Best online seller

[Cougar]

Nobody told me guitars were addicting! I might have guessed from the lists many of you have in your sigs.

 

Anyway, I'm considering another new electric guitar purchase. It looks like I could go with Guitar Center or Musician's Friend or Music123 or Sweetwater or probably quite a few others. Do you favor any of these over the others? Does Epiphone favor any of them by giving them Epi's cream of the crop? Does anyone get consistently great guitars from one place or another?

 

I'm hooked and I'm looking for a good hit!

[Dennis G]

Sweetwater fan here. You get to see the actual guitar you're buying (w/serial #). They do a 55 point checklist on it before shipping it to you. When I bought my Elitist Casino, they discovered a small nick on the back during their inspection. My choice, take a discount or wait for another. I waited.

 

You also get a personal sales rep with SW. Some people like that, some don't. I do. SW is also very, very, customer service oriented.

 

That said, I also bought my Gibby 339 from GC, and they shipped it from their warehouse in Salt Lake and it arrived in perfect condition.

 

As said above, all of the others are affiliated/sister companies of each other.

[Lord Summerisle]

Never had a bad experience with American Musical Supply.

 

99.5% of my experiences with Sweetwater have been great. I say 99.5% because once I bought an American Standard Strat that arrived very badly strung (a really amateurish job, actually). Now, that's Fender's fault not Sweetwater's, but I did think that the famous "55 point" check might have called for a restring of a fairly expensive guitar before it was shipped to its purchaser. But no big deal, really. Everything else about the guitar was fantastic.

 

So. Sweetwater and AMS for for me.

[Jeff-7]

Sweetwater. They give you candy.

[guitar dog]

Dang! I thought the cany was just for me.

[charlie brown]

Only bought 1 guitar, "on line." It was just fine, and was from Musician's Friend, years ago.

I have purchased other things, though...stomp boxes, accessories, etc. Used MF, Sweetwater,

for those. Except, for the "candy" (which I can't eat) from Sweetwater, they were the same,

service and ease of dealing with.

 

My preferred dealer, for most things is E.M. Shorts (AKA Wichita Band), in Wichita, Kansas.

Great Prices, Great Service, and...just all around Great folks, to deal with!

 

 

CB

[Kong]

I've had good luck with Musicians Friend. Low prices, no sales tax where I am, and free shipping. 45 day return policy and they pay return shipping if there is any problem with the item. I've had to return 3 or 4 items to them for various reasons and had no problems at all with them honoring their policy. I do my own setups and my expectations are usually very low for getting any guitar online with a decent setup in the box. Bought 3 guitars from them and was happy each time. I understand that there are sister companies, but each has different policies. Guitar center charges sales tax as they have a store presence near where I live.

 

While I'm at it, I would NEVER buy a guitar from the Guitar Center store - nothing on display anyway. I can't believe what they let customers do. I've seen guys with zippers all over their jackets pull down $4,000 Gibsons and scratch the crap out of them. They need to come up with a new word for shop worn.

[milod]

I've had good luck and ... questionable results from MF/music123 - and even Sweetwater.

 

Sweetwater, IMHO, definitely seems to have folks that know more about what you're buying than more than half the telephone sales folks at MF. They'll also do a bit of digging for you for some sorts of specialty things. For example, "my sales engineer" did some research on a PA for our local museum that nobody at the museum has yet acted on. !@%@$%@#$ Believe me, though, I really appreciated the help.

 

I'm not so certain how much the bragged-about Sweetwater pre-checks on a guitar are necessarily that valuable in terms of what you end up with your hands on after shipping. E.g., I got an Epi AE cutaway that practically had the strings flat on the frets outa the box... I s'pose I could have done a heavy setup job but.. sent it back. Great service. I got another in the mail and... I guess I'm gonna have to do more than expected setup 'cuz the b and e strings flat out around the 7th fret. I s'pose too I could/should have sent it back too, but that seemed to get to the point of the ridiculous.

 

But - and this is important: I don't really blame Sweetwater as much as I do transportation and more especially differentials in climate conditions where I live compared to where they are. For what it's worth, on my annual trek to the Epi dealer a bit over an hour's drive has had an occasional Epi flattop with the same problem before gettin' 'em back into their shop for a major setup! I'd assume "ditto" with other brand flattops.

 

MF generally will have some name brand, lower-end/priced material such as Squiers and some Epis, PAs, etc., that Sweetwater doesn't include in its product mix. It's a business model "thing."

 

Sweetwater is almost certainly the better choice on more high end PA/recording/electronics via mail order 'cuz that's more their "thing" by far than a lower-end what you'd get for your 14-year-old's garage band. OTOH, you likely could get something functional at a low end price from MF - if you do some research and are rational on your needs and wants and what would be of value to your situation.

