My Top 5 UK Guitar Retailers
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- Опубликовано: 19 окт 2024
- Buying a #guitar online can be a bit of a gamble, so here are my top 5 recommendations for retailers who I've always had a good experience with. Check out the links below:
Steven James Guitars: www.northeastg...
Merchant City Music: www.guitar.co.uk/
Bax Music: www.bax-shop.c...
Sound Affects: www.soundaffec...
GAK: www.gak.co.uk/
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RIchards Guitars in Stratford upon Avon deserve a shout. A small independent, granted heavily biased towards acoustics but still one of the UKs largest stockists of Eastman and Gordan Smith guitars amongst others
I now only buy from Richards Guitars, they treat you and your guitar with respect.
Guitarguitar for me - been using them for years with no complaints
I rue the passing of the second hand guitar shop. Anyone remember those? All instruments laid-out for your perusal, already set-up, new or clean strings and a friendly "alright mate...cuppa tea?" when you walked in. No need to ask a clueless spotty youth to retrieve a guitar from up a 15 foot wall. Ah, the good old days...
We have a shop in levenshulme Manchester called rigby guitars. All second hand stuff ... All set up really well does trade ins and repairs etc...really nice guitars and amps....it's a great place long may it last 👍
I’ve been to the GAK store in Brighton twice, once I bought a Brian May guitar and the second time, a Gretsch Streamliner. On both occasions, there was no pressure from the staff and I was left to noodle away for half an hour.
Your local music store is in very tough these days. Do buy strings and sundry and yes, even the novelty items. These owners are up against behemoths. Be sure to use them or you will lose them. My local is Jimi's Music in NDG, a borough of Montreal. It is 5 kilometers away. The rest are 15 + kilometers away.
+1 for Merchant City Music. Got a Squire J Mascis Jazzmaster from them a few years back and the setup they did in the shop was spot on!
I really love GuitarGuitar in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. One of the few retailers that always have a decent selection of lefties. Their service has always been excellent and the staff very friendly.
Merchant City Music has always been a great guitar shop in Glasgow so don’t have to go online for gear but have bought bits n bobs from them . Staff are friendly and price wise they are ok but sadly for them they are a store throw from Guitar Guitar which can maybe better them on some deals . Best shop in Glasgow is Wee Guitar Company doing great second hand guitars and repairs but can order in new gear from Jet and others . Cheers !
I returned a Gretch to Bax as I didn't get on with it and they gave my money back no problem. Also Try Peach guitars, you get to pick the guitar you want and they do a basic check on every guitar they sell
your in redcar was at the blues festival many years ago what a great weekend and all the great old blues guys .cheers from scotland
Glad to see GAK at the top! I just ordered a Jet guitar from them!.
Those Jets are flying off the shelf!😂
@@TomClarkSouthLondon Aah! such wit! or at least half of it.!
I've just bought a Sire Larry Carlton L7V in tobacco sunburst from BAX Music. It arrived on time and was nigh on in tune straight out of the box. I'm loving the P90s. So a good experience.
I have generally had good online experiences with both GAK and Andertons. Although the Sire guitar from Andertons came with a faulty nut, it was replaced with no quibbles and promptly. I do generally like to go into a store and try things before buying and agree with the comments elsewhere about friendly staff and no pressure selling experienced at my nearest GAK centre. However, I do feel nostalgic for the lost local small music shops of my youth - particularly Tiger Music in Brighton, where I bought my first guitar and amp back in 1985. Those were the days
I am lucky enough to live near two, count them, two excellent guitar shops. Guitar Village and Andertons
I ordered my very first guitar from Guitar Village. They gave me a great deal on a Yamaha Pacifica 112 back in the 1990s.
You have a lot more variety than we do here in Canada.
Half the fun in buying from your local store was haggling a good price. You never paid the ticket price---that was merely the starting point. Try doing that on line.
I did with Guitar Village (admittedly during lockdown). In some ways it's much easier to be lowball cheeky online if you're hesitantly british about haggling face to face.
I like guitar shops where you can just take them off the wall and have a quick try on them.
I can't believe you haven't mentioned Andertons of Guildford. I first used them in 1969 and they've never ever let me down since. Perhaps you should try them...
I have tried them and was disappointed with their customer service (they failed to respond to email queries & had misleading information on their website) and prices (they are often the most expensive place to buy any given product).
@@JRobsonGuitar exactly. They are salesmen first and foremost. Take that from which you will.
Ah used to love a trip to ste james guitars in middlesbrough. Shame they moved to saltburn cos it's right out of the way. Bought my latest guitar from there, but usually get my strings, leads etc online now
I'm in the ROI but my experience with UK company G4M has been great too. Sometimes a bit more expensive than ze Germans, postage wise but customers service has seen me go back to them again and again
i bought a epiphone les paul from Guitar guitar. i changed strings and decided i didnt want it. They still took it back
I agree with the comment below re Richards Guitars, they provide a level of service that puts the big box shifters to shame
Every guitar is inspected and rejected if not 100% perfect, then they set them up to your requirements.
The only retailer that i had a very bad time with were Andertons, despite phoning them to ensure that the guitar i wanted was
brand new in sealed box, they sent me a damaged used one in a wrong box.
The "Captain" was not interested and ignored me, it took a formal complaint via paypal to obtain a refund, best avoided.
