints too.

Angel Music aside I find Denmark St a place where your essentially paying for the location. It's always worth a wander around & I have had the odd bargain. But not always well priced & selection of modern 'non hipster' guitars is nonexistent. I think there was more here 20 years ago.

musicegbdf

Cookiemonster;662289" said:

I liked this shop, I just stumbled on it a few months ago http://www.vintageguitarboutique.com/effects 

See my post above. Yes good stuff fair pricing. Warning, don't go downstairs the prices will make your eyes water

timhulio

Good call on Regent Sounds, Vintage Guitar Boutique and Wunjos. Of course I could be biased as these fine establishments have all stocked Fredric Effects pedals :-)

Regent Sounds have some stunning CS Fenders in at the moment, and the downstairs vintage room at VGB is quite stunning.

Loobs

Second VGB, Wunjo's are friendly guys but I've never really been blown away by the store - they sometimes have cool bits in and the pedal selection is now really good.

Further out Guitar Guitar, Chandler's and CCGX or Peach in Essex.

Blacksheep

musicegbdf said:

Cookiemonster;662289" said:

I liked this shop, I just stumbled on it a few months ago http://www.vintageguitarboutique.com/effects 

See my post above. Yes good stuff fair pricing. Warning, don't go downstairs the prices will make your eyes water

Almost £9k for a 56 LP Junior, no matter how good the condition, is delusional.

Chalky

If you have money to burn then have a good time in Denmark St. But you'll get a LOT more for your money elsewhere. And much lower risk of buyers remorse

Babones

Chalky said:

If you have money to burn then have a good time in Denmark St. But you'll get a LOT more for your money elsewhere. And much lower risk of buyers remorse

If you're buying (new) Fender from Regent Sounds, they're as good as the net, in that they will match price/do a deal. I've seen prices on Fender gear, equal to, or sometimes cheaper than net prices there.

Babones

jeztone2 said:

Feline/Angel Music/Guitar Guitar Epsom/Coda Stevenage.

Angel Music aside I find Denmark St a place where your essentially paying for the location. It's always worth a wander around & I have had the odd bargain. But not always well priced & selection of modern 'non hipster' guitars is nonexistent. I think there was more here 20 years ago.

Genuine question: what's classed as a modern hipster guitar? A few years back it was anything offset, but they've since flooded the market and are almost as common as Strats.

Chalky

Unless Denmark St shops have changed owners in the last 4 months then I cannot believe they are "equal to, or sometimes cheaper than net prices there". I have made deals on what I've bought there. But cheap? Nah.

Hertz32

I tend to pop into Westside MI when I go by. They have a serious selection of pointy, many stringed things downstairs.

imalone

Babones said:

Chalky said:

If you have money to burn then have a good time in Denmark St. But you'll get a LOT more for your money elsewhere. And much lower risk of buyers remorse

If you're buying (new) Fender from Regent Sounds, they're as good as the net, in that they will match price/do a deal. I've seen prices on Fender gear, equal to, or sometimes cheaper than net prices there.

I don't often compare their prices, but when I've looked they've been pretty similar to online. I do remember asking the price of something (think it was a mustang amp), and when he told me the price the guy said they couldn't do lower, which was fair enough as it was cheaper than I'd seen online.