Jump to content
aberdeen-music

BM thread got me thinking


britheguy

Recommended Posts

The thread about BM closing down got me thinking about online guitar sales.

I've got quite a few guitars, but only one was bought online and that was only after being offered a paltry trade in price for my PRS 10 top from the the two Aberdeen music stores. If I remember correctly is was in the region of 600-700 quid against a new Les Paul. I called a shop in England and got 1100 against the Les Paul, also bearing in mind that both Aberdeen shops were asking more for a Les Paul than the English shop in the first place.

However, saying that, all my other guitars have been bought from local shops/sources etc. I enjoy the fact that I can walk into R&B or Millars and have a chat with the people who work there, and try out stuff.

I don't get the whole online thing with guitars and amps etc.

Cheers

B

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've only ever bought 3 guitars, but the last one I bought second hand and will do the same for any factory made guitars I buy in the future. Unless I'm very much mistaken there isn't much in the way of used guitars available in the average high street shop, although I guess they must exist in large® cities.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's my guitar provenance list...

early 70s Columbus bass bought new from music shop on Union St (Chalmers & Joy? Middleton's?)

Late 70s strat from Bruce Miller's (sold in the 80s)

Early 60s Jazzmaster from R&B's Rosemount shop

Baldwin 12-string...can't recall...possibly Abbotsford Acoustics in King St

Early 70s Hofner bass from Transrad (Rosemount) now sold

Famos (cheap Framus copy) from Culter boot sale...gave it to a charity shop...a pal tried to sell it back to me a few weeks later for 50 :laughing:

Early 70s Conrad bass from a second-hand shop in New Orleans

Early 1900s lute guitar bought online

Dan Electro reissue second hand from a pal

Un-named but cool looking electric (mid 60s) from pawn shop in Georget St

Early 60s Watkins Rapier 33 from boot sale at Kittybrewster....cost a fiver

Shapelywood travel guitar (steel strings) online from the maker in Cardiff

Shapelywood travel guitar (nylon strings) as above

Synsonic child's electric from a 99c store in NYC

Similar but un-named as present

Rolyford archtop from Abdn-Music (Jordan)

90s Marlin slammer (gets'slammed' at Matricarians gigs) from a charity shop for a tenner

Hofner travel electric from Bruce Miller's (gave to Free Tibet)

Squier bass from a charity shop (gave to Free Tibet)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are loads that I've sold on, but the here is the provenance of the ones I still have:

Gibson Les Paul Studio - new, Rikki's Music Shop (whilst I worked there)

Gibson SG Special - new, Rikki's Music Shop (ditto)

Freshman J300 electro-acoustic - new, Rikki's Music Shop (ditto)

Epiphone Les Paul Custom - second hand, eBay

Fender '72 Tele - new (px with crap standard tele), Scayles Music

Personally, I don't care if a guitar is new or not as long as it plays well. Online purchases can be a bit of a lottery in that respect, hence only one of mine came from Teh Internetz.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The thread about BM closing down got me thinking about online guitar sales.

I've got quite a few guitars, but only one was bought online and that was only after being offered a paltry trade in price for my PRS 10 top from the the two Aberdeen music stores. If I remember correctly is was in the region of 600-700 quid against a new Les Paul. I called a shop in England and got 1100 against the Les Paul, also bearing in mind that both Aberdeen shops were asking more for a Les Paul than the English shop in the first place.

However, saying that, all my other guitars have been bought from local shops/sources etc. I enjoy the fact that I can walk into R&B or Millars and have a chat with the people who work there, and try out stuff.

I don't get the whole online thing with guitars and amps etc.

Cheers

B

Sorry, the first line of this post might be misunderstood, As far as I am aware Bruce Millars is not closing down. Sorry for any confusion this might have caused.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mine is a US Deluxe strat although I currently play a no name strat copy because it was the best I could find in my corner of the world :D Next time I buy a guitar it will likely be a Suhr Standard from their custom shop.

