Best place to buy a bass?

[boogie8008]

I want to know where you guys' favorite place to shop is, especially those folks who have been playing and buying for 10+ years. Where do you shop and why? I read a lot of threads complaining about certain retailers but I want to hear some success stories.

If you have had some great experiences shopping please let the rest of us know so we can avoid the pitfalls of a bad shopping experience.

[80'sRocker]

By far Parkway Music in Clifton Park, NY (upstate), been in biz almost 20 years, great selection of both amps and basses and quantity. Best staff around period. They beat out our Albany, NY GC (about 20 basses, same old crap) every year in the local arts newspaper polls. A recent trip to the NYC music stores (Music Row, 2 1/2 hours away) resulted in not much better than Parkway Music selection wise! I am very fortunate to have about a dozen music stores within a 30 minute drive. I sometimes find some cool stuff in some of the smaller stores. We have another chain store (Daddy's) that is about as useless as gc. The 'bay is a great bass store as well as craigs list!

[Sam Hain]

Pawn shops and Craigslist for me. You can really find some great deals on items like new and with mojo.

[pica]

I shop at Motor City Guitar in Waterford, Michigan. They have a huge selection of new and used gear. They're close to my home. And I like to support my local family business as opposed to a big corporation such as GC. O'h and the service is much better too. They actually know my name, imagine that.

[JazPete]

The guys at The Perfect Bass ( www.theperfectbass.com/abouttheperfectbass.cfm ), live up to their story on this link. I have recently purchased a Genz-Benz Uber 4X10, Shuttle 9.0, and a new Bass for one of my grandsons, and many other misc. accessories. They have become a regular stop for me now. They are always friendly, helpful, knowledgeable and professional along with competitive $$$. Always a good experience.

Its hard to beat a local guitar maker for personal service, and getting the bass exactly as you want it. If you don't know a good guitar maker, that you can go sit down with and talk to about a bass, you can try mine. Gerard built a custom bass for me several years ago that is par excellent and he stands behind his product 100%. After owning the bass for 4 years I took it in for a repair (one of my pickups took a hit and came loose from the pickup cover), he took care of it the same day at no charge. Gerard Melancon is a Great guy to deal with. http://www.melanconguitars.com/index.shtml

I've also had great buying experiences with Carvin guitars, of course you either like Carvin or you don't and I respect that. I do like Carvin basses and have been playing them for about 20 years or more. Sales and support have always been good for me. I've never had a problem with a Carvin bass, but needed some help with an amp I had purchased. They were very friendly and helpful, and got me fixed up right away.

I like all of the basses I own right now, but as far as buying experiences these were my best.

I've been playing bass for about 35 years.

[zachoff]

Craigslist, mostly. I don't buy a lot of new basses, but the last new bass I bought was from eBay and last new bass before that was Guitar Center, but that was a clearance & super impulsive. I get all of my basses and amps serviced by Robb's Music in Boulder though & buy a good amount of stuff from them.

[KsPiNeSh]

It somewhat depends on what brands you're looking for, but Rocket Music, Bass Central, and Bass San Diego have all been awesome for me. Can't recommend them enough if you're looking new.

[mcapote]

TB Classifieds, 50% of my basses come from here. or atleast the parts that build em.

[Nev375]

I shop everywhere. Never know what you might find there.

[PSPookie]

TB classifieds and Atlanta Bass Gallery pretty much take care of my bass shopping needs.

[cassanova]

Where ever I can find the best deal on what I'm looking for. Exception being Sam Ash, I refuse to shop there.

[gre107]

Bass Specialties is one of the best stores I have ever been to.
It's in Philly. Great selection and owner (Glenn Marrazzo)!
Lots of new and used basses and gear.
If you're looking for something specific as well, give Glenn a call. His inventory is always changing so the website sometimes might not have everything on it if something new just came in.
www.bassspecialties.com
Check it out!

[Philbiker]

Originally Posted by boogie8008

I want to know where you guys' favorite place to shop is, especially those folks who have been playing and buying for 10+ years. Where do you shop and why? I read a lot of threads complaining about certain retailers but I want to hear some success stories.

If you have had some great experiences shopping please let the rest of us know so we can avoid the pitfalls of a bad shopping experience.

Best place to buy a bass is a local small business. In my area there is a shop called "Jive Sound" owned by forum member Jong Lee. That would be my number one place today to buy a bass. I haven't bought a bass from him yet, but I've purchased pedals and other sundry goodies. Basses I've bought have come from another local shop called "Classic Axe" in Gainesville, VA - I've bought three basses from Russ over the years and I have a good relationship with him. Other local shops near me include "Melodee Music", where I've bought a bass and an amp head, and "Chuck Levin's Washington Music Center" where I've bought a bass and much other sundry gear.

Support your locally owned shops! Help your local community! Often the relationships you build will go a long way.

[ggunn]

Originally Posted by boogie8008

I want to know where you guys' favorite place to shop is, especially those folks who have been playing and buying for 10+ years. Where do you shop and why? I read a lot of threads complaining about certain retailers but I want to hear some success stories.

If you have had some great experiences shopping please let the rest of us know so we can avoid the pitfalls of a bad shopping experience.

Here in Austin, I recommend the Bass Emporium (http://www.bassemporium.com/). They sell on-line, of course, but IMO there's no substitute for playing before buying.

[Tampabass]

I can't really afford to buy new, so my best bass-buying experiences have been on TB - I've not once been disappointed by the basses I've bought here. All have been in mint or very good condition, with the exception of one that I knew in advance was going to have some cosmetic issues.

I bought a 4402 once on eBay, and it was just great, at a great price. And I just bought a Tony Franklin fretless on Guitar Center's used site, and I couldn't be happier with it - it was essentially brand new, no issues at all, with all the case candy and a squeaky clean hard case, and all for WELL below the brand-new price.

Guess I've been lucky so far.

As far as the best place to find a huge range of new bass guitars in my region of the world, no doubt it's Bass Central near Orlando, about an hour or so from where I live. If I were to go for something brand new, I'd probably go there, and deal with Beaver.

And the best place I've been for upright basses is - hands down - the David Gage shop in NYC. Of course, that's a bit of a commute for me.

I really wish there were a great place to find a wide range of new and used bass guitars and upright basses in the Tampa Bay area, but I've yet to find one. The GCs and SAs around here have decent instruments, but a very limited range of basses. And the place where I bought my upright closed long ago.

[odie]

Basscentral.com
Bassnw.com

Somewhat local davesguitar.com crazy amount of guitars and a huge museum of cool guitars.

Most things I have gotten is from the classifieds.