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Post by curmudgeon on Jul 14, 2023 15:17:19 GMT
Friday 14th July. Its grey and raining and wifey is doing a "ladies who lunch" thing, and I'm bored.
I read a thread on "Another Acoustic Guitar Forum" from a chap in Chester field buying a Sigma 12 fret dread.
I looked at the sigma website and they have a number of 12 fret acoustics 9which is my thing) and thought it would be a "jolly good adventure" to jump in the old jalopy (parp parp) and go check them out.
The nearest dealer was "PMT" I checked their website and looked for a 45 trim 12 fret 00, like my Eastman E40-00 .
It was listed as "In Stock" Right, so with my Eastman case in hand (well in boot) I druv orft to Portsmouth PMT.
Plenty of space in the small car park and the door was open.
I walked it to see three people behind the long counter. One was staring at a monitor and saying no, no, to an increasingly frustrated customer, and the other two were staring at their phones.
So i just walked through the shop to the acoustic room. No Sigmas.
So, I wandered past another guy there moving cardboard boxes around (and ignoring me) and back to the counter. After a few minutes and past the guy still saying no to the same customer, the other guy looked up from his phone and said "yeah?" (makes you feel so wanted!)
I asked about the sigma guitar I'd seen on their website as in stock. (I couldn't remember the strange model number but described it to him as a 12 fret 00 in a 42 or 45 trim. He clicked away for a while and then turned the monitor, (slightly) to show me two basic 14 fret guitars for about £250 each. I repeated my request. As if in two part harmony, he joined with his negatively inclined colleague to shake his head and say "no" repeatedly.
He asked me if I'd looked at the other shops (or something - he was muttering a bit). I replied that as I'd looked at the PMT Portsmouth site which said that they had a number of the items. "no..." Have you looked at the postcode?" I bravely resisted the urge to reach over the counter .. "perhaps you could get one in for me to check out?" Head shaking was added to his negative reactions - something about the cost of shipping passed his virtually immobile lips.
With thoughts of violence rising up inside me I thanked him for all his help and advice (Ok it was somewhat sarcastic) and left these three people , two saying no and one still looking at her phone.
I don't go to music shops much, today I realised why.
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Post by newdave on Jul 15, 2023 10:39:52 GMT
Don't know if you're anywhere near Peach in Colchester but they say this one is in stock and it looks nice. Probably best to phone and check first though.
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Post by dreadnought28 on Jul 15, 2023 23:52:21 GMT
The manager of a PMT store near me once told me that he had plenty of bodies but a total lack of grey matter.
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Post by lavaman on Jul 16, 2023 7:37:02 GMT
Yeah, been there, done that. Its so frustrating. A growing number of guitar shops advertise guitars as 'in stock' but they aren't actually in the shop. They may be in their warehouse / storeroom nearby or faraway in their distributor's warehouse. Always best to ring before travelling.
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Post by grayn on Jul 16, 2023 8:45:37 GMT
There are a lot of lazy, useless bastards, especially in music chain stores. Although, of course, there are rare exceptions. I feel blessed to have 2 great stores in the North west. Promenade Music and Sound Affects, where I always get offered a brew as well as excellent service and guitars in stock. Sorry to hear of your very disappointing guitar outing.
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Post by curmudgeon on Jul 18, 2023 0:19:52 GMT
Yeah, been there, done that. Its so frustrating. A growing number of guitar shops advertise guitars as 'in stock' but they aren't actually in the shop. They may be in their warehouse / storeroom nearby or faraway in their distributor's warehouse. Always best to ring before travelling. You are correct of course, but this is the second time that PMT store let me down so I doubt I'll be distrating their phone games again.
they had a Bose mixer, but not the connecting cablew. we agree on the price and I waited for ages, then I dropped in to see gthe status "oh we sold itQW "but you had reserved it for me until yuo got the cacle", "Oh yeah, anyway it sold" .
Pity, we used to have TAMCO in Brighton, Guitar Village in Worthing, and we sill have guitar village in Farnham - but at high prices.
I guess someone is telling me that I have enough guitars now!
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Post by lavaman on Jul 18, 2023 5:05:32 GMT
I guess someone is telling me that I have enough guitars now!
Don't listen to them curmudgeon. We've lost some good shops in the North too. Sounds Great at Heald Green were good as were Back Alley Music in Chester. Frank at Frailers in Runcorn doesn't stock as many used guitars imported from the USA as he used to.
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Post by borborygmus on Jul 18, 2023 11:31:15 GMT
I popped in to Andertons in Guildford briefly yesterday (only about 15 mins). First time I had been there. It has very limited parking in front of the shop, but someone was pulling out as I arrived, so I got lucky. Very nicely laid out shop, lots of acoustics guitars (including a Sigma 12 fret dread, if I am not mistaken). Looks like the staff were knowledgeable and pleasant. I wandered to the back of what turns out to be quite a labyrinthine store, and wandered blithely through the doors that said "by appointment only" or some such - where they keep the good stuff - about 50 nice instruments, some second user. Lowdens, higher end Martins, etc. Eventually someone said, nicely, that if I wanted to play anything, let him know and he would take it off the wall for me, but otherwise let me browse. I am not in the market at the moment, and didn't have much time, but my impression is that it was a nicer place than Guitar Village in Farnham, which always feels claustrophobic and unfriendly to me.