To clarify, I meant that I prefer second hand guitars because they are better value and I inevitably wear my guitars down anyway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've bought online a few times without problems, maybe I've been lucky. If you want something specific you can't always get it locally. To follow Alan's lead:

Tatra Classic - Bought off my mum's friend's son

Squier 51 - secondhand off ebay

Fender mandolin - Bruce Millers

Epiphone Chet Atkins SST - R&B

Gibson Les Paul Standard Guitar Center, Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles CA

Squier Precision (Japanese) - Bought this one by distance pre-internet from some place in England after seeing their ad in a guitar magazine. Arrived without problems and it's an excellent instrument

Mystery banjo - foud in my dad's garage

Gibson 1954 Reissue Les Paul - Sort of bought this online. I wanted a Gibson with P90s and was going to New York so thought I would buy online and get it shipped to my hotel. The advantage of buying from out of state is that you don't pay state sales tax, saves you 8% or something. I bought from Wildwood Guitars who have an excellent reputation as one of the top Gibson dealers in the world so I bought with confidece. I spoke to them on the phone quite a bit and they were great to deal with, everything went smoothly. This particular guitar was a limited edition flametop model made only for Wildwood so even I wanted to I couldn't have bought it in Aberdeen, and even if I had gone for the normal productio model the price would have been double what I paid for it in the states. Check out Wildwood's site, so many amazing guitars: Wildwood Guitars | New Arrivals

Gretsch 6119 - Guitar Center, Houston TX

Fender Mark Knopfler Stratocaster - Merchant City Music, Glasgow. This was a pre-order so I didn't actually play it before buying but I have bought guitars and amps from them in person before and I know they would have been fine to deal with if there had been a problem

Vintage ukelele - in person from some shop in London

Mystery fiddle - found in my granny's house

1967 Silvertone 1452 "Hornet" - online from the States. Again, with the best will in the world, there is no way I could have got this guitar locally. Best service I have ever had from a small dealer in Hawaii

Gibson J-45 - In person from Unplugged, Peter Cook's acoustic offshoot in London

Burns Double Six - Online from Peter Cook's in London

Eko Ranger XII - From a mate

Also bought guitars I no longer have in person from Merchant City, Sound Control and R&B.

Oh, and it seems like a good excuse to post this pic again :up:

n573972363_1294202_7907.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Unless i know where it's coming from I never buy a guitar without playing it.

For example,you can have 10 LP's all with consecutive serial numbers made in the same day but you'll only like one of them.

Nothing better than getting a guitar in your hands first!:up:

Ronz

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have only bought 1 bass and 1 guitar from a shop. I don't mind buying at distance - if I don't like it then I'll sell it on and probably get my money back. You get more for your money buying second hand. Besides, there's not exactly much to look at in the flesh in Aberdeen when it comes to basses. That's not a dig at the shops, more people play guitar than bass, it's supply and demand. It is disheartening (but a simple fact of life) to see guitars outnumbering basses in ratios of 3 or 4 to 1. It just makes me not want to even bother going in for a look.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I agree totally on the lack of decent basses in Aberdeen.

It was a bit of a shock to the system given that I've just moved up from London and there are a few places that sell nothing but basses!!!

More of a shock was the lack of a decent luthier / repair bloke. The guy in the shop in the merchant's quarter said they send everything off to some bloke in Glasgow (I think).

Might have to start planning trips down to Newcastle if I need stuff fixed. :down:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's a new sign at the top of the Correction Wynd steps dclaring that the area around there and the Green is the Merchant Quarter. I know they used to have corn markets, feeing etc there in the 19th C, so I suppose it might be appropriate, but it smacks of 'keeping-up-with' Glasgow.

As there used to be a prison (or 'house of correction' ) in Correction Wynd they should call it the 'Thieves and Murderers Quarter', just for fun :)

Or, because they used to lock up the wee kids who were 'press-ganged' into service in the USA in a house on the Green, maybe they could call it the 'Child Abductor's Quarter'...that should pull in the crowds! :up:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...