Tone World in Administration

Van_Hayden

Frailers always gets a mention from me. Good old fashioned shop in that you can deal with them!

ToneControl

lustycourtier said:

Everytime anyone mentions all the NW guitar shops, they all neglect to mention Frailers, which I think is the best for interesting guitars. My last 5 or 6 have come from there...

I always tell people, it's an excellent shop. Can't see me getting my daughters to Runcorn to hit the shops though!

vasselmeyer

lustycourtier said:

Everytime anyone mentions all the NW guitar shops, they all neglect to mention Frailers, which I think is the best for interesting guitars. My last 5 or 6 have come from there...

Good banjo selection too...

jonnyburgo

The guys who started Tone World are really nce, its a shame but it was probably a bit too high end.

Van_Hayden

The guys in the shop say people either go to Runcorn to visit them or look at the bridge.

Sounds great is good cause you can drop the women at the massive John Lewis down the road.

ToneControl

badlydrawnbanjo said:

ToneControl said:

can someone please open up a nice shop near the Trafford centre. Then I can visit it with the kids in tow but without using up a week's worth of brownie points

There's actually a shop that sells guitars in the Trafford centre now! It's on the second floor near Next. Don't go expect much though and the kids in there haven't got a clue. Might be ok with a Fender Teeshirt though.

yeah, it's just a few cheap Fenders

I meant I'd love it if Toneworld or Sounds Great were just near the Traff.

Johnny Roadhouse just emailed me an invite to this http://chord.avsl.com/roadshow/

and I thought, it would be great if a Frailers or SG or TW were that close to the Traff.  

Van_Hayden

vasselmeyer;135513" said:

lustycourtier said:

Everytime anyone mentions all the NW guitar shops, they all neglect to mention Frailers, which I think is the best for interesting guitars. My last 5 or 6 have come from there...





Good banjo selection too...

We're trying to encourage people to go.

ourmaninthenorth

bertie said:

ourmaninthenorth said:

The law has little to do with fairness in my experience and opinion. 

didnt know you were a JP

If I've got to write any more cheques to the legal profession, it'll be a bloody GP that I'll need.... )

Fretwired

It's up for sale. We could have a forum whip round and buy it ... rename it Fretboard and take it in turns to work there ... :-)

lustycourtier

I feel a tad guilty about the quantity of free beer Ive drunk in there at the clinics they have held….

ToneControl

Fretwired said:

It's up for sale. We could have a forum whip round and buy it ... rename it Fretboard and take it in turns to work there ... :-)

ahh.. http://www.insidermedia.com/insider/north-west/106246-buyer-sought-tone-world

ToneControl

which 3 employees have they kept, and how much would the business sell for ?

ChrisMusic

jonnyburgo said:   The guys who started Tone World are really nice, its a shame but it was probably a bit too high end.

Jeff at world guitars seems to be doing pretty well through the recession.   Certainly pretty high end.  Maybe that's because he has a more established client base.  He does seem to be doing better than most judging by his inventory turnover.

So maybe we should have a whip round and buy it back from the administrators  

Ossyrocks

I had a walk up to Tone World at lunchtime today and had a chat with Gary.

He is hopeful of a solution to this predicament and he should know where they stand by Monday next week. The best outcome would be a buyer for the business and a new lease of life. Hopefully whoever steps in will recognise what Gary and Rick and the rest of the staff bring to the place.

The shop is looking rather understocked since I was last in there before Christmas, but there's still some lovely guitars and pedals, but not a lot of amps compared with previously.

If you're passing, pop in, I got the feeling Gary was glad to chat about guitars rather than worry about the future for a few minutes.

Rob.

ICBM

Skipped said:

A few months ago I was moaning on MLPF that the Gibson Historic guitars at Sounds Great are all 2012 models (this was halfway through 2013). It's now 2014 and the stock is still the same. What are they going to do with those guitars? (I think Gibson should buy them back and put them on ebay at "cost". I reckon they would not lose any money).
A potential buyer in Manchester who wants to check out an R7 or an R9 with the current Burstbucker pickups needs to head for Dawsons to discover what is required (?) for them to unlock the glass case.

Of course, it might help shops to stay in business and build up a good customer base if the manufacturers like Gibson and Fender (and they're not the only ones) would stop constantly buggering around with the product line so there's no hope of a small dealer being able to stock this month's range, and have customers not turn their noses up at what they do have because it's last week's spec with the wrong fingerboard or the wrong pickups or whatever… not to mention actually having a range of models that the average punter can even make head or tail of anyway, let alone know the spec for.

Or is it just me?

Rocker

I bought my Anderson guitar from 'Gary' in SoundsGreat in early 2000.  Probably the guy the OP alluded to.  He came across as a genuine guy, very genuine in fact.  I hope the company gets through this crisis.

richardhomer

The website is down and I believe the shop has now ceased trading. A great shame. Since it opened, I met Albert Lee, Johnny Marr, Paul Reed Smith and Jamie Humphries there. The was a real 'buzz' about the place.....

TheHolyDrinker

Hi just found this. It seems as there was some dispute between Toneworld and Sounds Great. What a shame.

Manchester's Tone World, opened in March 2012 by former Sounds Great director Gary Sharpe, is in administration.

In a statement, Begbies Traynor, the business recovery specialist, said the Jersey St retailer entered administration on January 8, 2014, with John Kelly and Nigel Price appointed as administrators.

The business continues to trade while a buyer is sought, though two members of staff have been made redundant.

John Kelly said: “We’re still in the stages of making initial assessments and have begun marketing the business in the hope that a suitable buyer can be found.”

He added that one of the reasons for the business failure was that it has become embroiled in an ongoing legal dispute.

MI Pro spoke with both Gary Sharpe and Sounds Great but neither was willing to comment on a legal dispute between Sounds Great's owner Phil Lyon Enterprises and Sharpe, and which we understand was settled in July 2013, in Lyon's favour.

guitarcookie1

fretmeister;135324" said:

Once again blaming the lawyers.

In this matter it's administrators and accountants.

If you don't want a lawyer to "win" (or more accurately, pay them for the professional service you have asked them to perform) then go down the library and learn what you need to know yourself. It's all there.

You are allowed to represent yourself.

As for fairness and justice. Same old bollocks.

The winner always thinks that justice has been done and there could be no other outcome. The loser always says there has been a miscarriage of justice.

The loser never admits that there is even a possibility that an impartial judge has looked at all sides and made the right choice. And that's just pathetic child-like behaviour.

None of the moaners ever come up with suggested  improvements of course. THat would need actual thought and research. It's as lazy as moaning about a political party getting into power when you didn't bother to vote.

Well said (and that's from the accountants point of view)

Gassage

Real shame. Gary helped me loads of times.

Sounds Great will be giggling...