 

BUT watch out on cases at MF and some other "low end" mail order companies. Several times I've gotten very mismatched cases from a MF phone sales person who said, "Yeah, I'm certain this is for your model guitar/bass." @#$%#$%@#$%#@$

 

MF generally has greater selection of "stuff" ranging from strings to straps.

 

But for a yet wider shot at strings, http://www.juststrings.com/ is probably a better option. With at least some brands you can mix and match for your own odd preferences. My first order from them was just before Christmas and it wasn't a small or super-inexpensive order. I phoned - they'd have preferred just on line, I think - but the guy I talked to really knew what it was talking about for some of my not-always-standard string thoughts. They do charge for shipping.

 

m

[stein]

I bought an American Standard Strat that arrived very badly strung (a really amateurish job, actually). Now, that's Fender's fault not Sweetwater's,

I don't mean to single you out, but I read this a lot from almost everyone.

 

As long as I can remember, it has ALWAYS been the shop's responsibility to set up thier guitars. AND responsible for what they sell.

 

In many ways, the actual shops have been replaced by online shops and mail order. So to save a few bucks, we have elinimated that aspect of being able to shop in person.

 

Now, if we want to eliminate the shop of having ANY responsibility, why the hell would you pay them at all? For those that demand unopened boxes from the factory, that's nothing but pure profit for the middleman with no work.

 

Again, I say, Gibson, Fender, any other "builder" sells to the middleman, not the customer. It is expected the shop do final preparations, make sure the guitar is good, and to send back what isn't. The builder is responsible to the shop they sell to. If the shop fails to meet that, and they pass it on to you, that is 100% a shop failure.

[milod]

I'd go with Stein - and add my own comment about the difficulties of shipping guitars - IMHO more especially flattops but...

 

I've now purchased two Epis and an Eastman from the shop that costs me far more just to travel to than a lotta discounts. But my expectation has been for a decent setup; regardless of a gripe or two along the line and paying more (less discount, more sales tax, travel cost), that's what I've gotten. It's kinda a "pays your money and takes your choice."

 

One reason I doubt I'll have a new Gibson in the foreseeable future is I won't buy anything $1,000 or up without playing it; there's no Gibbie dealer that wouldn't be about a day's drive to, and a day's drive from. So that'd add at least 10%, then add sales tax... functionally speaking we're talking two motel nights, fuel... an outlay of as much or more than a new Epi, and no guitar! Ain't got that kinda cash, nor at this point, even the time from work for the trip.

 

m

[Lord Summerisle]

I don't mean to single you out, but I read this a lot from almost everyone.

 

As long as I can remember, it has ALWAYS been the shop's responsibility to set up thier guitars. AND responsible for what they sell.

 

In many ways, the actual shops have been replaced by online shops and mail order. So to save a few bucks, we have elinimated that aspect of being able to shop in person.

 

Now, if we want to eliminate the shop of having ANY responsibility, why the hell would you pay them at all? For those that demand unopened boxes from the factory, that's nothing but pure profit for the middleman with no work.

 

Again, I say, Gibson, Fender, any other "builder" sells to the middleman, not the customer. It is expected the shop do final preparations, make sure the guitar is good, and to send back what isn't. The builder is responsible to the shop they sell to. If the shop fails to meet that, and they pass it on to you, that is 100% a shop failure.

 

Well, it was Fender's fault in so much that they shipped a $1000 guitar from their factory that looked like it had been strung by a blindfolded man, whilst drunk. And I did imply some criticism to the retailer - if you're going to boast about a 55 point inspection, then that would suggest that such deficiencies should not just be identified, but also fixed. I guess if Volvo (picking a company entirely at random) shipped a car without windscreen wipers, it wouldn't be enough for the dealer to deliver the new car to his customer saying, "Yep, I checked, and they're definitely missing."

 

All of which is by the by.

 

My favourite electric guitar I bought from a tiny shop in Durham, North Carolina. The guy there was phenomenal. Included in the price of the guitar was an immaculate set-up, so that I left the store with a guitar that played exactly to my liking. I realized there and then that there was a lesson I'd forgotten in there about traditional music shops vs mail order outfits.

 

What the heck, I'll give his store a plug (after all, the big online stores get mentioned here all the time).

 

Here is his shop's website: http://www.bluesmasterguitars.com/ Anyone who lives within striking distance of Durham, North Carolina would certainly enjoy stopping by his shop. And no, I don't know him from Adam (so no conflict of interest in my mentioning his store) - I just enjoyed buying a guitar from him on one occasion and got fantastic service in the process.

[stein]

I'd go with Stein - and add my own comment about the difficulties of shipping guitars - IMHO more especially flattops but...

 

I've now purchased two Epis and an Eastman from the shop that costs me far more just to travel to than a lotta discounts. But my expectation has been for a decent setup; regardless of a gripe or two along the line and paying more (less discount, more sales tax, travel cost), that's what I've gotten. It's kinda a "pays your money and takes your choice."

