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How's the bass selection in your town?

#121
Nazareth PA... Martin Guitar within jogging distance. Guitar Villa is nearby. John Slog owns it. Great guy. Has lots of my money!
I bought some of my best gear there. They also do great repair work.

Ken Smith's factory isn't too far away.
 
#122
NoiseNinja said:
Non existent, the small town I live in practically died out after the big mall was build.

Not much better in the biggest city in my area, with only 2 minor musical equipment stores.

I usually use Thomann (one of Europe's biggest musical equipment stores) as my go to instrument shop when I need to purchase new equipment.

Sucks not to be able to actually try out instruments before purchase, but what can you do.
Click to expand...

I remember a Danish TBer jokingly saying that Celinders are so common in Denmark you find them in trash cans. :laugh:
 
#123
Bass Viking said:
In another thread I posted that I thought many bassists haven't played enough different brands to know what they really like, due to limited availability in local stores. I got in some hot water for that :D but I still stand by my statement. In my own city of 1 million people, the selection is not great. It's mainly Fender, Squier, Ibanez, Yamaha, Epiphone, etc. There's nothing wrong with these brands but it's the tip of the iceberg.

Brands I used to see, like Warwick, Lakeland, and G & L, have disappeared. You seldom see even a Gibson bass. You do come across a few Rickenbackers, Musicman, and the occasional Fender Custom Shop. Boutique? Forget it! Not even the Canadian stuff like Dingwall or F bass.

I currently own 11 basses. Only 2 were purchased in Ottawa stores. 2 I bought used and the rest I ordered from the USA. Even Club Bass in Toronto has reduced the number of bass brands they carry and changed their name to Club Bass & Guitar. :eek:

The store where I bought my Taylor guitar has a fantastic selection of acoustics and electric guitars, with high end Gibson, Fender, PRS, Taylor, Martin, Collings, Suhr. As for basses: Last time I was there they had 5. :(
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www.basscentral.com
 
#124
Columbia, MD. Not much immediately local to me, just some basic stuff at Mikes Music and Music and Arts. Guitar Center in Towson, Rockville and Glen Burnie combined have a fairly decent selection. Bills House of Music tends to have the same instruments for a long time. Chuck Levins can have some nice gear at good prices. Jive Sound is a dedicated bass store, but limited hours means I have to plan ahead for the hour and a half drive to get there and with the unknown variable of the Capitol Beltway, I've turned around as many times as I've made the trek to visit. They have great stuff, but they're on the wrong side of the beltway for me. Atomic Music is all used gear and sometimes you'll find great instruments, but their pricing is usually higher than what I want to pay. I guess that overall, I have decent selection and if I wanted more I'd have to go to New York, Nashville or Chicago.
 
#126
Wow, I was sitting here envying you Americans, but it looks like I'm actually pretty spoiled for choice locally compared to most of you. There are four large stores around Glasgow town center, and all of them have a pretty reasonable selection. The closest one (and my primary browsing location) is a relatively small UK chain imaginatively named 'Guitarguitar'; they've recently undergone some renovation, and the whole basement floor is now officially the 'bassment'. They've got a pretty reasonable spread of the entire length of the Fender line going all the way up to a couple of CS models, and then a good spread of the other big name production instruments Gibson, Epiphone, Ibanez, Yamaha etc.

In recent years they've also added a small number of Sadowsky metros to the regular lineup, as well as a whole load of Sandbergs, a few Suhrs and now a couple of D'Angelicos.

(I should probably clarify that I'm not affiliated in any way with GuitarGuitar. Well, unless you count having spent horrendous amounts of money in there over the years as 'affiliated')

That said, I think you folks really win out in the used market - there's just not a huge circulation of second-hand gear, and we don't see anything like the falloff in value that you seem to across the Atlantic. I've never seen anything other than bottom-of-the-barrel entry level instruments in pawn shops either. Good if you're looking to sell, but not great if you want to pick anything up for less than the RRP.

