Long and Mac Quade in Canada, Sweetwater sometimes but with the change rate and the custom fees, it's even sometimes more expensive. And long and mac Quade have an in-store financing that is great so, even if, as an immigrant, your credit rating is not good (especially when you just moved in Canada from Europe, I was able to buy a lot of stuff...
A place called Fontain Bleau. No, not the Paris one, it's called it because the founder's name in Chinese happens to be the same as Fontain Bleau. Great people, a wide selection of new, used, and vintage. When it comes to Ludwig, it's probably the only retailer in my area who could break free from Parson's Music monopoly and sell it anywhere near sane price (a very nice price at it).
I felt bad, the person was just doing their job, but when I get a call and I am in a hot attic breathing hot dusty bad attic air, I don't want to sit through a nicey nicey follow up call. If they called me just to ask if I needed anything I would have gone off on them even if I was relaxing at home. How dare they. I really dislike sales calls. If I need something I seek it out. I don't need someone asking if I need stuff. The people that do that don't respect my time so I don't respect them at all.
.....Music go round online - good source of used gear (has anyone noticed the Wisconsin am Minnesota locations getting killer gear? Like seriously factory type drum gear and duplicates not just single one offs!)....
Interstate Music (Casio) in Wisconsin recently went under and MGR picked up a lot of their inventory.
Casio was sitting on a lot of Ludwig BreakBeats and Pocket kits among other things. Lots of Mapex stuff too.
MGR should do well around x-mas time.
Sweetwater for me. Exceptional, knowledgeable and friendly customer service.
I haven't been to my local Russo Music since the pandemic and subsequent lock-down.
my first address for anything Drum related is Always ppc-music. They are one of the biggest Music stores in Germany, and have a great drum Department with tons of Kits, Cymbals, E-Drums, sticks and all sorts of Percussion set up to test and figure out. Also most, if not all, employes in any given Department are skilled in the Instrument they are selling. should be a given, but I dont think it actually is.
I went there once with my Aluminium Snare, because I was too unskilled in Tuning it properly and was getting desperate, they helped me out no Problem, we tuned it together and he gave me some good tipps on how to adjust the Sound easily.
Not the cheapest place to go, but I have no Issue paying that particular extra buck.
There are no local dealers anymore. Supporting domestic ones comes down to what I'm getting. I'll buy sticks if in a pinch or if I see some small item that would be cool to have right away. A big kit I would probably get here too, just because of ease and warranty. Depends
The deal with domestic dealers isn't just lack of inventory, but prices are sometimes completely outrageous for no real reason.
Apart from my kit and some small items I've gotten most of my stuff from DCP, Thomann or of course eBay.
Yep same in my neck of the woods, the 2008 recession killed them dead and I had some good ones here. My go to place was a little upstairs shop called Drum Attic in Wolverhampton. Ran by 2 drummers and they did good business from local drummers, the footfall on weekends for gig breakables was impressive. Alas they got priced out by online retaliers and business rates are a joke.
The 2 biggest casualties by me were Brum Drum and Musical Exchanges. Banks pulled the plug. Brum drum in particular was a big place but overstocked with £4000 kits. It had the R30 kit in the middle of the shop for sale......a cool £28,000 if I remember right!
I tend to buy from wherever has the best deals after shipping, there's also ebay, fb marketplace and a few online places that still have the odd used gem.
There are no local dealers anymore. Supporting domestic ones comes down to what I'm getting. I'll buy sticks if in a pinch or if I see some small item that would be cool to have right away. A big kit I would probably get here too, just because of ease and warranty. Depends
The deal with domestic dealers isn't just lack of inventory, but prices are sometimes completely outrageous for no real reason.
Apart from my kit and some small items I've gotten most of my stuff from DCP, Thomann or of course eBay.
Interstate Music (Casio) in Wisconsin recently went under and MGR picked up a lot of their inventory.
Casio was sitting on a lot of Ludwig BreakBeats and Pocket kits among other things. Lots of Mapex stuff too.
MGR should do well around x-mas time.
I'm wondering if anyone else noticed that just this week, Musicians Friend is listing all of the used stuff that Guitar Center has on their site.
MF used to only list and sell new stuff, and kind of kept it behind the scenes that they have the same owner.
Truly giants,.
I'm wondering if anyone else noticed that just this week, Musicians Friend is listing all of the used stuff that Guitar Center has on their site.
MF used to only list and sell new stuff, and kind of kept it behind the scenes that they have the same owner.
Truly giants,.
Drum Center of Portsmouth! I have bothered Shane more times than I’d like to admit, He has always been extremely helpful, knowledgeable, and a all around good guy to talk to! I’m just starting back up after 20yrs and he has been nothing but supportive (And extremely patient!!). Keep up the great work DCP
Holy crap, I got a Sweetwater catalogue in the mail yesterday. I dismissed it as a phone book. 600 pages of gear I cant afford, AWESOME! This reminds me of the Sears Wish Book from when I was a kid. Sweetwater has just become my favorite retailer because of this catalogue.
Holy crap, I got a Sweetwater catalogue in the mail yesterday. I dismissed it as a phone book. 600 pages of gear I cant afford, AWESOME! This reminds me of the Sears Wish Book from when I was a kid. Sweetwater has just become my favorite retailer because of this catalogue.
Can you get deals out of Sweetwater? I'm not a fan of Guitar Center, but I had a lot of luck getting big discounts from their chat, with local pickup (which then became a nightmare, but still worth the price). For oversized or expensive things I feel I need a local store for returns... or Amazon Prime.
Musicians Friend was OK, but I feel trapped by their reward points... I had some recent positive experience at N Stuff Music (Pittsburgh).
Yes, but not without a phone call. One reason is MAP: minimum advertised price. Some companies (Paiste is one) require resellers to list the MAP on website and catalogs. But when you call, a deal can be made without jeopardizing the retail dealership.
Guitar Center, the largest musical instrument retail chain in the world, owns Musician's Friend, a company they acquired in 2000. In addition to Musician's Friend, Guitar Center also owns several other instrument stores including Music 123, Music and Arts, and Woodwind and Brasswind (WWBW), as well as the popular forum and review site Harmony Central.
Who's your preferred retailer (online or brick & mortar) and why? I've come to like Musician's Friend as their customer service is top notch, but Sweetwater seems to have a lot more to choose from when it comes to drums and the ilk. Funny thing, the same company underwrites both site's credit cards and Musician's Friend is the same company as Guitar Center but the two don't actually mix.
Look up Bain Capitol. They own everything. Then look up Synchrony Bank. They fund everything. It's not a coincidence.
Once GC came here, what few mom and pop stores we had disappeared. So GC for in person shopping for me. If I must order online, it's either best deal or who can get it here fastest, depending on my needs.
I haven't been to Arkansas Music Works yet. I'm a bit hesitant. It's an hour away which is not a big deal. It's also in Bentonville, which is where the Walmart home offices are. And their warehouses. And the worst traffic in the whole state.
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