 

One reason I doubt I'll have a new Gibson in the foreseeable future is I won't buy anything $1,000 or up without playing it; there's no Gibbie dealer that wouldn't be about a day's drive to, and a day's drive from. So that'd add at least 10%, then add sales tax... functionally speaking we're talking two motel nights, fuel... an outlay of as much or more than a new Epi, and no guitar! Ain't got that kinda cash, nor at this point, even the time from work for the trip.

 

m

Well, if there isn't a shop close by, there isn't a final "set-up" that's possible. It's one thing if it isn't possible. But if it is possible and you give it away by choosing to have it shipped in, that just don't make any sense.

 

Of corse, one advantage of living in rural places: no poeple. If you want shops and businesses on every corner, that pretty much means urban. CITY. I don't know that I would say the rural man is giving up anything he don't want.

 

Absolutely, it IS a case of "you pays your money and you takes your choice". There is profit, and considerable profit, for mail order dealers. As it is now, the cost of set-ups and inspections, and over-the-phone service is being paid, regardless of letting them off the hook or not. If we DON'T choose to pay them for any reponsibilty or service of any kind aside from a money exchange, we might be looking at something like 50-60% off retail I believe. Maybe more.

 

It seems to me, internet shops and online order shops are making an absolute killing compared to real shops.

[stein]

Well, it was Fender's fault in so much that they shipped a $1000 guitar from their factory that looked like it had been strung by a blindfolded man, whilst drunk. And I did imply some criticism to the retailer - if you're going to boast about a 55 point inspection, then that would suggest that such deficiencies should not just be identified, but also fixed. I guess if Volvo (picking a company entirely at random) shipped a car without windscreen wipers, it wouldn't be enough for the dealer to deliver the new car to his customer saying, "Yep, I checked, and they're definitely missing."

 

You're right...I'm just trying to say that it isn't for the final customer to blame Fender. That IS the job of the retailer. They are the ones who are directly responsible for putting the blame and QC issues to Fender in this case. In that sense, we pay them to be our "agents", so to speak. And the way it is, Fender pays them for this as well.

 

As an ultimate comsumer, I wouldn't expect that a guitar be perfectly set up leaving the factory. That's like paying a guy to do something that's going to have to be done anyway again. I would expect the only set-up and adjustments made at the factory level would be to insure that it WILL be able to be adjusted properly, to keep a handle on quality of the production line. If a guy has spent time on adjusting a guitar to perfection before it leaves the factory, I see that as wasted money on everyone's end.

[milod]

Stein...

 

I've lived in a city... or two... or more...

 

Ain't planning to move unless somebody like HenryJ sez, "Yo, MD, come do XXXX for Gibson" and offers a fun job and paycheck. Or... as I've 70-percent seriously suggested, a big semi-converted bus/RV traveling among Epi/Gibbie dealerships or ... PR writing.

 

My ideal job? That big RV traveling to hit most stores, doing some vids, features on pickers and sellers, setting up jams, fun and feedback... kinda a Charles Keralt thing but guitar oriented. Sadly for me it ain't likely.

 

Anyway... The really rural area "thing" also has a lotta climate variables. I've noticed that the combination of altitude and humidity seems to hit various set necks around here requiring a bit more adjustment outa the box than I hear about elsewhere. Life in general is less expensive, neighbors tend to be nice, you ain't crowded where you have a view of mountains from the ocean-like swells of the high plains... and the cops are glad, not concerned, that most of the folks around them are either armed or could be.

 

m

[jcwillow777]

Sweetwater fan here. Very fast shipping (and free even on small items). I am totally happy with their service and merchandise. I have had to return a couple of items to them, but I love their return policy. They told me on both accounts not to ship anything back to them until I received the replacement and I was completely happy with it, and they didn't charge my credit card for the replacement item! Then they sent me a prepaid shipping label. I had a glass slide arrive broken. No questions asked they sent me out a replacement.

 

My buying days are over for a while. But if I am in the market for more gear, and my local music store doesn't have it, Sweetwater will be my first stop.

[bobouz]

While I'm at it, I would NEVER buy a guitar from the Guitar Center store - nothing on display anyway. I can't believe what they let customers do.

I've bought some amazing guitars from GC - some in perfect condition, and some with a few pick marks here and there. Sure, some good instruments sadly get thrashed & you're not going to buy them. But NOTHING beats an in hand A-B comparison of two or three guitars of the same model. Everytime I've been fortunate enough to do this, there have been significant differences in tone and/or playability, and one guitar stood head & shoulders above the rest. Most recently this occurred with three examples of the new ES-330 VOS. The differences were stunning, and the one that came home with me is an incredible instrument. This kind of comparison can only be done in-store. And note that generally a deeper discount can be achieved in store, as well as the option of trades to bring the cost of a holy grail guitar into an affordable ballpark.

[Bongoscot]

I really liked dealing with Wildwood guitars and like Sweetwater you can look at high def pictures of the actual guitar you are buying. If I was shopping again those 2 dealers would be my first views.