Good place for electric guitars?

Hi all,

As I have recently picked up my old Ibanez RX again after some years of neglect, I realised it's really time for an upgrade. Can anyone recommend a good place in town to go look at new/used electrics? I'm looking specifically for an Ibanez SAS36FM or something similar - a nice all-rounder for under £300.

Thanks!

Ken Stevens have a reasonable collection but they wouldn't know what RRP meant if they looked it up in the dictionary*. Arena (Mill Road) have a decent selection and the guy with long hair, goatee and piercings is reasonably helpful too.

There's also a place on Norfolk street but don't know if it's any good.

*one of those special dictionaries that has acronyms in it

Ken Stevens are way too expensive, but they do do finance which can be handy. Drum and Guitar centre on Norfolk street don't have the range, and are mainly lower end guitars (squires and the like). I've not bought from Arena, but they do seem to have a nice selection of guitars, but i couldn't comment on the price. I would suggest either a trip down london or buy of the internet. Downstairs the Virgin on Oxford street they have a nice selection of Ibanez's or you could try Denmark street (can be a bit pricey). Internet wise i've delt with GAK before and found them very good.

Deleted Post

Thanks... I've dealt with GAK before as well as Merchant City Music, both very good online shops. But as I am undecided on the model, I really wanted to go try some for real. I'll try Arena, I can always use it to pin down a model and then buy online if their prices are silly :)

Nice one peeps!

As other people have said:
Ken Stevens is overpriced and the staff are hopeless (unless you're in the classical section)
Drum and Guitar Centre are helpful but only have low end guitars
Arena have a decent selection and the staff are OK, but it's still pricey.

This place is dead cheap if you don't mind waiting for a few extra days:
http://www.thomann.de/gb/index.html?sid=349c52ed74ecd2315f77fbfeca3c99...

I bought my tele from GAK and it was £100 cheaper than Ken Stevens.

you don't buy a guitar,. it chooses you.

I'm imagining GL being presented with the ultimate guitar by the ghost of Dimebag bathed in light for achieving the appropriate level of rock.

Those in the know recommend a visit to Machine Head in Hitchin. Or is it Stevenage.

Either way, you surely want to play a guitar before you buy it. Not something to get from the Internet in my book.

You try one in the expensive shop and buy one from the internet.

No no no no no.

Just because it's the same model doesn't mean it's the same guitar. You try in the shop until you find the one you like and then you buy THAT ONE.

My boyfriend bought THE ugliest guitar in the world the other week. Seriously, it's vile. Something to do with Dimebag.

Yes yes yes yes yes!

It's just a case of setting it up properly to suit your playing.

Which will likely cost you the money you saved by buying on the Internet.

Not if you do it yourself.

Most guitars that are mass produced will sound similar if not identical . only when purchasing anything over tyhe £800 mark would i buy the one i played . however i have the advantage of being able to set up anything i buy. these days i buy cheaper guitars as at the end of the day they are a tool.

i charge £20 for a set up plus strings. thats £25/£35 pound chear then my nearest rivals.
its a big con that setuping up guitar is difficult , you just need to be methodical.

*My boyfriend bought THE ugliest guitar in the world the other week. Seriously, it's vile. Something to do with Dimebag.*

a match made in heaven ? :oP

*I'm imagining GL being presented with the ultimate guitar by the ghost of Dimebag bathed in light for achieving the appropriate level of rock.*

im a long way off . Dime was one of the best im far from that.

*My boyfriend bought THE ugliest guitar in the world the other week. Seriously, it's vile. Something to do with Dimebag.*

Was it this one:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:DeanRazorback.JPG

It's like the most metal shaped guitar in the world ever. It just needs a strap with studs on, skull shaped straplocks and a giant polystyrine demon in the background.

Dimebag is totally overrated and outdated. He was alright I suppose but his tone and sounds was awful.

Jazz im going to have to kill you now.

What, shoot me when I'm onstage?

You're only angry because you knoweth I speaketh the trueth.

We shall agree to disagree.

No we won't.

yes we will. don't make me come round there and seagull you

>>Was it this one:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:DeanRazorback.JPG

Yeah. But green (I think) Yuck!

I know next to nothing about squiggly metal guitarists but I always thought that the fizzy digitech sound he always had wasn't very good. But he had a red beard so I guess it all evens out. I'm going to leave this metal thread now and listen to lame indie music.

I'm leaving this thread because Dimebag, his guitar sound and his awful guitar have made me want to.

It was a horrid guitar sound.

I would recommend

Machine Head-Hitchin
Coda-Stevenage

you don't buy a guitar,. it chooses you.

There's a great scene in Stranger Than Fiction where Will Ferrell buys his first guitar, with a running commentary about what all the different guitars say about the people who play them ("Why, yes, these pants are lycra"). All guitar players should watch this film for that scene :)

I could go onto a extended rant here but i shan't

Rightly so, you'd only be wasting your time.

I want a new guitar... I miss my Telecaster... it was only ever "used" properly on a RTC single.

That guitar chose me, I went through 7 or 8 tele's in Crouch End's Rock Around The Clock music store... I wanted the black cool one but the 72 thin line with f-hole just chose me... it looked a bit gay country Springsteen... played lovely though.

Going to have to get me a Rickenbacker... I HATE "metal" guitars.

*Rightly so, you'd only be wasting your time.*

ohhh bitch

it was only ever "used" properly on a RTC single.

It's how we got the sound of a piece of wood on fire.

Deleted Post

Sometimes true greatness is misunderstood

I would like to buy my rickenbacker back, who wants to give me £500.. mind you it's being used by Todd at the moment so it's probably being systematically destroyed.. All the music shops in cambridge seem a bit..... staid..

Rickenbackers are tiny! You don't understand this until you actually play one. Lovely guitar though.

I loved that about it though, my other "nice" guitar is hagstrom and that has a tiny neck as well, even though I have normal sized hands and first played bass, I much prefer a smaller neck. Just lazy i suppose. A friend of mine has a really nice Rick' solid body guitar that she bought really cheap, (a 420 I think the one that looks a bit like the basses), so nice, so unfair that she refused to sell it to me for what she paid (£200!)