Archive for the ‘Retailers’ Category
Thursday, November 26th, 2009
Tomorrow represents one of the most important days in the holiday shopping season and many retailers look at the 4th quarter as a make or break time of the year. To help “juice” the season Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is filled with deals and specials that can’t be found at any other time during the year.
We’ve put together a list of retailers and manufacturers that are putting on Black Friday deals as well as holiday specials to help you find that perfect gift for the musician in your life. Check it out.
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Tags: black friday, deals, shopping
Posted in Accessories, Amps, News, Retailers | 2 Comments »
Friday, October 9th, 2009
The folks at ProGuitarShop.com, famous for their YouTube videos, are starting a new endeavor to create microsites for popular guitar products. Their first big launch is a site about the DigiTech Whammy pedal on a website called DigitechWhammy.com.
We really like the idea. Fretbase has also been trying to create resources for guitar players to find out more about the products their passionate about. We think this is great way to get the inside scoop on these products.
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Tags: proguitarshop, Reviews, videos
Posted in News, Retailers | No Comments »
Sunday, September 20th, 2009
You have done the research and you are sure that *this* time you have found the guitar for you. But you don’t want to just order it. Instead, you want to walk into your local guitar store and try it. That makes sense. You aren’t buying an iPod. Each guitar is different. Each one is cut from different wood, each built by a Luthier (hopefully) and each went through its own ups and downs in shipping. But where is your nearest local dealer? Which website could possibly help you find such information?
Of course, at Fretbase we’re here to help you. We have had our team of editors compile a list of local guitar dealers by brand. And what a wonderful list it is. Sometimes it works to buy online at Musician’s Friend, but sometimes you really want to step into a Gryphon Stringed Instruments.
Local Guitar Dealers by Brand
Tags: gryphon stringed instruments
Posted in Guitars, Retailers | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
Mega-Internet music retailer Musician’s Friend will start selling used gear next week. Musicians Friend will rate used gear using 5 different categories ranging from “Like New” to “Salvage”. They are also including their 45-day satisfaction guarantee however we’re not sure if that’s just for “Like New” gear or if it applies to “Salvage” gear as well. Right now they’re previewing a select set of “Like New” gear on their site.
It’s pretty obvious the new Musician’s Friend new category of gear is meant to directly compete against Ebay and sites like Craiglist. The used gear market is huge and musicians are more than willing to save a few bucks buying a used Fender Stratocaster over a brand new if they can save a few hundred bucks. Full story…
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Tags: musician's friend, used gear
Posted in Accessories, Amps, Guitars, News, Retailers | No Comments »
Monday, May 18th, 2009
You know what it’s like. You are traveling on business. You decided to fly with only carry-on so that you could keep it light. It is you, some clothes and your razor. After a full day of really boring meetings you are getting awfully lonely. You miss her. You head into the hotel bar and order a drink and drown your sorrow in your pretzels. It doesn’t help. You miss her more than ever. You wonder why you took this job. You wonder why it makes you travel so much. You wonder when you’ll see her again.
You miss your guitar.
Sheila is her name (wait, that’s just me). You cry out to her. “Sheila, Sheila, Sheila. Why?” You feel worse.
Well, thanks to Guitar Affair, just because you don’t have Sheila doesn’t mean you have to be lonely. You can Love The One You’re With. Whole Story…
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Tags: Eric Clapton, Fender, Gibson, Guitar Affair
Posted in News, Retailers | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, December 24th, 2008
Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, there was no gift for the guitar lover but there is no need to grouse.
At this point, it is too late to order anything online and have it delivered but still you need not fret (sorry, we can’t resist the holiday pun).
Our recommendation: a gift certificate from Musicnotes.com.
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Posted in Retailers | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008
Buying a guitar (or anything guitar related) online is a pretty big shift - but people are doing it.
In June 2007, Guitar Center (which owns Musician’s Friend) reported that for the previous six months over $225 million of its sales occurred online. Considering the jump holiday sales, this put Musician’s Friend on pace to sell over $500 million of music gear over the course of the year.
In light of this trend, this year’s Acoustic Guitar Magazine added a category to its Players’ Choice Awards for “Best Online Retailer.” Musician’s Friend took home the gold.
Musician’s Friend CEO Robert Eastman was pretty excited. In his words,
“It’s a real honor and especially gratifying to be acknowledged by the enthusiasts from Acoustic Guitar magazine. We share their love of the instrument and their passion for performance and we’re very proud of our 25-year history of helping musicians find just the right tools to express themselves.”
Sounds like a great place to pick up some inexpensive gifts for your favorite guitar lover.
Musician’s Friend
Subscribe to Acoustic Guitar Magazine
Tags: acoustic guitar magazine, gifts, musician's friend
Posted in Retailers, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, November 4th, 2008
We have been fans of Maury’s Music for awhile. Not only do they seem very knowledgeable about guitars, but they also offer a lot of custom work (like replacing the saddle or bridge pins) before they ship the guitar to you.
Recently, Maury’s started a program to make it easy for you to trade in your less than 5 year old Martin guitar (assuming it is still in good shape). What we like about Maury’s program is that the pricing is clear.
For Trades, you get: 1/2 current list price X 70%
For Consignment, you get: 1/2 current list price X 80
Of course you may be able to do better selling youself, but do you want the hassle?
While this pricing may sound low, remember that Martin guitars usually sell for a lot less than list price (Example: Martin HD-28V List Price $4,099; Street Price $3,099)
When you combine this with the 15-20% discount they offer on purchases over $1500, now could be an awfully nice time to upgrade.
Maury’s Music Martin Guitar Trade Page
Posted in Retailers | No Comments »
Friday, August 22nd, 2008
We’ve all been there. You plunk down a paycheck to buy that last guitar you’ll ever need. Then, at some point 2 or 3 years later you want to trade that guitar in for the last guitar you’ll ever need. Repeat.
So we were awfully intrigued when we learned about Buffalo Brothers Guitars and their shocking “100% Upgrade Policy.” Apparently these crazy Buffalo Brothers allow you to return your used guitar that you bought from them and get *the full amount you paid* to apply towards the purchase of a new guitar that is at least as expensive as the one you are returning. Are they insane over there? Sure there is some fine print, but nothing too ugly (at least not compared to this).
We like this method a lot more than the one used by most retailers - give you back half of what you paid and then turn the guitar around and sell it for 75% of what you paid.
We’re so inspired by this policy that we were considering moving Fretbase to Carlsbad, but then we figured that a town with people with a policy like this can’t have great drivers.
Buffalo Brothers Guitars
Please tell us about your last “last guitar you’ll ever need” in the comments.
Tags: Acoustic Guitar, acoustic guitar retailer, buffalo brothers, buffalo brothers guitars, guitar, guitar retailer
Posted in Retailers | No Comments »
Monday, July 28th, 2008
One of the great things about coming home to Rochester is making the trip back to “the store that ate my brain”. Rochester NY is home to the House of Guitars, one of the greatest music retailers in this great, great country.
The HOG (as it’s affectionately known) claims to be “The largest guitar store in the world” and is billed as “For the Rising Young Stars From Earth” and it’s the place I bought my first guitar (as did someone else). It’s a musician’s mecca, with an outstanding collection of musical instruments and a giant warehouse filled with unorganized records, cassettes (yep), CDs and t-shirts. Almost none of it organized. But the chaos inside has created one of the most unique music stores in the country. Check out this image gallery to see inside.
But one of the best things about the House of Guitars are their commercials. Absolutely insane and must-see TV…
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Tags: House of Guitars
Posted in Retailers | No Comments »
