Calling all Londoners!

[Rsmacker]

Try America!

[Nimitz]

In Thatcher's London, London calls you!

[Kimling]

Try America!

Haha. Yeah, that might be the best opportunity.
F'ing VATs and shit

[wilkinsi]

Haha. Yeah, that might be the best opportunity.
F'ing VATs and shit

20% VAT and 3.7% duty on any guitar imported from USA. Same applies to anything outside the EU. Bastards even tax the shipping!

[Kimling]

20% VAT and 3.7% duty on any guitar imported from USA. Same applies to anything outside the EU. Bastards even tax the shipping!

Yeah, and on top of that I have to pay the Post-firm here in Denmark $30 on top of all that. That's almost the worst part!

[wilkinsi]

Yeah, and on top of that I have to pay the Post-firm here in Denmark $30 on top of all that. That's almost the worst part!

£8 handling fee by Parcelforce in my case. 30 bucks? That's fucking bullshit.

[Kimling]

It sure is

[herbie]

the best music shop on denmark street is vintage and rare guitars but they rarely have jacksons, think music ground is the only place i've seen stocking them. If you wanna move out of central a bit Gig Sounds in Streatham is a wicked music shop and last time i was there they had some jacksons.

[Kimling]

Cool - It is noted

[beardy]

MusicGround is the only decent place up Denmark Street. They do have some old skool guitars every now and so often. They've got Graham Noden's repair shop in the basement - now those guys are great at putting guitars right! Otherwise, Jacksons are quite hard to find around here. A Charvel Model every once in a while, but that's all perhaps. Otherwise all low-end junk or sky-high prices! Sod that, I'd bite the bullet and import an oldie from the USA! Doesn't mean I love the VAT and import rates, I don't - I hate them with all my heart! And taxing the shipping is just snide, really don't get what sort of bearing the shipping has on the guitar's value.

[pagemalicious]

In my experience, the Denmark St stores are staffed by twats. And the prices are sky high. Andy's have some cool stuff once in a while, but that's about it..

Andy's is now gone mate. It closed down years ago unfortunately. I loved that shop, Music ground have taken over that building now.

I think the only shop's in that street now that has decent stock and good customer service is Wunjo and Vintage and Rare. The others are filled with arrogant arseholes, I never go there any more as it's just not worth the hassle.

[wanthairspray]

Andy's is now gone mate. It closed down years ago unfortunately. I loved that shop, Music ground have taken over that building now.

I think the only shop's in that street now that has decent stock and good customer service is Wunjo and Vintage and Rare. The others are filled with arrogant arseholes, I never go there any more as it's just not worth the hassle.

Agreed on that. Wunjos is fairly laid back, with the occasional nice axe. The few times I went into V&R I got treated like a king. The owner took my friend and I into a backroom, with two £1500 ish relic strats, and an original 62 Bluebreaker amp to just noodle away on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HUUrfJZ7Go

Can't say enough how great they are in there.

[Mazrim]

Denmark Street used to be O.K (at best) but now its an embarrassment.
For bargain second hand Jacksons look no further than another country entirely. Or most likely, online on the forums.

There used to be good deals in Musical Exchanges and a few other shops in Birmingham in the 80s and early 90s but this country is shit when it comes to USA Jacksons. In fact its generally pretty piss poor unless you want very cheap budget or very expensive boutique and vintage guitars. All way overpriced f course.

If I had the time and money, especially the money, I'd like to open a proper old fashioned guitar shop with good deals.
You dont have to make 60% on everything and rape people to make a decent living out of it.
The stupid prices, insulting trade in offers and huge mark ups are driving people to buy online. It doesnt have to be that way and people would still rather buy after having the instrument in their hands first.

I dont know, maybe its just nostalgia but it used to better than it is now. I'm sure of it.

[Prince Vultan]

I dont know, maybe its just nostalgia but it used to better than it is now. I'm sure of it.

It certainly did. I worked at City Music in Birmingham for a few years in the 90's. When I got back into playing a few years ago and started visiting guitar shops again I was stunned at how things had changed in only a decade or so. Plenty of enthusiasm and friendliness from most frontline staff but the selection of gear on offer was very disappointing, as was knowledge about the stock and deals? I got some confused looks when I started talking about 'part-exchange' and most of my local outlets don't have anything to do with used instruments!

I suppose changing trends and the popularity of different manufacturers goes some way to explain it. I suppose a lot of the older owners and staff have now moved on or retired too - bearing in mind that a lot of these guys would have cut their teeth on the music shop culture of the 60's or 70's ( or in the case of my old boss the 50's ) I guess it's inevitable that the vibe would change as a younger crowd take their place.

Not wanting to sound like a bitter old bastich, there still are decent shops out there if you can find them. The nearest shop to me does pretty much everything right - small but varied selection of gear, a few used bits and bobs, helpful staff, repair service, lessons in store, events to get local bands and players involved. All good stuff. They really deserve my support. But that's difficult when I can buy three sets of XL110's online for the price they charge for one...

( Nice sig, Mazrim. I hope you'll be there on Sunday..! )

[Mazrim]

In fairness, GuitarGuitar are O.K and you can do deals with them even if it's tantamount to rape.

City Music, I used to go in there a few times. Suffolk street, right? I remember playing my first Soloist in there (1990/91) and um'd and ah'd about whether to buy that or an ESP Horizon Custom in flip flop red paint, trying to hide the fact I couldn't even afford the case and failing miserably.

I used to do a tour of guitar shops every Saturday. Start at Musical Exchanges, then the one that was near it, next to Bass place, work my way around to Fair Deal when it was under the flyover in the Bullring, the one over the road I could never remember, between Sinatras and New Street station, then Carlsbro music (after Nostalgia and Comics of course), City music, then, after a hard days bullshitting and playing guitars, to The Costermonger for some much needed under age boozing.

Great days...