...although I may have just bucked that trend by getting a hold of something very special at what I suspect may have been quite a low price for what it is, but that's for a NBD post I'll be making shortly. :hyper:
 
#127
Bass Viking said:
In another thread I posted that I thought many bassists haven't played enough different brands to know what they really like, due to limited availability in local stores. I got in some hot water for that :D but I still stand by my statement. In my own city of 1 million people, the selection is not great. It's mainly Fender, Squier, Ibanez, Yamaha, Epiphone, etc. There's nothing wrong with these brands but it's the tip of the iceberg.

Brands I used to see, like Warwick, Lakeland, and G & L, have disappeared. You seldom see even a Gibson bass. You do come across a few Rickenbackers, Musicman, and the occasional Fender Custom Shop. Boutique? Forget it! Not even the Canadian stuff like Dingwall or F bass.

I currently own 11 basses. Only 2 were purchased in Ottawa stores. 2 I bought used and the rest I ordered from the USA. Even Club Bass in Toronto has reduced the number of bass brands they carry and changed their name to Club Bass & Guitar. :eek:

The store where I bought my Taylor guitar has a fantastic selection of acoustics and electric guitars, with high end Gibson, Fender, PRS, Taylor, Martin, Collings, Suhr. As for basses: Last time I was there they had 5. :(
Click to expand...
I live here also. L&M carries a very limited quantity. I make sure every time I go in I ask for a brand they don't have. I'm trying to get them to open their eyes and get more variety. I think they would sell more if they had a better selection.
 
#128
Bass Viking said:
In another thread I posted that I thought many bassists haven't played enough different brands to know what they really like, due to limited availability in local stores. I got in some hot water for that :D but I still stand by my statement. In my own city of 1 million people, the selection is not great. It's mainly Fender, Squier, Ibanez, Yamaha, Epiphone, etc. There's nothing wrong with these brands but it's the tip of the iceberg.

Brands I used to see, like Warwick, Lakeland, and G & L, have disappeared. You seldom see even a Gibson bass. You do come across a few Rickenbackers, Musicman, and the occasional Fender Custom Shop. Boutique? Forget it! Not even the Canadian stuff like Dingwall or F bass.

I currently own 11 basses. Only 2 were purchased in Ottawa stores. 2 I bought used and the rest I ordered from the USA. Even Club Bass in Toronto has reduced the number of bass brands they carry and changed their name to Club Bass & Guitar. :eek:

The store where I bought my Taylor guitar has a fantastic selection of acoustics and electric guitars, with high end Gibson, Fender, PRS, Taylor, Martin, Collings, Suhr. As for basses: Last time I was there they had 5. :(
Click to expand...
IIRC the number of basses that I have bought and had shipped to me is like 2. One was a Dingwall, the other a Peavey TL-5. While NE FL is not a Mecca per se of basses or bass equipment, I've been able to get my hands on enough instruments over 17 years to know what I like, and it is constantly evolving - even recently.

I put my Chinese Douglas sixer down for a bit - despite raving about it's playability and tone - to pick my custom fiver back up as we have some shows in the future that I'll use it on (need to get used to the wider spacing again). And what I found is that it has a fantastic tone that doesn't change with note decay. I can hit a note anywhere and let it sustain, and I don't get any 'mwah' or other tonal degradation artifacts in the sound at all - totally solid! And I really like that, not to mention how good it sounds.

That said, I'm conspiring to purchase a 7 or 8 string some day, and it must exhibit these qualities or I'm not going to want to keep it. I've said all that to say I now (well, at the present time) know what I want in a bass, just need to find one.

So I guess I've come full circle and still have the same problem - not enough selection locally to go find what I'm looking for! Thank goodness for TB...

