bay area(san francisco) store recommendations anyone?

For lots of high end beauties, check out Gelb Music in Redwood City.

 

Yup...Gelb in Redwood City is the place to try all the good stuff. They usually have all the Fenders available. In stock most of the time are MTD 535 - Zon - Lakland - Spector - Modulus and others you can try. Just don't play too loud, or else you'll be out the door!

 

Skips and GC in Sacramento seem to have a fair amount of basses. GC probably has more Fenders. I bought a brand new 62 strat from Music Unlimited. They have different owners now, but they were very helpful when I was purchasing a new wireless a few years ago. It seem like you have narrowed your search to a mexi fender. You are correct in wanting to try as many as possible. I still wouldn't rule out a Yamaha. They have several models in your price range.

 

I agree on Gelb in Redwood City, but also look at Guitar Showcase in San Jose.

Starving Musician in San Jose and Santa Clara are hit and miss. Usually they don't have much of interest, but once in a while you find something nice.

Also on the smaller side is Haight-Ashbury Music in Sunnyvale. They sometimes have something worth looking at.

Gryphon Stringed Instruments in Palo Alto is mostly guitars, but does have a few basses. Last time I visited there, they had a Martin acoustic and some high-end semi-acoustic (Rob Allen if I remember correctly)

That's all I can remember at the moment. I'm sure there are others, but those are my regulaar haunts.

 

I was impressed by this funky shop in berkley

http://www.fatdawg.com/


AJ

 

What about fatdawg impressed you? All I saw there was a bunch of junk, definately not many fenders. YMMV

 

Yah, its deffinetly not boutique nor even average its just a funky shop with cool people that I visited and I like.



AJ

 

There's actually a good shop about 2 stores down from the Haight-Asbury intersection (on Haight, I think). I had good experiences there. They seem to have a nice selection and good prices.

 

Yup, that would be Haight Ashbury Music. I think their website is www.haight-ashbury-music.com. I also check out Real Guitars www.realguitars.com. Got some vintage Fenders and other off brand too.

 

Is Univibe still there in Berzerkly? They use to have stuff show up every once in a while.

Black Market Music closed up shop didn't they? They were pretty cool.

I'm really surprised that San Fran doesn't have a bass only store, like BassNW or Bass Central.

Oh yeah, Fatdawg is a trip. All those cases that are on the floor have pre-CBS guitars in them. They really aren't too much into bass.

 

It's been said, but Gelb is really the only place worth checking out. They have a great stock of all levels of basses. The staff there is top notch, and they'll help you find the right bass without trying to tear into your pocketbook. Talk to Ed when you go over there.

 

Ummmmm, although I agree that Gelb is worth checking out. It is not the only place. Guitar Showcase is definitely worth stopping at. Guitar Showcase has a cool room with vintage Fenders and their stock of Alembics. Wanna see a pair of Alembic Spyders? Guitar Showcase has a pair (a 4-string and an 8-string). Guitar Showcase is a dealer of Alembic, Fender, MusicMan and Rickenbacker.

So, yea, go to Gelb. It is a great shop with great basses, but also visit Guitar Showcase. Both stores are worth stopping in.

 

I really like Real Guitars. They dont have much new stuff but worth a trip. They had a really nice G and L when I was there.

Don't know where it is ask Blackbird.

 

All of the previous recommendations are good, but they left out Rocker Guitars in SF at, I think, 9th and Howard. They have a fair selection, but specialize in what I call benign neglect (the staff pretty much ignores you, but they are nice about it). I must, must, recommend that you stay away, far away from Fatdog and Subway Guitars! Check out the review of Subway Guitars on Harmony Central for the Gibson EB-2 Copy. That is a typical response to a Subway experience. Good luck!

 

Ditto on everything stated about Gelb.

Geld rules as far as prices go.

Ed's the man.

 

Yeah, Showcase can be decent at times, especially if you are into Alembic's. Aside from that, the only other basses they really carry are Fenders and MM's. That's really not a great selection. The prices on their Alembic's are a bit high too. I used to live about 2 minutes away from Showcase, and even though I would go check out what they had every so often, I would rather take the drive out to Gelb to see a much better selection and a much more knowledgable and helpfull staff. If you can only go to one place, go to Gelb. If you have time to kill, and would like to check out some nice vintage stuff and some hard to find Alembics, go to Showcase as well.