I've not heard of any of the retailers other than BAX and GAK. So thanks for the tips. Of the two mentioned I have only used GAK and their customer service is very good,. However the guitar I ordered was sent direct from the distributer and not GAK. Thereby meaning it had not been checked/set up as per GAKs' website advertising. GAK were apologetic but offered no real solution. All in all an "OK" experience, but not great. Still way better than Andertons customer service which in my experience is atrocious!
I'm currently back in my home town of Edinburgh for the first time in four years as I now live in Slovenia, and I was horrified to find that a number of music shops have disappeared while I've been away. There's now really only two of any size compared to about six a few years ago. Sad times.
Tried to visit Richard’s Guitars and was brushed off with “we are very busy “!!
I now buy blindly from Ali Express and have not had a bad guitar. . . . .yet!🤗👍
No THOMANN?... I'm getting worried now, John !
🙈🙈🙈
They're not on the list because they're not a UK retailer. And because I don't trust them after their dishonest behaviour the last time I dealt with them.
@JRobsonGuitar oooo dear. Sorry my mistake. Hopefully my HB telecaster will be in good condition when it arrives tomorrow 🙏
Happy New Guitar Day, mate 👍
@@JRobsonGuitarI’m surprised as they have always been spot on with me.
@JRobsonGuitar thanks mate... hopefully it'll play and look as nice as the red one you reviewed.
B STOCK so.. touch wood 🪵
I am glad to see Andertons not on there.
Can I ask why? I've shopped there for at least 24 years. Mostly in person but online too and don't recall any problems - other than parking, which is dire.
@@PeterWasted I once purchased used a guitar online there, paid for it. Five days later it didn’t arrive. I rang them I they told me it had sold. They said an hour earlier someone purchased it in the shop. I had received a confirmation note and was told that it would be next day delivery. I wasn’t offered an apology, I rang them and asked to speak to a manager about this,none were available. I’m not stupid, stock controls on software are tightly controlled. Anyone buying that from the shop would have triggered a sold flag immediately on the computer. I got no apology, got my money back after another two days. I will never buy from them again.
I’m not the only one. Tony Mackenzie utuber has had bad dealings with them as well. ( I don’t know what for)
I’m done with them. They are dishonest.
@@aliengrey6052 That is fair enough. If my experiences were similar I might have a similar view. I do find it worthy of note that MOST people seem to have good experiences at any of the online retailers. There is choice and our personal experiences are as good as any to shape our shopping destinations.
Gig Sound in Streatham was my “Mecca!” now a Sainsbury’s local😒👎🏽
Gear 4 music have great dstribution and choice For local store Curley Music in Liverpool are honest guys
Gear4Music (along with Andertons) are among the worst offenders, in my experience, of having something listed as "in stock" on the website, only for it to be "awaiting more stock" once they've processed your payment. If a company lists something as available when it isn't, there can only be two possible explanations: 1) Incompetence or 2) Dishonesty. I don't want to deal with either of those things.
Guitar Guitar has been trouble free WRT me selling them pre-loved gear, big up for them;
Live Louder has been great with accessories, big up too;
Reverb, and the evil Bay have been fine from proper retailers, but *a bit interesting* with "used stuff for cheap";
Amazon Warehouse is straight up ... "Not enough guts, time, or money" to go there... Seriously, WHO returns strings? STRINGS. What the actual.
One shop "in the south of some place" was problematic by selling me an ex-display item at full price. Getting the replacement through took an aeon. It's fine, I'll just NEVER go back to them unless there is absolutely no way around;
Bax is a funny one, I have a flare up of GAS every now and then over their Fame Forums, just so far I have managed to dodge that one!
Hmmm, for some reason YT has decided to remove my comment! 🤨
I'll try again
I've only dealt with Merchant City Music once, when I bought the last Lake Placid Blue Squier FRS Bullet Tele in the UK from them back in 2019. When it arrived (quickly) the tone pot was DOA, so a quick phone call to them and they gave me two options, return the guitar for a refund (as it was the last one in the UK with no more coming) or they'd send me a replacement pot and refund me £10.
I chose the replacement pot + £10 refund. Not one, but two quality full size pots (not mini) with new control knobs arrived the next day. Now that's what I call customer service!
It happens! Sometimes the message can take roughly a day before they appear. I am not sure how personally I should take it LOL.
Gear4music is only 20 miles away from me . I,de use them if I had a car .
What a fantastic video have a wonderful day John also i have a stomach ache also a stomach ache ❤❤❤❤❤❤🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢 also a stomach flu
"Not mentioning names"...... I wish you would John. Name and shame those who take your money for things they don't have - it's fraudulent.
How to lose your local music shop!!
My local guitar shop got a mention in this video, maybe you didn't notice that? They're doing pretty well on account of the fact that they sell online too. There's nothing preventing ANY local retailer from doing the same thing. Those who offer a good service, like Steve James Guitars, will prosper. Those who don't, won't. There is nothing intrinsically harmful to local independent retailers about the fact that we live in an online world. Anyone can participate. Andertons, Gear4Music and Merchant City Music all of whom are regarded as "big" online retailers, all began as local independent traders for their own hometown. Online buying habits of people shopping for instruments hasn't killed off THOSE local guitar shops so the idea that buying gear with a mouse click is killing off your local shop is a fallacy... Someone hundreds of miles away might be buying with a mouse click from them.
No andertons or guitar guitar John can understand tell you a good one good prices reidys in Blackburn