Raz
 
#129
Although the Marketeers here in Las Vegas consider it to be the "Entertainment Capital of the World", Los Angles is really it. Nevertheless, you would think the 3 music stores here would have a huge selection of instruments to choose from. It's not the case. There are 2 GC, and one Sam Ash. They only stock what distributors pay them to. Gear that marketed to the masses and sells cheap and fast. Thus, the common goods at street prices. That's why Online is the only way to aquire stuff like Musicman Stingrays, and Bongos, Sterling Ray34, Yamaha BB series, Lakland, Warwick, Reverend, etc... And, amps other than Fender, and other Cheap Chinese imports.

There was a time 5 years ago when CowTown Guitars had walls full of vintage and sought after instruments and amps. Now that they moved away from Sam Ash and near Pawn Stars, they sell more unwanted vintage gear and amps. Those huge Acoustic bass cabs, and Marshall stacks fill the room. A lot of them.

There is Ed Roman's guitars and they are the only custom shop that has the hard to find, odd, and rare guitars. And, they build anything guitar. And a place where celebs come to sample.
 
#130
Here in Nashville you have to go to small shops to see anything other than the easily sold brands (e.g. Fender, Squier, Ibanez, Schecter, ESP, Ernie Ball, Epiphone, etc.). Only in smaller shops do you see the occasion Lakland, Modulus, Spector, Lull, (German) Warwick or Sadowsky. You may see those turn up as used items in the big box stores, but it's rare. At least in my experience that has been the case.
 
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#131
Well, here in Macon, Ga. we have a couple of Music Stores, one of them being "The Guitar Center". Someone already stated the same situation for their location that I would make for this area. I probably own a wider variety of basses than is available here.

btw, the "GUITAR CENTER", is aptly named.
 
#133
Closest store is an hour away. They stock G&L, Gibson/Epiphone, PRS and Washburn/Lyon. Not even a Fender (FMIC) licensed dealer.

Some used gear but it's a small shop (Musician's Alley, literally an old alley with a store front built across and a used amp loft second floor).

Don't even stock my guitar or bass strings (DR Lite 'N Heavy, DR Rare acoustic, DR Lo Beams or La Bella tapewounds- but that's a pretty specific item).

Cleveland area is another hour past it, and Toledo is an hour in the opposite direction.
 
#135
superdick2112 said:
I live 45 minutes away from Wildwood Guitars, so I have a decent selection of Fender Custom Shop & Rickenbacker basses, + the usual mediocre selection offered by Guitar Center (we have 3 here in Denver).
For higher-end basses, I do my research, and then usually order from Bass Central & a few other select shops that have decent return policies.
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Wildwood Guitars- about 15 years or so ago I bought a really clean used ES-335 from them. Still have it, as its the only electric guitar I have.
 
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#136
Nashville has maybe several dozen indy bass and/or guitar makers, most you've probably never heard of. Even way way out in the country, where I live, a local shop makes custom banjos and has a crazy list of patrons - including Steve Martin. Warwick has a shop near Music Row with all of their basses on display - BUT they are not for sale. You just play 'em until you find one you like, then they order it from Germany. My band leader has a custom made P bass with a fixed truss rod. It can't be moved. He played outdoors at Opryland for 18 years and the weather played havoc with his Fender P bass. THAT SAID, when we spend the winter in Orlando my fav hangout is Bass Central.
 
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#137
Rochester, NY..... home of the "House of Guitars" which is billed as the world's largest music store. Decent selection of new and a fantastic selection of used Basses, guitars, amps, effects, drums etc..... and an amazing selection of Cd's, albums, cassettes, T shirts and other cool stuff.
 
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#140
Ha, I got busted for not having EZ-pass & driving in the EZ-pass lane, cost me $14
that was a long night, drove up to MD to get a MIJ Ibanez S470, about 6 hours of driving, total madness!

The selection in my area is pretty bad, which is why I went nuts when I found out I could be at GC & Sam Ash in 90 minutes.
The closest ones are adjacent to one another!
 

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