Peter
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Post by scorpiodog on Jul 18, 2023 15:20:40 GMT
I popped in to Andertons in Guildford briefly yesterday (only about 15 mins). First time I had been there. It has very limited parking in front of the shop, but someone was pulling out as I arrived, so I got lucky. Very nicely laid out shop, lots of acoustics guitars (including a Sigma 12 fret dread, if I am not mistaken). Looks like the staff were knowledgeable and pleasant. I wandered to the back of what turns out to be quite a labyrinthine store, and wandered blithely through the doors that said "by appointment only" or some such - where they keep the good stuff - about 50 nice instruments, some second user. Lowdens, higher end Martins, etc. Eventually someone said, nicely, that if I wanted to play anything, let him know and he would take it off the wall for me, but otherwise let me browse. I am not in the market at the moment, and didn't have much time, but my impression is that it was a nicer place than Guitar Village in Farnham, which always feels claustrophobic and unfriendly to me. Peter My experience of Andertons is similarly good. They are particularly nice to you if you make it plain that you want to spend some cash. I don't think you'd want to go there on a Saturday, though. In the week they are very attentive when you want them to be, but leave you alone if you don't. Their mail order service is simply superb.
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Post by newdave on Jul 18, 2023 19:17:18 GMT
My experience of Andertons is similarly good. They are particularly nice to you if you make it plain that you want to spend some cash. I don't think you'd want to go there on a Saturday, though. In the week they are very attentive when you want them to be, but leave you alone if you don't. Their mail order service is simply superb. Have had excellent experience with their mail service also. And their telephone line has been very helpful.
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Post by curmudgeon on Jul 18, 2023 20:53:19 GMT
Guitar Village is ok. They screwed me on a National that needed a neck reset, but I should have spotted the low saddle. Haven't been there since 2016 when I bought my Waterloo there.
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Post by grayn on Jul 26, 2023 5:12:25 GMT
I went into the Manchester PMT yesterday, to buy a twelver. It must be 10 years at least, since my last time there. Have to say, the guy who served me (in his 40s) was very helpful and knew his stuff. Came away happy with the service and the twelver.
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solly
Sore Fingers
Posts: 8
My main instrument is: Acoustic Guitar
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Post by solly on Aug 6, 2023 12:43:30 GMT
I was in Andertons yesterday. Came away with a Sire A4 Larry Carlton dread. Tried loads of others though.
Andertons is about 30 miles from me so I go there fairly often but, on each visit it has been the same experience. The younger members of staff seem oblivious to anyone standing in front of them. When you find an adult it is all good though. The service from the guy I dealt with, I think his name is Laval, was excellent.
The parking is ridiculous. It was chaos outside. Probably because it was a Saturday but in all the years I have been going there I have never once been able to park outside. Usually, end up parking in Waitrose but they have a 90-minute no-return rule in place, and 90 minutes can disappear very easily when you are checking out guitars!
PMT, I would not give the time of day.
GAK, which is local to me, is "OK" but knowledge is not always what it should be. I once overheard a member of staff telling a customer that Breedlove only makes laminate guitars! as he was trying to steer the customer into buying a Gibson.
Bonners in Eastbourne have always been very friendly and they have moved to larger premises now with plenty of customer parking. I will be over there in the coming week.
GuitarGuitar in Epsom has always been good. Never had any issues there. The staff are friendly and generally quite knowledgeable. Always been guided to a sound booth to check out guitars. And they pretty much leave you to it, just checking back occasionally to see if there are any other guitars you want to try out.
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Post by scorpiodog on Aug 7, 2023 12:13:16 GMT
I was in Andertons yesterday. Came away with a Sire A4 Larry Carlton dread. Tried loads of others though. Aren't those Sire acoustics extraordinarily good value for money, solly? I bought the A3 Grand Auditorium a little while ago. I'm particularly enamoured of the electronics. Hope you're enjoying your Dreadnought. Welcome to the forum, by the way.
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solly
Sore Fingers
Posts: 8
My main instrument is: Acoustic Guitar
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Post by solly on Aug 7, 2023 12:36:32 GMT
I was in Andertons yesterday. Came away with a Sire A4 Larry Carlton dread. Tried loads of others though. Aren't those Sire acoustics extraordinarily good value for money, solly ? I bought the A3 Grand Auditorium a little while ago. I'm particularly enamoured of the electronics. Hope you're enjoying your Dreadnought. Welcome to the forum, by the way. They are indeed good value for money. They are not perfect but at that price not much is. The top of the 9th fret i a little sharp but that is an easy fix. Overall quality is good. I do have the old "string ping" issue on a couple of strings so the nut probably needs a little attention but again it is an easy fix. The guitar looks and sounds great and more important it is really nice to play. Love the slim neck profile and yes the electronics are really good. I was originally going to buy the Alvarez Masterworks MDR70SB but when I tried it the action was way too high and it put me off. I could have sorted it but I felt it should have been checked when they took it out of the box to put it on display. Very nice looking guitar though. Another contender was the Inspired By Gibson J45 but apparently they had none in stock. I has always been interested in Sire guitars though so just had to try them. I tested two of the A4's and came away with the Natural version. I would have preferred the Vintage Sunburst but it just didn't feel as good. Oh and thanks for the welcome👍
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